We first met Jim and Janet while sailing around Cape Cod back in 2021 – they’d seen Madrone’s YouTube tour, were interested in seeing a Taswell 43 firsthand, and reached out to us via email. We invited them onboard for a tour, and we got along so well that we subsequently invited them for a short passage.

Jim at the helm with Mike and Janet enjoying the beautiful Swedish afternoon
Janet’s turn

After that experience, they were smitten with Taswells in general and Madrone in particular. Since they are interested in cruising themselves, they asked us to keep them in mind if we ever decided to move on from Madrone. So when that time came, we contacted them – they were good to their word and agreed to an easy, mostly-stress-free transaction.

Team Madrone rowing the dinghy ashore for a hike

To help them get started on the right foot, we invited them to Sweden for a week of cruising boot camp – sailing among the skerries and islands of Sweden’s west coast, anchoring the boat, and learning more about Madrone’s systems.

Hard at work learning about Madrone’s fresh water system
At the end of our week together we took a ferry to a small island for a special celebration dinner

And just like our previous sailing experience with them, this trip also turned out to be great. We had mostly nice weather, towards the end of the Swedish sailing season we had our pick of anchorages, and we had plenty of time for them to get to know Madrone.

We pulled into the guest harbor in Gothenburg, spent a day cleaning up the boat, and then with one last wistful look over our shoulders at Madrone, headed off for new adventures aboard Oso.

Proud new owners of Madrone