We found a boat!

19. Sep. 2014
/
Planning the Trip, The Boat
/
4 Comments

Author: Pete

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Short story:

WE FOUND A BOAT!

Long story:

WE FOUND A BOAT!

Coherent story:

Sorry. Still pretty excited. Okay, here goes…

After our 1 AM arrival to Naples, we still intended to make the boat scouting appointments that we had planned with our broker and some private listings the following day. All of the appointments were two hours away in Fort Lauderdale, so we were up at six o’clock and on the road again. Man we were getting sick of driving!

Made it to our appointment on time and met Steve Moore from the Catamaran Company who we had met on our previous mission to Florida. He introduced us to Kenan and his wife Julie, two young Brits who were selling their Lagoon 380 after a year sabbatical in the Bahamas. The boat was in beautiful shape for its age, and was very well equipped. Kenan is a professional captain on massive private yachts (220 feet massive), as well as a pilot. He knew the boat extremely well and kept good care of her. After a run through of the boat and some discussion of possible timeline we walked away with a distinct like of the boat and a good feeling about the owners.

Our second, third, and fourth boats of the day went by in a blur. I don’t think we even got a picture of any of them! Our heads were still in the clouds about the Lagoon and nothing held a candle to it. We didn’t even discuss it much between us. We just drove back to the Catamaran Company, located in a floating office in a marina, and asked Steve to help us make an offer.

It started pouring rain. The boat was listed outside of our comfortable price range. We decided to make an offer that we could afford, and make an itinerary for the hand over of the boat that would be attractive to the sellers. They were trying to fly back to the U.K. in mid-October, and were really hoping to move the boat before then. We crossed our fingers that giving them the option of a quick turn-around could make up for our lower offer.

With Steve’s help we filled in and sent a formal offer on the boat outlining purchase price, conditions, and dates for survey/sea trial, acceptance of vessel, and closing. We hurried a transfer to Cat. Co’s escrow account through some help with Miranda’s friends at her Wisconsin bank, and then sent the offer over to Kenan’s selling broker. Then we waited.

And we waited.

And it felt like forever.

In fact, it was only fifteen minutes, but I felt like the gun was going to go off for the cross country state meet, or I was going to sit a six hour quantum physic exam. This rates right up there in the stress. If I was prone to heart disease, I’d likely be dead.

And then Steve waltzes up the steps, sits and says casually, “Well, they accepted your offer.” I thought we’d fall out of our chairs but it was so nonchalant that I just stared at him. We signed some papers and made a few phone calls to set up sea trials and survey for the very next day.

It was late in the day and we were to be back at the boat at 8:30 the following morning. Instead of driving two hours back to Naples, then retracing our steps the following day in the wee hours of the morning we opted to get a hotel in Fort Lauderdale. After a good night’s sleep we were back on the boat early and really, really excited.

Kenan took us to the haul out, all the while making chit-chat in that British accent that will always make American ladies swoon. We navigated the busy waterways of Fort Lauderdale, avoiding towed yachts, ducking bridges, and jockeying in the respectable current. It was all very exciting.

At the shipyard we docked carefully and waited for the lift, a massive motorized contraption that looked like it had been built out of Legos by some industrious ten-year-old. The workers guided thick straps under the hulls and positioned them carefully to not sit on the keels, rudders, or sail drives.

With the grumble of a motor the boat was lifted slowly from the water, her undersides gleaming. The motorized lift rolled forward, for a second leaving the boat behind before it swung slightly and equalized in its motion.

Once over firm ground the boat was lowered slightly and we gathered around it. Usually things look bigger underwater, like fish or skinny dippers, but this definitely looked much bigger out of the water. I wondered what I was doing.

The rain began to fall, fat and slow, and we all took shelter under the catamaran’s bridge deck. I wondered what people with monohulls did in this situation. Our surveyer Jon, who specialized in catamarans and knew the Lagoon 380 especially well, filled us in on his assessment of the boat so far. We were happy to hear positive news all around.

The boat was put back in the water. I think I heard her audibly sigh. It’s unnatural for a vessel to be hanging from her hulls. We motored out into the Atlantic and put up sails. The wind was slight so we didn’t sail long, but enough to get the feel of the boat, work the sails, and give the surveyor a chance to check them.

On the way back in the sky opened up again on us. I took the helm by request and let the others take shelter in the saloon. Without rain gear my shirt was quickly soaked. We waited twenty minutes for a bridge in the rain, working the twin diesels to keep us close enough to the bridge to shelter from lightning, but far enough to avoid collision.

When we got back to dock I was soaked and chilly, but very much excited. We sat in the saloon and got the rundown from the surveyor. All in good, working shape, a few things that need to be addressed, but nothing major. Green light. We signed the Acceptance of Vessel.

We stayed for an hour or so talking to Julie and Kenan about the boat and each others’ lives. They are a really interesting couple, extremely personable and open and we’re so happy to be accepting the boat from them and carrying on her adventure. Miranda and I drove back to Naples with our heads spinning. We now are left with the task of getting all the paperwork settled and wire transfers lined up. If all goes well, we close in early October and move aboard then. Oh, and one more thing- No name set in stone so far… hmmm…

Boat Hunting in Florida: Day 4

26. Jun. 2014
/
Planning the Trip, The Boat
/
1 Comment

Author: Pete

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
[26°8′N 80°9′W]

Thursday. We were hoping to meet up with a broker we had already talked to when we were still in Chile, but he’s been down in the Carib selling a boat and we’ve been playing phone and email tag. So, plan B. In a quick perusal of Yachtworld and Sailboatlistings we found three boats of interest with the Multihull Company brokerage. Gave Alexis de Baucaud, their senior broker, a buzz. He too was down in the islands, but set us up to check out the boats on our own! Armed with some addresses and key-codes we jumped into the car, again, for a treasure hunt. There’s always a mast at the end of the rainbow. All week we’ve been driving up to some unassuming house, not sure if there’s any water nearby, and lo and behold, a mast sticking up from behind the low, one story house.

