key west and how did we end up here. we arrived at ft. lauderdale international stepped out of the terminal and began to perspire :> our first call was to the broker who was going to show us the bayfield 32 which turned out to be a good boat if you were a munchkin. moving on, we called jaye melanson who sent us down to key west to look at an island packet 31... it's a long monotonous drive through the keys...long...monotonous....long......mono........ we took a look at the boat and it made my insides tingle. thane gilliam was home and he showed us around. being responsible shoppers we drove back to ft. laughterdale and took our turn at the old buy a time share grilling. we did the cruise to nassau. no comment. except.... alex the salesman told us about hollywood, fl. it's and anachronism in today's world of build a big resort on every squared inch of beach to can buy. we parked near the 'broadwalk' and paula found wade, a charming, chubby, tourettes patient, gay guy who directed us to the st. maurice guest house. it was a throw back, a remnant of a gentler, easier time when little one story motels sat at the edges of wide stretches of coral sand. the guests were a delightful, for the most part, gang of charming drunken jockies, ex nhl players and an pair of midnight mad women who would keep us up with their drunken fowl language, threats and smashing of windows. the tatoo girlfriend beater told paula her was sorry if his workouts frightened her. he said his workouts sometimes scared people. paula told him she had seen workouts before. he received his remittance cheque from his mother the morning we moved to key west. more of key west later.
the search for a sailboat began at about $20,000. boats of that ilk usual float but little else. $25,000 boats are a little better but are usually covered in bird poop. $30,000 boats are a little better still but most of the work done to them is at best shoddy. $35,000 boats look great from the dock but as soon as you board them you notice that the new paint runs all over everything and the joinery is held together with rusty nails and duck tape. now, $40,000 boats are okay but one wonders why the new chain plates are crushing the wood on the bulkhead and why there is so much new paneling on that same bulkhead....... $45,000 will buy you a decent boat but we didn't want a 37' boat. so, we go right by $50,000 to the $54,000 boats. now we're talking. a nice little 31 tartan. sweet boat, lots of room, nice woodwork, lots of sails and stuff.....but wait a minute, why does that deck have a fold in it and why won't that door close and why is there a lake of oil under that new engine...........
so, alpha and omega, it was back to the island packet that was the first boat jaye sent us to and the only boat to really tickle my fancy...... we now own her. we're just waiting for thane and tami to move to their new home. (google saltysailor.com or heart of gold island packet 31 for some history on our boat. they did a great job on their website.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
billie at the tiller
i think it started when i was taking an environmental course in vancouver sometime in the late 80's. the class went out on a fifty foot ketch and i said to myself, "paula would love this." well it only took twenty years but when she took the tiller on that little mcgregor on west lake it was clear that i had been right. not that being right is what it's all about. that was in sept. 2008. we spent the next ten months studying, researching, web searching, talking and dreaming. this summer past we took a five day cruise and learn course from cooper's yachting in vancouver. billie went despite a broken foot and scored ninety percent on the written portion of the test.
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