Tag Archives: Boat shopping

The Need for Speed When Performing Boat Yoga, and a Cunning Little Cruiser!

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You think a Cal 34 cannot go fast? HA! Double Ha!

Another fine weekend of Pacific Northwest sailing. On Saturday we headed over to Oro Bay on Anderson Island. There was a little boat moored there that we wanted to take a look at for our son, Andrew. More on that later.

The wind was whipping about 15 knots as we headed out of the marina, taking full advantage of the incoming tide as we swept under the Narrows Bridge. Sailing around here means always being very aware of what the tide is doing and when, since any sailor up here knows that if you try to sail against the tide in the narrows, you will sail backwards.

This time we had about 2-3 knots of current with us, and great wind to boot, so naturally there was time for a little boat yoga. Boat yoga is good for all parts of a person and really takes the edge off those long wheel-slave sessions when the only auto pilots on board are named Mike and Melissa. That’s right, folks, there is nothing like a few yoga poses while heeled at 25 degrees to make what could otherwise be a tiring time at the wheel simply fly by.

Thankfulness. Hold pose for at least 30 seconds while you give thanks for the wind and your saucy boat.

 

The Wind Tunnel. Sailing for long periods on a broad reach in plenty of wind allows tension to build up in the body. Use this pose to discharge that tension, sending the energy back up into the wind from whence it came. Brace foot firmly. Blow out through your mouth, like the wind.

The Compass. Become the needle on your compass, pointing toward the horizon. Strike pose swinging arm through all four of the major directions, keeping arm straight. Pivot at the hips. Brace feet and be careful! Alternatively, you can pretend you are singing into a microphone with one hand, point to your audience with the other. Your choice.

After a refreshing yoga session, it’s time to change helmsmen and sail through some tidal rips. May as well turn off the sound on your computer because I still don’t have the hang of talking during a video clip when there is a lot of wind.

The anchorage at Oro Bay is really protected and quiet. We anchored in about 16 feet of water, feeling completely protected from the wind. An interesting feature of this anchorage is this old ferry. Someone brought this thing over from the east coast, thinking they would somehow restore it and take over the ferry service over on Ketron Island, just next door. Why do people think they can salvage huge things like this? It’s pretty cool, but I cannot imagine how much money it would take to get something like this up and running.

The old ferry from Ocean City, which is probably in New Jersey. Just now it has two travel trailers parked in it, and plenty of sea life parked ON it.

So, now we can satisfy the question on everyone’s minds: Why are these people looking for a boat for their son? The answer is simple: we are insane. Let’s just get it onto the table right now. We have lost our minds somewhere in the wind. Sure, there are nice logical answers like ‘We want Andrew to learn about working on boats.’, ‘Andrew needs a project to work on.’, or ‘It would be cheap housing during college.’

But those answers are probably not the real reason. Probably the real reason is that young men need adventures in order to become solid men. We prefer that Andrew’s adventures not be in the form of either going to war, or playing like he is going to war in front of the video screen. Andrew had a grand adventure traveling through Europe on his own between highschool and college. It crystalized something in him that has helped him be successful in college. Adventures do that. We’d like to see that kind of development continue so that he can become even more self-sufficient and make choices about how he lives his life that might be a little outside the box. He’s enough like me that I worry he will get bored with life if he enters the world of work, never to have time to himself again until retirement.  We see this as part of his education, part of his growing-up. And if we get to live a little vicariously through him, well, what are kids for? I guess like most parents, we want better for our kids than we had for ourselves, and we want them to know they don’t have to do things the way we did them.

So we sailed out to Anderson Island to look at this little Westerly Cirrus, a 22 foot sailboat that could take Andrew just about anywhere.

The Westerly Cirrus

This little boat is salty as heck, but it needs some work because it’s been sitting there for a long time. The price is right, but does Andrew want to take it on? Like us, he’d rather sail than work on a boat, but it wouldn’t take much to make this boat sail-able. And the sails are in good condition, as is the standing rigging. I’ll review this boat on the boat reviews page.