Our first boat of the day, a 2001 Fortuna Island Spirit 37’ was an immediate hit. Great size, nice and beamy. Felt solid and stable. Lovely open cockpit and excellent access to uncluttered decks, solid bimini and superstructure, well outfitted, and good vis from the helm. Nice open salon and galley up. She had a few knicks in her decks, but then again, so do I. We scampered about happily, feeling a little sneaky for being there on our own. Peered in cupboards, through hatches, and under mattresses. It immediately went to the top of the list.

Our next stop, luckily only a few minutes away was a Maxim Yachts, Voyage 380. Again, snuck behind someone’s house, slipped through a fence on the side, and finagled our way into the boat via a lock box. I think the James Bond music was playing the entire time. The Admiral was stout and strong. She would’ve been a favorite had we not seen the Island Spirit previously. The salon layout was much more crunched and the overall space on the boat was inefficiently distributed compared to similar boats. Would do the trick without a problem through, I’m sure.

Our last stop of the day was to see a 2001 Lagoon 380. Dariousz, a Polish-French gentleman was selling it right after seven years of cruising it from the Med with his wife and young daughter. He took great care, pride, and records of his boat, all of which he showed us with eagerness. The boat was immaculate, almost perfectly loaded, and at a great price. The only problem is that the great price is still at the upper limit of our funds.

We toured the boat with Dariousz, then sat and had a beer with him in the cockpit, chatting about the boat, international living, and futból. He had Brazilian beer, Brahma, in honor of the World Cup that was playing in the salon. He told us the boat was pretty much sold to someone in Boston who didn’t even come down to see it, but still wanted to haggle over the price. He was adamant that he set the price fairly, and that anyone who came down to see her would agree and not insist on haggling per industry standard.

Of course we loved the boat immediately. He asked us if we had liquid capital, which we do, and he started discussing selling it to us instead. I think he partially didn’t like the current buyers as much as us, and partially thought that we could move the boat faster.

Called Alexis when we left as a rumbling thunderstorm came in and started spattering the mango trees around the boat. He gave us the scoop on how we could potentially throw a bid coup. We took notes, sort of stunned that this might even be a possibility, our brains churning over the logistics and gravity of the situation at hand. We went out for dinner and over an hour or so weighed the pros and cons of the deal. Miranda was enamored with the boat’s immaculate condition and sturdy feel; I played devil’s advocate and discussed the price being higher than we had originally been planning to spend. We hemmed and hawed. We looked at our finances, and attacked the situation from all different angles.

Then we decided to go for it. We made an offer.

Boat Hunting in Florida: Day 2

24. Jun. 2014
/
Planning the Trip, The Boat
/
No Comments

Author: Miranda

Location: Jacksonville, Florida
[26°8′N 80°9′W]

Slept like the dead. What a glorious feeling to be able to sleep horizontally after spending a night scrunched up in a pseudo-inclined airline seat. Went to bed early so we could wake up early and get on the road. We decided to do a long push to Jacksonville to see a 35’ Wildcat Mark II, and then make several stops along the way back to Fort Lauderdale, looking at other boats we’d been eyeing.

The five hour drive got significantly better when we realized the rental came with XM radio, and that meant several stations devoted to the formidable jams of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Heaven! I won’t tell you how many ridiculous Bon Jovi songs that we belted out at the top of our lungs… but it was many folks. Many. A lot. A lot for love, you might say. Oh, how Pete loves that lyric. Oh and this sweet treat really got us grooving..

We met Al on the docks, and he took us in the dinghy out to Quest, which was on a mooring in the river.

Al and Caryl were gracious hosts and very knowledge about their boat, which they helped design when it was built new, and then sailed it across the Atlantic from South Africa.

We could have spent hours chatting with them about their travels, their sailing knowledge, and their cruising stories, but, alas, eventually it was time to head out, as we had more boats to see that afternoon.

On our way back to south Florida, we stopped in Merritt Island to meet with Valerie and see her 35-foot Jeaneau Lagoon catamaran. Valerie is one of those people you meet and immediately say to yourself, “wow, I want to be friends with this person!” Even as a young sailor, she has many years of experience boating in the Caribbean, and her boat looked much newer than the 18 years that it had. Three tiny, adorable dogs also greeted us as we stepped aboard. Somehow a 35’ foot cat with a 16’ beam seemed to fit three adults, three dogs, and enough equipment to live aboard just fine.

Valerie regaled us with sailing stories, as well as stories of her fiancé Chris’s time spent living in Colombia. Wish we could have met him as well, but we are crossing our fingers that fate will pull us up next to them on a barstool in Caribbean someday, where we can share sundowner and talk about living in a country we now love so much.

Got stuck in a thunderstorm on the way back, which meant that we missed seeing boats on the hard in Titusville and also in Fort Pierce.

Just got too late in the day, and the marinas were closed when we passed through. Unfortunate, but these menacing, afternoon thunderstorms that come out of nowhere are just so darn cool… when you have an enclosed car to hide in, of course. As we were oh-ing and ah-ing one storm, I thought out loud to Pete, “boy- these are definitely not going to be as fun and exciting when we are out on the boat.”