CAMDEN — Capt. Jack Moore and his first mate, wife Barbara, are finally turning the chapter they hinted at six or seven years ago. And being the avid sailers they are, the Moores have every intention of continuing to ply the waters of Penobscot Bay, only now it will be for total fun and relaxation.

"It's a bittersweet thing, our decision to sell Surprise, we love that boat and always will and this is like selling one of your kids," said Jack earlier this week. "But now we'll be able to sail for more than a one hour in one direction."

The Moores this week sold their schooner, Surprise, and passed the daysailing business onto another couple, Ramiro and Nicole de Acevedo Ramos of Camden.

On April 23 the Camden Harbor Committee voted unanimously in favor of accepting and recommending the change of ownership of the Moore's daysailer permit for Surprise to the Acevedo Ramos's. The Camden Select Board followed suit April 29, and unanimously approved the daysailer license transfer, and three days later, on May 2, the Acevedo Ramoses became the new owners of the 57-foot-long, 96-year-old schooner.

The daysailer license permits the schooner to pick up and drop off passengers at the town's daysailer dock, dockage that is shared by the schooners Olad and Lazy Jack. When the weather is nice and tourists are willing, the Surprise for three decades has sailed four daily trips beginning Memorial Day weekend and running historically through Columbus Day, although spates of beautiful fall weather can urge longer seasons. The permit also allows the schooner company to place a ticket person and a small table, with a small sign and an umbrella, on the public landing.

The transition of ownership of schooner Surprise has been brewing since the summer of 2006. That's when the Acevedo Ramoses first approached the Moores and expressed an interest in the boat and the business.

"They told us back then they had admired our boat for years. Others have approached too, but the fit wasn't right. We wanted the family business to continue, but we weren't ready yet," said Jack. "We were highly selective and it needed to be the right time in their lives too. After we talked, they backed away, but then things lined up for us all this year."

The talks began again in earnest this past winter and the two couples decided it was time to pass the lines.

Jack is 72 this year and Barbara is 70, and while they feel they could keep sailing for another four or five years, they wanted to make the transition while they were still able to help the new owners settle in.

Because the younger couple has never owned a Coast Guard Certificate vessel, Jack said they have been spending time going over all that's involved to keep it up to snuff.

The two couples have also been busy this month sprucing up, when the weather is nice, Nicole and Ramiro painting Surprise and Jack and Barb painting Milky Way, their smaller pleasure cruiser. Both boats are on stands on the hard ground alongside Rockport Marine's big red building at the head of Rockport Harbor.

"I have learned to stay prepared and even be ahead of the Coast Guard and what they are going to be looking at," said Jack. "Ramiro has incredible sailing and technical knowledge, and we've offered to give them one day a week through August to sail for them. We'll sail the boat and they can spend the day with their daughter, which will allow us to still interact with people and them a chance to have a family day."

The Moores have nothing but high praise for Rockport Marine, where Surprise overwinters and has regular maintenance work done.

"They are going to continue with the maintenance schedule at Rockport Marine, which I feel is the finest caretaker of wooden boats around," said Jack.

The Moores have recommended books about the storied schooner to the younger couple, in which they'll find photos of Surprise racing back in the 1920s.

"Those books are always great to have on board for passengers to look at, and we have a scrap book we'll be handing down to them as well," said Jack.

Surprise was designed by famed American fishing schooner designer Thomas McManus, and built by the Waddell shipyard in Rockport, Mass., for life as a racing and cruising yacht. Owner Martin Kattenhorn's request was for a vessel of about 45 feet that could be safely sailed by a crew of no more than three.

Finished at an overall length of 57 feet, Surprise was launched in early 1918. The length on deck is 44 feet and the beam is 12 feet, with a 7-foot draft.

A respected racer, Surprise's working sail area was just under 1,000-square-feet, not including topsails. The schooner's topsail rig included a mainsail, foresail, staysail, jib, main topsail and a fisherman staysail.

According to records, Surprise placed sixth in a fleet of 22 vessels in the first race to Bermuda after World War I. History also shows that Surprise's owner, Kattenhorn, was a founding member of the Cruising Club of America, and the vessel carried the club's ensign from Bermuda to Nova Scotia, and ports in between, from 1918 until Kattenhorn's death in 1959.

Surprise eventually ended up in Falmouth on Cape Cod, where she underwent restoration, was certified as a passenger vessel and entered into the passenger trade in Falmouth Harbor. That's where the Moores bought Surprise in 1986, and brought it to Camden, where they have been taking on passengers ever since.

The Moores in 1991 entered their schooner on the National Register of Historic Places, which now recognizes Surprise as an important part of the country's maritime heritage.

Jack and Barbara Moore are both former teachers and they raised their four children on the family's six boats. Milky Way is a 35-foot sloop that the Moores are looking forward to sailing for pleasure now. They have owned it for three summers.

"It's a steel hull, built in Florida but they had her on the Great Lakes and she never saw salt water until we launched in Rockport Harbor," said Barbara. "We would like to cruise Maine, and sail beyond Mark Island for a change."

The Acevedo Ramoses are also looking forward to new adventures, this time on their own schooner, and so close to home they will be able to go to their Camden home each night.

Their relationship has always revolved around the ocean. They met 17 years ago, in Key West, Fla., when Nicole was working on the schooner Appledore. The Appledore winters in Key West and summers in Camden, also providing tourists with daysailing opportunities in both locations.

For nine years they worked on an 80-foot ketch, Too Elusive, owned by Arthur "Kit" Watson. They sailed the waters off Camden during the summer season and the Caribbean during the winter season. During that time, Nicole was the private chef, though she is also an accomplished sailor and she and Ramiro both hold 100-ton master’s licenses.

They also opened the Mar Chiquita Kite Center in Argentina, where they spend their winters, December to April.

Most recently, Ramiro has been working for Yachting Solutions, running a custom 75-foot boat built Brooklin. Nicole has been working a private chef and teaching cooking classes at Salt Water Farm in Rockport. They also have a daughter, Delfina, who is now 7-years-old.

"We have always wanted to do something of our own together, and we always admired Jack and Barb working together on Surprise," said Nicole. "The next level for us was to own our own boat and we're so excited about this."

Owning a schooner in Camden brings Nicole and Ramiro full circle, "back to our roots" they said.

This year, they plan to run the boat on the same schedule, offering two-hour trips, four times a day. Next year, they will offer luncheon sails.

Two changes they will introduce right away are allowing children on the boat, and offering online booking and credit card payments.

The biggest challenge, for Ramiro, will be one thing he has no control over.

"The weather, dealing with the weather will be our biggest challenge, because the season is so short and three or four days without being able to sail will be a big thing," said Ramiro.

But being the technology person he is, Ramiro has a plan to work around the weather, if the tourists are game.

"We have added a navigation system so we can go out in any weather and show tourists the real Maine," said Ramiro.

For Nicole, the biggest challenge is their daughter, and maintaining consistency and normalcy.

"My biggest challenge will be to make sure Delphina gets what she needs and where she needs to be," said Nicole.

For Delfina, there are few worries and no challenges on her horizon.

Asked what she is excited about, now that her family owns the schooner Surprise, she shrugged her shoulders and quietly, but with a big smile said, "Adventures."

And so it will be for all of them, adventures.

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.