Here’s a final video of our sail back. We ran our engine for about 1/2 hour the entire weekend. Great Pacific Northwest sailing!

Moonrise, out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Westerly 39

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S/V Spellbound

Today we saw a boat that is sure to end up on our short list. It’s a 1985 Westerly ‘Sealord’ 39.  I’ve been waiting to see this boat for months and can’t believe it hasn’t yet sold. If the name of the boat could sell the boat, we’d buy this one. The name is ‘Spellbound’, a name which perfectly captures how I feel so many times when we’re out on our boat. If we bought this boat, we’d leave the name as is.

Interestingly, there is an old Island Trader (I think) with the same name docked at our marina. I have always been interested in that boat. It was for sale, but it had be i en neglected for so many years that it needed just about everything. Still, the name of that big yellow boat, and it’s little yellow dingy, ‘Little Misspell’, attracted me. Last summer, tired of being curious, I kayaked over to the boat and climbed out on the dock so I could peak through the ports. I believe that was when I first fell for the ‘heavy teak interior’ look. It might not sail well in light wind, but it sure makes a nice cabin.  I still wonder about the stories that boat could tell. But I’m digressing.

Anyway, we really liked this boat. Now we just need to get Moonrise sold so we can move this process forward. I turn this over to the Universe, knowing that Moonrise will sell at the right time, and that the perfect boat will be available for us when that happens. It’s just nice to see a boat that gives us visions of a future living aboard and sailing.

For a further review of the boat, go here to our boat reviews page and scroll down to the last boat. This one is just below that Cal 39 we looked at, which is also still on our short list. Now we just need to get ourselves up to Vancouver and look at the Spencer 1330 that has been for sale up there for months. Of course, that would probably confuse me and give me too many boat options. I will take the chance.

Oh, Mexico! I Never Really Been But I Sure Want to Go!

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La Paz. Man, I sure want to go. And stay for a long time. Desert and ocean. Two great things that go great together.

And before anyone emails me about the grammar in that title, those are the actual words from the James Taylor song. And they describe my state of mind just perfectly! For many moons now Mike and I have been dreaming of the day we’d get to go down to the Baja peninsula in Mexico and soak in the local culture, food, water, and warmth. Those days are approaching!

Before people get too excited, we aren’t getting to go down on our boat. No, this is a ‘preliminary’ trip to celebrate or 30th wedding anniversary and look at some boats for sale down south. You can get a lot more for the money down there, we hear.  We’re going to skip Cabo San Lucas completely and go directly to La Paz, otherwise known as ‘La Pause’, in cruising circles because so many cruisers get there and decide to stay awhile. We’re very excited and I’m sure Mike is already anticipating trouble getting me back on the plane to come home. I’m anticipating the same from him, so we’re even. I might have to have my temper tantrum here, before we go, so as to save him some embarrassment.

In that wonderful, synchronistic way that the Universe has, we’ve just discovered some pretty cool bloggers who are living the dream on their boat down Mexico way. Stephan and Lulu Yoder are just far enough ahead of us in this wild plan to be our new role models. I read their blog with stars in my eyes and envy in my heart. They really have the right attitude: sleep when you want to, get up when you want to, go somewhere and stay as long as you feel like it, eat really good food. Basically, leave the whole ‘work ethic thing’ behind, and good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. And they’ve spent much time in La Paz, so they know some great places to stay and to eat. Plus, Mike and Stephan have some career stuff in common, and Lulu is a craftswoman! They are so much like us, they could BE us, except that they are living on their boat in Mexico and we aren’t. Rats. 🙁

We wanted to go down in March, our anniversary month, but, alas, life has worked it out so that we can’t really go that month. We’re shooting for April and hoping the spring break crowd will stay in Cabo. I’m REALLY hoping the whale sharks will hang around until we get there and I can go snorkeling with them. But I’m not holding my breath. I think March is the latest they stay. So look for some awesome posts and photos from Mexico someday soon. And you can pretend we’re sending them from our boat. I know we’ll be pretending the same.

I would SOOOO do this. If they are there, I'm going to be over the moon with excitement.