While we were shopping for a boat, we met Claude Dussaud, who was also shopping for a catamaran.  Joe and Claude were looking at the same boat, a Soubise 46.  Claude wound up buying it, despite some very serious repairs that needed to be performed.  He and his family live outside of Charlottesville,Virginia, about three and a half hours away from us in Annapolis.  We kept in touch and even went down to visit them for a weekend during the spring.  They have a very similar agenda to ours, sailing the Northeast this summer and then heading to the Caribbean this winter.  They have a solid goal of making it to Europe in the spring of 2006.  We haven't committed to that yet, but both of us love the idea.

Anyway, Claude and Rike have two little girls, Celine and Anouk, who are very close in age to Cassie and Juliana.  They all get along famously and make life a lot easier for all of the adults by having playmates close by.  We will divert from each other's itineraries from time to time, but it is wonderful knowing that we will be in the same area and just a few day's sail away from each other at any time.

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