Our flights to Richmond were very straightforward, and we arrived at our hotel without event before heading across the street for some good old Southern cooking. Fried food is the local delicacy in these parts, and spicy fish is particularly good. Always one to stretch our culinary boundaries we even tried Budweiser’s new brew – a pale ale – which I’m almost ashamed to admit was really tasty!

Thursday was thanksgiving and we woke up to a ghost town, not unlike Christmas morning only one shop open on main street, few cars on the road. Realising that dinner prospects in Deltaville were almost non-existent we called ahead to the B&B and arranged some food there – lovely roast dinner as it turned out. A peaceful afternoon followed as we chilled in their lounge, walked along the docks, and reading cruising guides to the Inter Coastal Waterway and Bahamas. We tried to get to bed early that night to prepare for a big day, but we were both over-excited and lay awake chatting and pinching ourselves, and each other.

On Friday morning we headed to the boat yard at 9.15 to spend some time inspecting the boat before our surveyor arrived at 10 to head out with us for a seatrial. We were both really wound up, a mixture of complete excitement and anticipation, coupled with the memories of Rhode Island and an awareness that this boat also had the potential to disappoint. We met Jonathan and Ann, the husband and wife team who run the yacht brokerage, and got onboard the boat for our visual inspection.

Much to our relief the boat was great. We’re buying a 1985 boat, so it’s not going to be in perfect shape, but what we’re looking for is a robust platform from which we can build a boat that really works for us. Janus was just that. The electrical system, water and fuel tankage, galley (that’s the kitchen for all you landlubbers) and rigging were key areas for the inspection, and they all functioned well. The boat doesn’t have much by way of navigation systems or other electronics, a fantastic excuse for me to spend some cash, but the things that were there were adequate.

The seatrial was where we got to see how the boat handled. Don joined us for this part, and we headed out of the marina with Jonathan at the helm – partly because we didn’t own the boat yet, and also because he had previously entertained us with tails of customers who had phoned 5 minutes after leaving with their new boat to say they’ve just run aground just outside the narrow channel!. Kel had her eyes peeled incase we had to do this ourselves in future. We got out into the Chesapeake Bay, a stunning cruising ground, and hoisted the sails to get moving. The sun was shining, we had 15 knots of breeze, and we our breathing had returned to normal. It was wonderful.

Then we got the bad news. While travelling on Wednesday I had received additional pictures of the boat by email, one of which showed a substantial amount of rust on the keel at the joint between it and the hull, something Don had noted this in his survey. This was a high priority during the seatrial, and as Don and Keli inspected the bilge as we were under sail it became clear that the boat was taking on water. Kel and I had suspected that the rust was more than just a surface issue, and Beneteau’s steel keels are prone to this problem. 

We motored in to shore having checked over the instruments, engine, water system, and the faulty keel; to sit with Don and talk through the rest of his survey. Overall the boat was great. A good price, a lot of boat for our budget, and a layout and accommodation that we were happy with. It was a simple platform to build from and had better sails than we had expected. Don left us to think things over and headed home to finish writing the survey.

Over the weekend, with help from our broker Ian, and Jonathan and Ann, we agreed to split the cost of fixing the keel with the seller and have bought the boat. It’s amazing news, and we’ve been beaming from ear to ear all day. Both of us were starting to get a little stir crazy in Vancouver, and the snail’s pace approach to boat buying had placed strain on each of us. We’re both quite action-orientated, so sitting at home talking about boats, instead of being out there doing boats, didn’t quite suit our style. We’re breathing easier today!

And so tomorrow marks the start of a new phase of our life, our first boat and one less excuse as to why we’re not in the Bahamas already. It will take a day or two to swap over the titles on the boat and transfer the money, but we should be floating home owners by Wednesday. In the meantime we’re going to be busy pricing the keel job and other maintainence in two boat yards in Deltaville and one in Oriental, deciding where we will get the work done, and getting moving.

It feels like the blog will at last have some worthy content, and we will have no legitimate reasons to feel lazy or bored! People get your diaries out and book your holidays, this puppy has twin aft cabins and sleeps 9. Nearly enough space for the Lowly Knights!

We’ll keep you posted.

I’ve held back from writing much about our latest boat buying adventure mainly because of the disappointment of the last one, and a little faux superstition that talking too much about it might be tempting fate. But I thought a proper update was due before we head off to Virginia tomorrow morning.

