Deja Vu

It's seems strange now, coming down my drive through the woods and not seeing at least one sailboat sitting idly under a tarp, waiting patiently for its next misadventure.  For 9 months, when I was out of compliance with June's one boat at a time rule, there had been the beginning of a small fleet.

Seanility and Guppy are both gone now, but the absence of boats in our yard, doesn't guarantee complete harmony on the home front. Aspirations for a larger boat keep the tensions just below the surface.

June's parents lived well into their 90's and I'm confident she will too.  For that reason, she's rightly concerned about making our nest egg last for the duration - whatever that may prove to be. I, on the other hand, have parents that didn't survive their 70's and had little to cheer about the last 10+ years of their lives.

As a consequence, I've always been a live for the moment kind of guy and June is a plan for the future type. After forty seven years of marriage, we're arrived at an uneasy truce. I've learned to be more frugal and she in turn has learned to enjoy splurging on the rare occasion.

Buying a larger boat might be easier if June shared my love for being on the water.  The fact that she doesn't, makes it all seem a bit selfish on my part. And, I understand that it is. But, still I want to find a boat that she might enjoy occasionally.

Boy, that last statement has a deja vu written all over it.  I remember buying a 24' SeaRay Weekender years ago with that same thought in mind.  It had a cabin with a v-berth, alcohol stove, refrigerator and a head.  All the comforts of home, sort of.  Heading out Lighthouse Point inlet, June's first question would be, "When are we coming back?"  It took me nearly 10 years to learn that she wasn't interested, no matter what boat I had.  Therefore, my last power boat was a 20' Boston Whaler Outrage center console open fisherman.

With the sailboat, however, my personal requirements don't differ that much from what I imagine might be more appealing to her. A roomy, stable boat that's easy to single hand, and comfortable to overnight on for a few days at a time. I confess that I harbor no illusions that the overnight on for a few days a time requirement is at all important to June.

Please excuse my little exercise in self-justification here.  I'm just practicing.

32' O'Day Center Cockpit

One of the concerns that I mentioned previously was the placement of the head in most boats in the 28'-30' range.  The proximity of the boat's head and the heads of the occupants of the v-berth is often less than 2 feet.  Not ideal when there's more than one person aboard for the evening.

I stumbled across an ad for a 32' O'Day Center Cockpit that has a head located aft, on the port side of the companionway.  It also has a walk over aft cabin that has a head and a sink.  Privacy for the aft cabin head, however, is nonexistent.  Not much room to build a enclosed head in that small space.

This CC O'Day had a centerboard keel that draws 3' 4" up and 7' 1" down.  Reviewers rave about her ability to sail to windward and how stable she is in rough seas.

                                       

The photos showed it to be in reasonably good condition and it was within my price range.  One drawback was that it was located in Cape May, NJ.

I spoke with the owner, who lives 90 minutes away from the boat, in Philly.  He had a local party interested in the boat and was scheduled to show it on the weekend.  He promised to take pictures of the things that I wanted more info on when he showed the boat.

I started thinking about how I would go about getting the boat from Cape May, NJ to Oriental.  I don't have enough experience or chutzpah to try to take an unfamiliar boat offshore from Cape May to the Outer Banks or even as far south as Norfolk, Va, where I could take the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) south.

That left a long voyage, up the Delaware River to the C and D Canal, through to the Chesapeake and then down to Norfolk, before taking the Dismal Swap Canal south to Albemarle Sound.  The whole trip might take two weeks.

Unfortunately, the boat was sold before I even had a chance to see it.  Fortunately, the boat was sold to someone other than me before Super Storm Hurricane Sandy pounded the hell out of the Jersey shore a week later.  

These are pretty rare boats, particularly with the centerboard keel and usually demand more money than I can afford to spend.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for another one.