Tag Archives: Boat shopping

Rigging? Check. Testsail? Check. Survey?

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Now we wait. Tuesday the rigging survey went well. The rigger will make some recommendations, but nothing earth shattering. Yesterday was the test sail and I thought the gods were smiling on us as we had good enough wind, and it was warm and sunny. If you do not live in the Pacific Northwest, it’s hard for you to know exactly what this means to us. But believe me when I say this is a huge deal.

Raising the main with an archaic system, and a winch handle that is too short to offer much leverage. This would have to go.

Raising the main with an archaic system, and a winch handle that is too short to offer much leverage. This would have to go.

On board were the owner and his friend, our yacht broker, Lee, the surveyor Tony Allport (who is completely awesome, by the way) and both of us. This boat is so big that even with this number of people, it did not feel crowded.

Leaving the dock was a bit of fun because of the wind and the fact that this boat had to back out of a long, narrow passage with boats on either side. I can say this: Lee did not die. He may have had to leap across a gap as wide as he was tall in order to get aboard, grab the toe rail and pull himself up, but he accomplished this feat in a manly way that implied excellent upper body strength. It took 4 people to get this boat off the dock safely. It would be awhile before Mike and I would be able to do it alone without having heart palpitations. Let’s not even talk about the shenanigans that were required to get this boat docked at the haul out yard, and how many trials it took to get accomplished. Hints: No bow thruster. Big boat. Wind.

Mike and Tony talk about that windlass. It works! That was a good thing.

Mike and Tony talk about that windlass. It works! That was a good thing.

Lake Union is just beautiful. It might not be the best place to test sail this boat, however, because by the time you get all the many variable sails up and ready you are almost at the other end of the lake. We decided to tack across a couple of times. Just at the point where Flying Gull is getting into her groove, it’s time to tack again. And she doesn’t enjoy tacking into the wind at slow speeds when her sails are not really set well. In fact, she is quite stubborn about that, making one have to jibe and go around the long way in order to try again. Twice. I’m pretty sure that’s not the fault of the boat. I’m almost completely positive that Sparkman and Stephens designed boats better than that.

So I have to rely on the maybe 2 minutes of excellent sailing we got under our belts, at a nice angle of heel. It didn’t last long, but long enough to know that she could do it, and it felt nice.

One of the things that needs to change about the sail handling. Yes, there are ways to address this.

One of  the things that needs to change about the sail handling. Yes, there are ways to address this.

The haulout was not as traumatic as we thought it would be. Frankly, I thought when she was hauled I would consider her to be about the size of a pod of whales. But I did not. She has a long shallow keel that keeps her from looking quite as big as her sisters with the deeper keels. Anyway, Tony took his little hammer and tap tap tapped his way on every part of that hull, marking a few places and making notes.

Standing back from her in her huge slings, Mike and I commented, with sighs all around, that she really is a beautiful boat. She really, truly is. It’s one thing to think so ourselves, but it’s another to see the slack-jawed looks on the faces of the young men who work at the boat yard. They were almost reverent. If we buy her, we have to go back there and take them out on the boat.

Is it any wonder people get slack-jawed when they see her like this?

Is it any wonder people get slack-jawed when they see her like this?

But I am telling you about the love of the beauty of the vessel. And we all know that beauty is only skin deep. At this point it is all about Tony’s survey, so we are extremely relieved that two years ago Mike saw something he wrote in 48 North and chose him to be the surveyor of whatever boat we bought next. Yep. Two years ago. We have complete faith that he understands our plans for the future and will tell us what would need to happen in order to make Flying Gull the boat of those plans. It is so wonderful to have an objective, learned expert to talk to about these things. We all know that hearts rule where boats are concerned. So having someone remind us about the ”head’ part of these decisions is worth its weight in sovereigns.