The boat is a Beneteau First 38, and is actually 40 feet long, which was our original goal actually, although we revised this down when our money started to get tight. We found it online after our last purchase fell through, and weighed it up against the boat in Alameda that we had been considering. The main benefit in the end was that it was on the East coast of the states, Deltaville Virginia, and we could just sail it out of there instead of having to put it on a truck, an additional cost of up to $10k.

We offered on the boat at the start of November, and we signed off on it with a completion date of the 3rd December – tomorrow week. Having learnt a lesson in caution after our first failed purchase we decided we would arrange for a surveyor to inspect the boat first and give us a report on its condition before we booked flights and travelled out to view it ourselves.

Our surveyor gave us a verbal report on Saturday and the boat is in pretty good shape, with a few minor issues that we will need to examine carefully when we get there. We’re buying a 1985 boat, so it’s never going to be perfect, but we need to ensure that it’s in good overall condition, and all the essential electrical, mechanical and structural systems are sound.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Richmond Virginia, and then drive across to Deltaville to view the boat, and then take it out for a seatrial on Friday morning with our surveyor. If all checks out and the seller is willing to work with us to resolve any issues that arise from the survey and seatrial then we will be boat owners. At this stage it’s too early to tell if that will work out, but Keli and I are confident that this model of boat will make a fantastic home on the ocean.

So today is all about packing, getting things finished, and saying goodbye. We’re taking Dennis and Pat out for dinner tonight at the Boathouse for a celebratory dinner. They’re in the process of boat buying too, so they’ve been a great support in this difficult process, and despite having a fair idea of the perils we’re getting ourselves into have been overwhelmingly positive in endorsing our mad plan.

More details to follow soon, but for now it’s back to work.

Stu.

Our destination today is Riverside, California, where our fine friends Andrea and Hardy live. We’re both really looking forward to our annual catch up with them, and our first introduction to their one year old son Mahlon.

Yesterday we ‘did’ San Fran. Well Keli did anyhow. I chose to ‘do’ dirt biking with Dowdsy instead. Awesome balls! Mark & Claire have just moved down from Toronto and in a bid to assimilate with the natives Mark bought motocross bikes for his son Shaughn and himself. 4 hours of racetracks and trail riding. Fabulous. We grabbed dinner with them later in the evening which was lovely. I think I looked pretty good on the old bike:

A modest attempt at cornering on the track

This morning we woke up to pure luxury. Hardy’s parents, Tom and Caroline, live in downtown SF and have a beach house on Muir Beach, just 20 mins outside of the city. We met them at 5pm and had a wonderful chat over pizza and wine, listening to their stories of living in Central America and the Caribbean, and giving them the scoop on the boat. We were both really struck by their life experience, fascinating people and really hospitable. It was lovely to meet them after hearing about them for so long.

The beach house

The house is a wonderful, simple construction of wood and glass, with a large deck. Every window had a great view of the beach. The sea or the hills. A mother and two young deer sat all morning in the back garden watching us potter around making breakfast and drinking coffee. We’re stayed on their Paris apartment twice before and they have such a knack for creating simple, liveable, inviting spaces. We envy and really hope to emulated their ability to pick special homes and then open them up to people. If we find a little hideaway in Columbia or Nicaragua we may just attempt a similar feat. Kel has just told me that it must have a place for a hammock in the shade, I think we can probably work that out. If we’re stuck we can always grab a hotel somewhere like here: houston cheap hotels.

This rights many wrongs, well this and coffee.

After falling out on the way home from the Dowdses, a small matter of me failing to follow Keli’s instructions on the freeway and then taking her admonishment thickly, we made up over a coffee – even managing a game of chess without killing each other which is almost unheard of! It’s difficult to remain grumpy in such a zen like location, perhaps Maginness and Robinson need an all expenses paid trip to Muir beach- there’s even a nudist beach just below the house they could hang out on, so to speak.

Andrea and Hardy have become a continual source of amazing holiday destinations to us. I first met Andrea, pre Kel and Hardy, after failing in an attempt to chat up a hot lady at a Coldplay gig in New York. Having walked her (hot girl) back to her car and returned without so much as a peck on the cheek to a mile long queue for the bus home I didn’t fancy being delayed. I quietly slid in to the front of the queue attempting to arouse no suspicion and was greeted by a feisty Italian American who asked ‘excuse me, who are you?’ to which I of course replied ‘don’t worry, I’m just a queue jumper’. By the time our journey finished we had a date at her local Jesuit mass on Sunday, which became my NY church. That one little social infraction (i like to view it as charming and cheeky, almost Russell Brand esk?) gave birth to an amazing friendship that has opened Kel and I to great holidays in New York, Palermo, Paris, California and now a divine night in a beach house in San Fran.

