Last Weekend.

by Allison

Last weekend, Riley and I spent time on the boat sanding and oiling the interior. So far, Riley has made most of the trips to the boat alone, and this was the first time I had been when it wasn’t bitter cold outside. Nice weather makes a huge difference in my productivity (and positivity…). I should also mention that it takes us about 4.5 hours to get to the marina from our house.  It is quite a time investment to make a weekend trip, so it’s crucial that we have a well organized game plan and weather that cooperates. Most of the boat projects so far have been beyond my expertise. Fortunately, Riley is more than capable, and willing, to complete them by himself. When it comes to sanding and oiling, however, four hands are always better than two. We made a lot of progress, and left at the end of the weekend feeling satisfied with the results. Maybe one more coat of oil on the walls, and a few coats of polyurethane on the floor and we should be finished. Since the weather was so nice, we did allow ourselves a little bit of a break to have a picnic at the city docks and catch up on a little American Pickers back at the hotel (a temporary luxury while the boat is an inch deep in dust). Not a bad weekend.

Step 1. Finding the boat.

by Riley

I have been a very careful spender my entire life.  Finding a boat that met our needs within a small budget was a very difficult task.  I quickly ruled out Yacht World and other dealer websites because brokers tend to ask more for their boats.  Instead, I focused on owner sales on websites such as Craigslist, which is where I found several potential boats.  

Boat performance is a high priority since I’m coming from a racing background.  We don't plan to live on this boat long term, so full blown cruising luxury is not as imperative, but still a factor.  A solid hull and rigging is very important.  The mechanical portions of the boat are not as critical as I feel more capable for a refit.

They say a boat picks it’s owner.  We eventually settled on Winbrandt, a 1980 C&C 30.  Hours before I had contacted the owner, he had actually turned his boat over to a broker.  After examining the boat, I spent over month negotiating the final sale price.  Now she’s ours, along with all the issues that come with buying a 32 year old boat. 

The Dream.

by Riley

The dream we have is more of a goal. I tend to make goals in life to motivate myself.  To buy a boat and sail it down the East Coast, perhaps to the Bahamas and back, was something I have always wanted to do at some point in my life.  In the last few years, I started to feel like I was losing control of the direction my life was going.  Life was just happening on it own, with all the responsibilities and restraints that come with it.  I started dreaming constantly about this idea of quitting my job for a while and sailing in warm blue waters, seeing new sights everyday.  I also began thinking about how the longer I waited, the harder this dream would be to achieve.  So, when Allison saw this existential crisis I was having, she gave her consent and said,  "If we’re going to do it, we need to do it now." And so, the adventure begins.

Sailing a J24, 2010

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.” -Mark Twain