And there are issues with the boat and with its being the right one for our plans. It would be excellent if we simply wanted to live aboard, or if we just wanted to take her to some restaurant dock and have dinner. It would be excellent for going up to the Gulf Islands, or even further into British Columbia. If those were our only plans, we would buy her without any hesitation. But we know already that there are some valid concerns about how complicated her systems are. We know that the sail handling is cumbersome, that there are too many booms on deck, that, in short, this rig needs to be redesigned for us to be able to handle it with ease. These things we know can be addressed. We know that there are some issues with rot. We just don’t yet know how much.

Tony, hammer in one hand, ice pick and chalk in another. He sails an Albin 30.

Tony, hammer in one hand, ice pick and chalk in another. He sails an Albin 30.

So, we wait for the results of the survey, and then we see where we stand.

A Cunning Plan, Perhaps Not So Little

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Stunned and amazed. Like a deer in headlights. When you take a left turn from the domain of logic and reason and engage with heart and soul, the experience can leave you almost breathless. These experiences come out of the blue and strike like lightning; fast and sharp, a bolt through the heart from the gods beyond the clouds. And when you just go with it and don’t resist, that’s when the magic happens. At least that’s our working hypothesis.

It began when we got a call on Thursday from our Yacht broker, Lee Youngblood, of Gig Harbor Yacht Sales. Lee’s been working with us for about a year and knows us pretty well by now, even though we continue to surprise him. His tone on my voice mail sounded emotional and I could tell he was trying to contain himself. “The owner of Flying Gull is getting ready to trade that boat in on an RV!  If you are even thinking of making an offer, now is the time. The other broker has people who might be interested and he’s calling them, too, to see if they might be serious.  I know you need to sell Moonrise, but maybe we can make a deal if you are serious about this boat. Call me!”

The boat in question

The boat in question

I reacted in my usual calm, self assured and reasonable way. I went and bought a pair of shoes so I could think about it. It’s spring and I had no flats to wear for work.

That night Mike and I had a little meeting of the minds about this thing over dinner. And we decided that we really do both love that boat, in spite of the fact that it is too big. Neither of us felt much concern about it being made of wood. We’re familiar with wood, love wood, know how to work on wood.  How can you beat a Sparkman and Stephens design for sheer beauty and sailing characteristics? It was built by the Henry C. Grebe boatyard, a yard famous for its quality. The provenance of this boat cannot be beat. And where could we ever find another boat with the kind of fascinating history this one has; one that appears to be in such good condition, with this amount of work having already been completed? For the right price, we could be ahead of the game with this boat, if the survey checked out. But the listing price was out of our ballpark. There is love, and then there is crazy love. We are not crazy, in spite of what some people say.

The wheelhouse that started it all.

The wheelhouse that started it all.

We called Lee and told him we were serious but we wanted to talk to the owner. We had a LOT of questions and were unimpressed by the amount of information we had so far. This was us being reasonable and thinking with our heads. And it was a bit of an effort, I can tell you, because I felt like the boat had already chosen us as the next caretakers, so it was going to take a lot to keep it from happening. But I’m known to think that way.

Lee promptly responded with the guy’s phone number, contacted the owner and got permission for us to call. The next day, yesterday, Mike and the owner had their own little meeting of the minds over the phone. The owner has circumnavigated twice, and sailed around the horn. This person knows sailing and sailboats. He told us how the fiberglass skin had been attached to the hull: the right way apparently, and it has held up beautifully since it was done in the early 1990’s. He told us many other things about it such as that the engine had been completely rebuilt and had less than 700 hours on it. The sails were new in 2004. The masts were completely serviced in 2008, reset, sealed with spartite. The beautiful military grade windlass works great. So great you have to be careful with it.  Mike said we’d be in touch. Then we got busy crunching some numbers.

Yesterday we went to the broker’s office and made two different offers, one with a low cash price and us bearing the risk of continuing to try to sell Moonrise. The other with an even lower cash price, but he could have our boat and sell it, eventually making more on his boat. Honestly, we could live with it either way because we offered a price we knew we could afford right now, even if we had to wait a few months for our boat to sell.  It was a little financially risky, but not so much that it would keep us up at night. Frankly, we were sorry this owner might have to sell this boat for so little, considering the amount he’s put into it. But financial statements don’t lie, and we can’t afford to get in over our heads at this point in the game. We might be in love, but we still have to be careful.  If he wanted us as the next caretakers of Flying Gull, this was as good as we could give. And we were willing to walk away. We truly were. This owner accepted our cash price offer within the hour.  And we couldn’t believe it. That was when the stunned amazement began.

