Cool Change Sailing

Last summer, my nephew Daniel visited my house and we enjoyed several steaks on the grill, but when the sun went down, we grabbed some cocktails and immersed ourselves in 102 degree water of my backyard spa. It was a wonderful evening, but I never revealed to him until the last moment–when he was preparing to return home–that I was about to drive to the Chesapeake Bay that very night to see another boat, a 42′ Beneteau. My plan was, hit the road, drink two 5-Hour Energy drinks, view the boat Saturday afternoon, then find a hotel before returning back to Ohio the following day. This would require me to stay awake for over 36 hours, but the boat looked so beautiful, I was determined to see it immediately before anyone else beat me to it.

That sailboat is shown in this post and it included every necessary feature that I’d hoped to find: dinghy davits connected to the transom, solar panels above it, air conditioning, auto-pilot and it even included an unexpected surprise. It had a heater inside the primary cabin! If I ever ventured to more northern climates, that might come in handy.

The broker at YaZu Yachting advised me that one other person had also expressed interest in this boat and the owner is highly motivated to sell it right away. With the sale of my home still a distant two months away, I crossed my fingers and hoped that it would still be available the moment I was prepared to make an offer.

But like so many other boats, it was too good to last and soon was also off the market.

About a month later, at 6:00 AM on a Saturday morning, I heard my phone “ding” beside me on the night stand and wondered who’s sending me something on my phone so early in the morning? I looked and saw several beautiful images from my friend, Maritha Kiel, from Tortola, BVI, of a sunrise coming up over an island which was visible from her front porch. Maritha was already well aware of my intention to find a sailboat and someday visit both her and many other tropical destinations. To see such beautiful images was nothing short of tugging at my heartstrings, knowing these sights were still several years ahead of me.

She asked whether I had the WhatsApp on my phone, but until then, I hadn’t heard of it. She said I ought to install it because then, we could have actual phone calls through the app which would cost nothing! A few moments later, the app successfully downloaded onto my phone, Maritha obviously noticed it and called me. For months, I’d send her images or ads of boats I’d been interested in and she’d share those with others in the sailing community of BVI. But on this particular day, a young man arrived to her home who has a vast understanding of everything about sailboats. She handed him her phone.

As we talked, I described the various makes and models of sailboats I’d been pursuing. He said just one thing…and it really shook me. “If you buy one of those boats, it’ll become your coffin.”

What I had been looking for for over two years were boats that were beautiful, contained comfortable features and were designed to sail either short-handed or, as in my case, single-handed.

He said I need to switch my search to boats that far exceed the standard rigidity of construction style that’s common on all those “production boats”, a description of attractive boats that can sail fast but may not be capable of sudden or extreme changes in the weather conditions. He gave me the names of eight other manufacturers–of which I’d previously only heard of one. Each of his suggestions was less common or popular on the search sites, but as I continued to research their superior construction designs, I knew I was finally looking in the right direction.

I found a 46′ ketch located in Annapolis, MD that looked absolutely perfect. It was even equipped with an on-board water maker, which can take salt water and create 22 gallons per hour of fresh water! This I had to see for myself.

My degree of disappointment cannot be overstated. With the sale of my home finally completed, I drove to Annapolis with my checkbook in my pocket, prepared to make an offer and write a down-payment right on the spot. When I sold my house, it looked perfect…no–it looked beyond perfect. We had improved the home with a new roof, windows, appliances, light fixtures, hot water tank, hot water pump, new carpet, new tile bathroom floors, new shower door and new hot tub, just to name a few. The moment that showing would be scheduled, we wanted those first impressions to blow people’s minds!

Those were the kind of images I had hoped to see upon my arrival in Annapolis. Instead, what I stumbled upon was a 12 to 24 month fixer-upper. The previous owner’s sailboat was simply placed on the market, in a horrible condition, with no consideration for how poorly it had been maintained. I guess he decided to let somebody else replace the sails, standing rigging, running rigging, engine, seat coverings, refrigerator, hatches, dinghy and outboard motor. It was clear that he and I were polar opposites when I came to selling a large asset and trying to impress the buyer(s).

When I returned home, as I returned to my search, I got a call from Rick Guthy, one of my lifetime’s best friends. Rick has always been supportive of me, no matter what I was doing or where I was living. And he understood how important it was to find the best boat for the kind of life I want to live. He said “Don’t be disappointed. Some day soon, the right boat will just drop in your lap and you’ll know it immediately”. He could not have been more prophetic.

Having taken Maritha’s friend’s advice from BVI, I switched my search to very specific boats. Ironically, none of those boats included Bavaria. To discover THAT builder, I needed to join a sailing forum and see what others were saying. The buzz was that Bavaria yachts are built to such high standards that many multiple other boat manufacturers incorporate those ideas, but not to the degree that Bavaria does it. Plus, the original designers of Bavaria boats became so renown worldwide and have such a great track record to validate their designs, they have won over 90 boats of the year from their various designs!

I returned to yachtword and typed in “Bavaria”. It returned a listing of 39 boats by that name in the entire world. I narrowed the search to “United States” and the number quickly shrunk to just 3: one in CA, one in FL and the other in CT. The moment I laid my eyes on the CT boat, I knew instantly that my search had finally ended. I called the broker and asked whether she’d ever had a person make an offer on a boat, sight-unseen? She laughed and said no, I’d be the first.

And I did.

Two weeks later, over New Year’s Weekend, I did drive to CT to actually inspect the boat up close and it not only met my expectations, it was even better than the photos had indicated! I had finally found the boat which I’ll call my home for the foreseeable future.