Quintero Pacific Sailing Lessons: Day 1

17. Apr. 2014
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Planning the Trip
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6 Comments

Author: Pete

Location: Quintero, Chile. [ 32°46′58″S 71°31′50″W ]

We finally got our feet wet! Found a fantastic gentleman who had a sailboat on the coast and gave private lessons. There is an ASA equivalent here in Chile, but they are more focused on theory than practice, and are similar price as the ASA courses. Thus, Pash and I have decided to do the majority of our instruction in the states this summer.

It, however, is exceedingly frustrating to be soaking up theory from books, planning like crazy, and ducking under the looming specter of this unknown trip and not be able to do anything tangible. We’ve been itching for some time on a real boat in real waves. I do realize we’ll be inundated with these experiences very soon, but we’re impatient folk.

It was a fantastic connection to find Mario Carmona, a sailor from Santiago who kept a small house and boat in nearby Quintero, a small, industrial, port town. He happily arranged a few days of sailing with us with the aim of familiarizing us with the systems aboard and have us be able to sail by ourselves.

At the beginning of the the ‘long’ Easter weekend we met Mario at the Quintero Club de Yates and jumped aboard his 35′ Ericson. We spent the first hour or so in the calm of the bay focused on systems of a cruising sailboat, electronics, plumbing, navigation, and so on.

Motored out of our mooring between long rows of gorgeous sailboats and beat up fishing boats, a juxtaposition of reasons to be at sea. We practiced man-overboard drills, and handling the boat under power. Even with a 12,000 pound displacement she responded well to the diesel. A fat sea lion frolicked along with us, laughing at our ungraceful choreography. Bonus points if you can pick his laughing face out in the picture below.

When the wind picked up we raised the main and worked some drills under its power alone. Later we unfurled the 120 genoa and aimed out of the bay. Who’s laughing now, sea lion? As Chile imports the majority of it’s energy, La Bahia Quintero is a busy port where tankers of petroleum and natural gas are offloaded. So our first excursion to open water came after we ran the gauntlet of giants.

Making out into the open seas we worked drills on handling in large swell. We estimated they were 2.5 meters. Pretty good. Mario was a fantastic instructor. By the end of the day we were handling the boat by ourselves with ease… and only a little green from the swell.

An Introduction to Boat Brokers

04. Apr. 2014
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Planning the Trip
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Author: Miranda
Location: Santiago, Chile

His name is Scott, and I desperately want him to be my new friend.

He is our broker. Our “buyer’s broker,” to be exact.

This is one of those ways in which the boat buying process is actually similar to that of buying a house. Now for those of, you like, me who’ve never purchased a home, this analogy may not work so well, but most of us understand that the process involves an agent working in the best interests of the seller and a separate agent working in the best interests of the buyer.

In the boating world, this is called the listing broker and the buyer’s broker. Some folks who have many years of experience around boats choose to go without using a buyer’s broker when looking to purchase a boat. They know exactly how much the models they are considering should go for. They know when they’re getting a deal and when they’re getting swindled. They are patient and know how to hide their excitement when they are viewing the perfect boat. They can deal with pushy listing brokers and know the buying/selling process well.

We aren’t one of these folks. Yet. Maybe someday we’ll be. But, for now, while we have to hold down our day-jobs, are new to the process, and are still perfecting our poker faces, we’ll use a buyer’s broker. To be honest, I don’t know why people would pass it up. The price is definitely right. Free. Yup, the buyer’s broker will get paid out of the commission made from the sale of the boat, with no fee or payment from the purchaser. It doesn’t change the final price of the boat, and if you’ve got a good broker, they’ll be saving you money in the end by helping you negotiate and make a smart decision. How often, in this world, can you find free, expert advice when you’re up the creek on something totally new? We feel so blessed to have a new friend in Scott, the boat broker.

So, we skyped with Scott today. He works in the South Florida area, and he was a breath of fresh air to someone who’s dug though the depths of the Internet looking for what to expect in the boat buying process, and hasn’t landed anywhere fruitful. He answered all our newbie questions without judgement, nor did he caution us that any piece of our plan was ill-prepared or ignorant of how things work. He was a wealth of knowledge, and he seemed genuinely excited about working with us. After we got of the phone, we both looked at each other and said, “What a nice guy!”

After chatting with Scott, we have much better idea how long the process will take and how we might set up the precious few months we have stateside this summer to ensure we leave at the time we’d like, come fall. We set up a tentative plan for when we’d be spending time in South Florida to scour the market for a boat that will suite our price, our sailing itinerary, and the accommodations we’d like.

Trying to plan such an endeavor while living a continent away from the boat market we’d like to get our hands on can be quite frustrating, at times. Therefore, it feels great to have someone on the ground, working for us in the mecca of ocean-going cruisers for sale!