Serious hail and sleet.

Serious hail and sleet.

We drove down to visit Flying Gull and look at a couple of small things we couldn’t remember seeing. Our daughter, who is considering living aboard her for awhile, came with us. While we were there the heavens opened, the thunder and lightning came, and we were deluged with hail. This was no small spring squall. This went on for an extraordinarily long time and if you live in Seattle and are reading this, you know what I’m talking about! The hail just kept coming, building up on the docks, covering the boats with several inches of ice.  The noise was deafening, but we had our first ‘heavy weather’ bonding experience with her as we tunneled around like moles underneath the boat cover pushing it up to keep the weight of the ice from bringing it down or putting undue stress on the stanchions. Thank goodness we were there because it would have been a bad situation considering the sheer amount of ice that fell from the sky. Claire said it was our ‘congratulations’ from the weather gods; their version of throwing confetti.20130413_87

So our cunning little plan is beginning in earnest right now. If this works out (survey, sea trial still to come) we’ll have a boat that can literally take us anywhere in comfort. It has a most versatile sail plan, enough room for everyone in our family, and the ability to keep us sheltered from weather of all kinds while under sail if we so choose. In addition, we’ve already begun meeting people who know a great deal about wooden boats and have been incredibly encouraging, including the owner of sister ship ‘Awab’, currently moored on the east coast.

If in reading this you think I make it sound as though this is a done deal, don’t be fooled because in all honesty, that changes moment by moment. Our mood shifts rapidly from excitement to sheer, unadulterated terror. Five hundred gallons of fuel? Dear God! We know in choosing this boat we are walking away from smaller, easier, cheaper-to-operate boats with simpler systems, boats like Moonrise that we can take out on a whim and just have fun.  We know this is counter to the common wisdom out there. In our more lucid periods, we don’t know if that’s really what we want. That’s why the emotional roller coaster has such profound highs and lows.

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Claire, watching the confetti fall from the sky.

What we do know is that in order to really engage with a boat enough to get the feel of the thing, you have to make an offer. You have to be willing to gamble the price of a survey. Without an offer, there will be no sea trial, no survey, no chance to see if the boat is a good fit. And when the gods practically drop it into your lap, it seems a little ungrateful not to at least give it a try. That’s the issue with gifts from the heavens. You don’t know at first if they are meant to be kept, or whether they’ve shown up simply to make your choices that much more clear. It’s like the gods sit back and say, ‘You can have this, and everything that comes with it, if you want it. Or you can take the other road.’ Gods are tricky. How do we know they don’t consider us part of some divine comedy?

 This deal is far from done in our book. We are still willing to walk away if it looks like that’s the best thing to do. Three days ago we were happily contemplating our next boat after Moonrise sells, even looking forward to the shopping process. We were settled in our logical, plodding progress toward the final goal. We were planning trips to unknown destinations, just to view boats. Now we are just steps away from owning another boat. It’s happening very fast. We’re just trying to hang on for the ride.

In spite of all of this, Flying Gull speaks to us well below the threshold of logic, whispering to our hearts in a way only we can hear. I know she is trying to hold us steady during this most tumultuous time. And I appreciate the effort.

Click on the monkey’s fist to read others bloggers on this topic.

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Messing Around with Boats

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I keep forgetting that we still need to sell Moonrise. And by that I mean that I keep looking at other boats as though it were possible to actually buy them. I am like the wife who starts a new affair before the divorce has gone through. Well, that’s a rather bad image, but you know what I mean. I do enjoy looking at boats, and I’ve seen a lot of them lately. In the near future, I’ll publish reviews of a little Pacific Seacraft Flicka, a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 34, and a Finnsailer 35 pilothouse. Now there’s an interesting boat.

