We did it! We bought a boat! She is the one in the picture above, being piloted by the former owner in the Harvest Moon Race.
It was an exciting Saturday: Sea trial, paperwork, pulling the raw water impeller, our first grounding, a near perfect docking by me (beginners luck) and leaving her for a speedy return to Dallas. I will follow up with all the details but until then I have to think about what I just got us into!
We just got back to Dallas from Houston (Dayton actually) & are headed off to bible study with the McKinney Ave Group. We had a successful survey on Saturday, hauling our future (and yet to be named) home for a complete inspection. On Friday evening we drove down to Christie’s parents house, getting in around midnight. A quick six hour nap & we were headed down to Seabrook to meet our surveyor. Drake Epple, from Perry’s Marine Survey came highly recommended & has helped immensely throughout the whole process. He actually looked this vessel over when we first viewed her a few weeks ago and was impressed then. A full day began with hauling her out of the water …
… looking her over from the bottom up, including Drake snapping photos for his survey report.
This blog has been part of the “cruising plan” almost as long as the plan has existed. But my reasons for not creating it have been tied to my fears of failure. I didn’t create this blog because I was fearful that it would hold me accountable to the dream. With the help of my lovely bride-to-be I have slowly gotten over that fear. And the dream took its first big step today …
The owners of a beautiful sailboat have accepted our offer! We now begin the dance of survey, sea trial, insurance and who knows what else! I am planning to start making more regular updates so please stay tuned.
We spent many a weekends among the marinas of Galveston Bay, Lake Grapevine, Seattle and more perusing potential sailboats.
In our search to find the ‘right’ cruising sailboat, we created these business cards to help connect us with any and all potential matches. Vistaprint is a great resource to use to make free cards like these (+ $6 shipping). We handed them out to anyone who would take them … to everyone we knew, along the marinas we’d visit, posted them on marina bulletin boards & restrooms, etc. They led to a few calls & were great for new contacts, but ultimately we found our beloved Kaleo through Carolyn at HSH Yachts in Seabrook. We highly recommend working with her in a search!
Started the day with a little time “house” shopping before visiting Kelly & sweet baby Nico while browsing a few sparklie designs at Pampillonia.
Matt bought his first sailboat today! While living aboard isn’t quite comfortable enough today, this is an ideal starter to get out on the water and learn the ropes. Congratulations on the start of this sailor’s adventure.
