Most sailors take months or more to learn a new boat since, truth is, most of us have limited or sporadic time to devote to the education. David and Alison Lennarz, on the other hand, put their learning curve on fast-track mode when they took delivery of their new Balance 526 in St. Francis, South Africa, and made a 6,500-nautical-mile, midsummer transatlantic to Grenada as their shakedown passage.
It was an eye-opening voyage on many levels for the Virginia couple, both lifelong sailors whose previous boats had included a Melonseed skiff, a Pearson 33, and, most recently, a 26-foot Herreshoff Alerion, which they still sail in the Chesapeake Bay. Making 20 knots under a scrap of storm jib in the Atlantic, essentially surfing on a 52-foot surfboard, was a helluva long way from weekend trips with the kids out of Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville, Virginia, or even chartering a multihull to try them on for size in the Caribbean.
“It was 28 sailing days, and we were