Sneak preview of a cute boat.

Sneak preview of a cute boat.

The more I look at boats, the more I get to know that special feeling I get when I really feel drawn to one. I can now differentiate between  ‘it’s a nice enough boat’, ‘not in my lifetime, ever’, ‘this has everything on my list and I could like it okay’, and ‘I love this boat’. The problem with this is when the ‘I love this boat’ feeling comes at the wrong time, or, in my case, when it comes with a big wooden sailboat that is completely, utterly impractical. Oy vey. I don’t make it easy on myself.

Our daughter, Claire, on Flying Gull

Our daughter, Claire, on Flying Gull

If there is one thing that is true about me, it’s that I rarely make decisions using logic. That’s right male readers. I am illogical when it comes to some things and I’m not afraid to admit it.  It’s always about the heart with me. That’s how we’ve found ourselves remodeling two houses. That’s how my current home ended up with a 4000 gallon koi pond. That’s how my yard got filled with gardens and garden art I spent years making myself. It’s always about that creative process that feeds my soul. My husband has the patience of a saint, I can tell you.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that choosing a boat by using a checklist is a little like choosing a man the same way. It looks good on paper, but it never translates well into real life. You might meet someone who has all of your ‘requirements’; a good job, nicely groomed, speaks well of his mother, you know the drill. And then you meet him and he’s nice enough, but there is no chemistry. Do you settle? Or do you go for the gold? I’ve generally been a ‘go for the gold’ kind of girl. And with men, that worked out great! I mean, he’s put up with me for this long. Looks like it’s going to work out between us.

One of the dorade vents on Flying Gull.

One of the dorade vents on Flying Gull.

It’s the same with boats. Take, for instance, one of the boats we saw last year that looked good on paper: a Cal 39 on the hard up in Anacortes. It had everything on our checklist. Great sailing boat, the right kind of hull shape, an extra cabin for a kid, plenty of storage, blah blah blah. I liked it fine. I even felt sorry for it, being up on the hard like a beached whale. But it didn’t make my heart sing. And frankly, I’m holding out for opera here. I want a high note, and I want it clear and sustained. Or at least a rich contralto.  I want a boat from the music of the spheres, a boat the Angels will sing about, a boat that brings tears to people’s eyes. (Yeah, I can get kind of worked up, but it doesn’t last.)

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Wrapped up like a birthday present.

So we went Saturday to visit Flying Gull once more to see if she still sang the same song for us. And I admit that she did, for me. But I also admit that I could see all the work that needs to be done on her topside. And she is very, very large. Indeed, she feels a bit like a behemoth compared to our Cal 34. I can’t tell yet whether my vision of myself working willingly on her considerable amount of wood is a vision from the future, or a memory of the past in my life; a past where I’ve put my hand to refinishing wood over and over because, yet again, I had a vision of what something could be. I know she sings, but I can’t tell yet if it’s our song.

Maybe I can envision working on her because it’s such a familiar feeling. Maybe it’s just that I know how to work on projects because it’s all I’ve ever done in my life. Even when we were raising the children I always had a project or two, or three, in the works. I wonder if I know how to be in this world without working on something? Or whether that would even be a good thing? I mean, even as a child I was always involved in creativity, in making and doing things.  What is life if one isn’t involved in the creative process? That sounds pretty interesting on one hand, and pretty boring on the other.

So the heart and the boat sing together, but we will not know if they sing the same song until Moonrise sells and buying another boat becomes a real possibility. Until then, I will be like the woman who flirts but never gets serious because she is already taken. And if someone comes along and buys Flying Gull and will love her and take care of her, I’ll be happy for them and hope they will take us sailing on her some day. Because if there is one thing I know, it’s that the Universe is filled with possibilities. Where there is one singing boat, there will be another if that is what I require. And now that I have felt it, it is required. Definitely.

Detail on cabinet door.

Detail on cabinet door.