So, it is official, 'Footprints' has sold and gone to her new owner. For us as a family it has been 12 years of sometimes challenging, but overall very enjoyable ownership, and adventures in our junk rig yacht. When I first purchased 'Footprints' with her junk rig I felt after the first summer that I had made a big mistake. I just could not figure the rig out. Apart from our motor assisted delivery, during that first summer I ventured just a few miles from our mooring. Thanks though to information from the JRA, and some timely intervention from David Tyler, we were able over the years to realise the full potential of 'Footprints' and the junk rig. The culmination of this was an offshore cruise in 2013 to New Caledonia. We have also enjoyed coastal cruising around our northern New Zealand coastline, and as many of our local JRA members know we have managed to get 'Footprints' sailing pretty well, often pushing the boundaries with downwind sailing, with some enjoyable sustained high speeds with the right wind and wave combinations.
But with all things it is time to move on to a new adventure and a new type of boat. I would love a light weight performance orientated junk rig boat, but sadly there is nothing available locally, so it will probably be a point rig yacht for us for a while. But I do have my little catamaran build well underway and I have not given up on a junk, or alternative rig for her.
Happily 'Footprints' has gone to a friend of mine who has wanted her for years, appreciates the boat that 'Footprints' is, and also appreciates the junk rig, so I expect she will continue to feature in local JRA events. As for us, although we are currently junk-less, I will continue my membership with the association and all the wonderful people we have gotten to know through the JRA. Hopefully I will be allowed to continue participation in our local JRA events, and soon or later, in some form or other, I will have another junk rig yacht.