Monday, June 30, 2014

New Season

We are about to begin a new season in our lives.  A great friend keeps telling me to blog about it. So this is for you, Geri. ;)

My husband grew up sailing on a huge lake in Kansas on a 30 ft Catalina named Starshine.  He also had many small boats of his own, a sunfish, laser, catamaran...

The last few years before we moved, we had a small canoe/kayak rental business. 

So when we moved to North Carolina two years ago, the proximity to the ocean was a major draw.

After living here a year, he bought a 28 ft Freedom sailboat. We named it Wings.


We spent most weekends on the boat. Mainly sailing up and down the Neuse.  We anchored out several times in different locations. Basically camping on the water. The inside was snug, but not cramped. Everyone had a bed.

Now B's dream is to liveaboard. Obviously, Wings is not a liveaboard size for 6 people, four of whom are still growing. So the search began for a larger boat.

We started looking at Morgan's, put an offer on one 3X before the owner decided he didn't want to sell after all.

 We drove down to Charleston, SC to look at another one. That fell through as well.

B put an offer on a Bruce Roberts 43 and went for a sea trial and survey. The survey came back unsatisfactory, so we did not get that one.

  B and the broker drove up to VA to look at one.  It needed too much work.
 Next came a 36 ft beautiful Nunsuch. But it had a mast so tall we wouldn't be able to go under most bridges.

Then a 43 ft Gulfstar came up all of the sudden. The owner had heart problems and the Dr. said no more cruising. Again, beautiful boat, but it would not fit in any slips at our sailing club.

  We made an offer on a gorgeous 42 ft Catalina, but again, the owners were not quite ready to let her go. Which is understandable.

We drove to Beaufort, Edmonton, and Oriental looking, looking , looking.

After all this looking and learning what we like and don't like, we put a low offer on a Beneteau Oceanis 400.  After one counter and recounter, it was accepted!  The sea trial and survey was this past Friday. The boat is pulled out of the water and is now "On the hard" waiting to get new bottom paint, and a new name.










We are going to rename the boat Grace. The old name was ok, but we wanted a new name for our new start as a liveaboard family.



I do not have a timetable yet as to future plans. We will be putting our house up for sale, selling/giving away most of our stuff, learning to live with less.  To start, I think we just want to stay close, go up and down the East Coast. Eventually B wants to go south to the islands and experience that.  All will be done by God's Grace.