To recap on the story so far, in 1998, my wife and I (and our 2 ferrets and 2 cats) moved aboard a converted navy Motor launch in a marina in Seattle. For a variety of reasons, we found the motor launch unsatifactory, and have decided to change to a sailboat. We plan to cruise the west cost for a couple of years, and then truck the sailboat to the east coast, launch from there, and sail to Ireland for our 40th birthdays. Okay, sort of a wierd plan but what the heck.
I have no experience sailing and my wife has a little, but neither of us is what you could call an "old salt" so our plans may change. But first we must find a sailboat that meets our criteria. Which leads us to a problem, what exactly are our criteria? Which brings us to the current stituation. We are looking for the right boat, at the right price. Hopefully, for the right reasons.
So far, we have looked at several boats, from 30 feet to 44 feet. Ketch rig, lug rig, marconi rig, even gaff schooner. But haven't found the boat yet. But we will.
24 March 2001:
We went to see several boats today, none of them were quite what we were looking for, either requiring too much work for the money, or having layouts that just wouldn't work. But we are narrowing down on the right choice, and we will simply keep looking for the right boat until we find it
14 April 2001:
We looked at a boat a week ago, a 35' "Cruising" Cal. Made in 1975. She is in very nice shape inside and out, some work is needed, but nothing drastic, we made an offer, they countered, and we took the counter offer. So, pending a survey and sea trial, which will occur in 2 weeks. We will have a sail boat to move onto. Needless to say, all here are rather excited. Pictures of the new boat.
28 April 2001:
Today we took the ferry to Bremerton where the current owners of Windwalker met us, and then we sailed to Seaview East boatyard at Shilshole Marina for the survey. The trip across was a lot of fun, about 1/3rd pure motoring, 1/3rd motor-sailing, and 1/3rd pure sailing. Winds were moderate, 10-15 kts, nothing too drastic. Wave action was minimal. With the exception of an Argosy cruise boat that seemed determined to run somebody over, all was well. Oh it rained a bit, it was a bit cold at times, but it was way fun. We had friends of the current owners travelling nearby in a nice powerboat, and they took some pictures of Windwalker under weigh, copies of which they graciously offered to send us. When we get them, I will put some up here. Kat also took a lot of pictures with the handy dandy digicam, and I have put those up here with the rest of the pictures and specs of WindWalker
The survey was pretty uneventful, nothing drastic was uncovered, a few bits and pieces to fix and change, but overall, the survey was quite a happy event. As an aside, we highly recommend the surveyor, he was thorough (spent about 3.5 hours all told) and was willing to answer questions (some probably quite foolish from me. ) If you need a boat surveyed, John Sanford, of Reisner, McEwan and associates, is a good choice as far as we are concerned. Anyway.
After the survey, we left Windwalker at the guest moorage at Shilshole for the evening, and went home to our "other" boat
29 April 2001:
Today, we (Kat and I, plus three friends from the dock, people who actually know how to handle boats, and who have been through the locks) went to Shilshole to bring Windwalker to Ballard Mill, where she will be moored. The trip was pretty uneventful, thanks to the experts we had cunningly convinced to walk us through it, and yours truly handled the help all the way. Not that I knew what I was doing mind, but it was a lot of fun doing it. I simply followed directions, and now, she sits at a side tie, waiting for the slip we have for her to become available on May 1. We will move her there then, sometime tuesday.
Last modified on Thu Dec 20 20:44:55 PST 2001
