I thought I'd say a quick hello as I'm new to this forum and the Ballad.
Three weeks ago I made a decision. It's properly either going to be the best or the worst decision I've made in a long time. After being in love with the Ballad for a couple of years I finally found one that was priced very reasonably and seem like a good deal. Long story short, I'm now the proud new owner of Ballad #332. She was build in 1973 so this year she celebrates her 40 birthday. Considering that she has been racing a lot the first 30 years of her life she is in pretty good condition. She needs some love but structurally she seems fine. In 40 years she has only had two owners. The previous owners turned out to be very nice and we even went sailing for a couple of hours.
My plan is to spend the next two years redoing the interior and getting her ready for cruising. I sailed here from her old port and to her new "home". A truly wonderful two day trip (110 nm). She was a complete joy to sail even with her semi-ragged old sails. There was a couple of problems that became apparent on the way home but all in all a wonderful trip.
I have uploaded a couple of pictures of her and the trip home: https://plus.google.com/photos/11578993 ... ZKQ7oaNngE .
I'm looking forward to sharing my progress
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Oh by the way I'm located in Denmark (near Aarhus and Randers).