Friday, August 20, 2010
The Rear Admiral approves.
Maybe the best part of the whole transaction, since it was done sans I, is the pictures proving that the Rear Admiral approves. The Admiral says she also loves Pearl, but there are no pictures to prove it.
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Next Chapter
One chapter is about to close, but another is about to open. The end of our time here in Afghanistan is drawing near and we will be making our way back home to South Dakota soon. Much of my free time here has been devoted to searching, researching, evaluating, and reevaluating all manner of sailboat, from small to large, old to new, cheap to not so cheap. This being done in an effort to meet the standards set forth for our new boat:
1. Trailerable
2. Seaworthy enough to do some coastal cruising
3. Enough interior space for our family for a week or so
4. Shoal draft
5. Affordable
The initial search led us toward a Seaward Fox, a 19 footer in either sloop or cat rig. The traditional look of the Seawards is hard not to like. The BoatHouse of Madison, Wisconsin was the first stop. The BoatHouse had a cat rigged Fox, but she had some issues, soft spots in the cockpit and high price being near the top. I continued to keep an eye peeled for a perfect Fox and over the next 2 years I don't think one ever came up any where near South Dakota. By the way, there are a ton of great websites out there that deal in used sailboats, trailersailor.com and sailingtexas.com are among the best. Actually, I had my heart set pretty firmly on a boat in the Seaward line but had been unable to locate a good one even close to South Dakota. I was even willing to go so far as to eliminate some of the standards in an effort to acquire the boat. "Would we really take it anywhere, if not why the need for a trailerable? Just get a big boat and keep it forever tied to a slip." was the thought process. Some of my time was wasted looking at boats outside the parameters set forth.
Finally, after 11 months of looking at websites via a slow, sometimes non-existent internet connection (it is Afghanistan after all) a boat became available on sailingtexas.com, a boat that met all the initial goals and then some. She is not a Seaward but she is every bit a seaworthy and salty craft. A 1984 ComPac 23 with loads of interior space, plenty of wood, trailerable, a well known coastal cruiser and she has that traditional look about her. Best of all, she was located in Minnesota, and the seller was willing to meet half way, so retrieving her wouldn't be too much of a chore. In fact, my family was able to inspect, finalize the deal and trailer her home in just a few days.
Here she is, meet, Pearl.
1. Trailerable
2. Seaworthy enough to do some coastal cruising
3. Enough interior space for our family for a week or so
4. Shoal draft
5. Affordable
The initial search led us toward a Seaward Fox, a 19 footer in either sloop or cat rig. The traditional look of the Seawards is hard not to like. The BoatHouse of Madison, Wisconsin was the first stop. The BoatHouse had a cat rigged Fox, but she had some issues, soft spots in the cockpit and high price being near the top. I continued to keep an eye peeled for a perfect Fox and over the next 2 years I don't think one ever came up any where near South Dakota. By the way, there are a ton of great websites out there that deal in used sailboats, trailersailor.com and sailingtexas.com are among the best. Actually, I had my heart set pretty firmly on a boat in the Seaward line but had been unable to locate a good one even close to South Dakota. I was even willing to go so far as to eliminate some of the standards in an effort to acquire the boat. "Would we really take it anywhere, if not why the need for a trailerable? Just get a big boat and keep it forever tied to a slip." was the thought process. Some of my time was wasted looking at boats outside the parameters set forth.
Finally, after 11 months of looking at websites via a slow, sometimes non-existent internet connection (it is Afghanistan after all) a boat became available on sailingtexas.com, a boat that met all the initial goals and then some. She is not a Seaward but she is every bit a seaworthy and salty craft. A 1984 ComPac 23 with loads of interior space, plenty of wood, trailerable, a well known coastal cruiser and she has that traditional look about her. Best of all, she was located in Minnesota, and the seller was willing to meet half way, so retrieving her wouldn't be too much of a chore. In fact, my family was able to inspect, finalize the deal and trailer her home in just a few days.
Here she is, meet, Pearl.
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