It’s a funny, and in some ways lucky or coincidental happening, that has given birth to an amazing friendship. But I also think it’s the fruit of living hospitably and making conscious decisions to pursue opportunities as they arise. You make your own luck on these ones. Andrea and Hardy are already planning return visits to Columbia and Barbados which is really exciting, and we’re really hoping that Tom and Caroline make a trip out as well.

Today was also a really big sailing day as we viewed the Beneteau for the first time. As I mentioned earlier this week there are four options on the go, one of which was in San Fran. It was our first time on this type of boat, and we both had bucket loads of hopes and fears. Whatever we buy will be our home for the next 3-6 years, and despite all our research and rational thought, the right boat has to ‘feel’ right. What fun.

The boat in Alameda

It felt right. Spacious living, good deck layout. A well-loved boat waiting for new carers. This particular one has only had one owner, and has been on SF it’s whole life. We spent an hour working our way through a checklist, and in the end are both convinced that it’s the right model. We’re probably going to make our first offer on the boat in Rhode Island, it’s cheaper to start with and has a lot more kit, but this boat is a perfect backup which is great. I’ll phone our broker tomorrow to begin the bidding process.

On that note, somebody please tell me what’s to become of the stock markets and the global economy in general?! (204 miles to L.A. apparently) I’ve been watching the money markets, stock markets and housing news non-stop since we arrived in Canada as we’re going to have to convert pounds to dollars to buy the boat. In July the exchange rate was about 2:1, whereas today it’s down to about 1.75 USD to the pound- ouch! Thankfully we managed to sell our house, unlike so many of our friends, but I’m continually amazed at the extent of the crisis, and the complete failure of the free market to self regulate. Feels like a good time to be away actually, and definitely a time to learn some lessons about living more cheaply, or at least within our means- something we never managed in Ireland.

So, my turn to drive- does this road last forever or what? We’ll have driven 3000 miles by the time we get back to Vancouver- that’s about the distance of our longest ocean crossing, from Galapagos to French Polynesia. In a boat that takes a month mind you, I’ll write a book during that one!

One little story that I thought worth a mention happened in the doctors surgery, where we took Gran for a quick check-up on Thursday. Gran is fairly deaf and so conversations happen a volume that lacks subtlety. Returning from her consultation she waited with me while Keli booked her next appointment. We were chatting away when she leaned in to my ear and whispered, at something like 60 decibels, ‘have that man’s trousers split dear? It looks like his crotch is bursting out, perhaps the stitching has gone?’ The man was sitting directly opposite us, probably 8 feet away and of course heard every word. I maintained my compusure and avoided eye contact. I said to Gran, at a more modest volume, that I wasn’t aware whether his trousers had split, to which she replied (again at 60 dbs) ‘well take a look then and find out for me’. At which point Keli returned and we made a swift exit. We laughed a lot when we got home!

We got down tonight and headed out to the ballet – a production called ’9 Sinatra Songs’ by Ballet BC. I’m not exactly fluent in ballet, but I’m learning slowly. Kel had a great night and really enjoyed seeing the company again – she used to have season tickets.

Now we’re heading off again, this time on a road trip to San Francisco to view a yacht, and then to our awesome friends Andrea and Hardy in Riverside. We’re hooking up with Mark and Claire Dowds on the way through SF and I’m going dirt biking with Mark and Shaughan which will be amazing! Then on the way home we’re stopping in Seattle with Michelle Ford and our friends Marge and Bob Liston.

So, off to start packing for a 5am departure from Vancouver, but just wanted to touch base with our whereabouts. The boat we’re looking at is one of four in our shortlist, and I’d say it’s probably no.2 at present, but no.1 is in Rhode Island – a long way away. It amazes me that we will be driving for 17 hours tomorrow and still be another 7 away from Andrea and Hardy!

Check out the boats here if you’d like, if I new how I’d start a poll!

No.1
No.2 – which we’re going to see on Monday.
No.3
No.4

Will get another proper post up as we travel, and we’ll bring the camera so we can capture some shots of me killing myself on a scrambler!

After an hour with our yacht broker Ian yesterday talking through boats that we had found during the last month we made our most significant step forward to date in our boat buying/sailing/travel adventure. It’s actually a really big relief for both of us because there are so many boats out there that look the same or have similar features, but each has a distinct personality or character and getting the right ‘fit’ is important.

I left Ian’s feeling a tense and frustrated as it feels like both of us have been permanently attached to yachtworld.com for the last four years, and right up until the last minute with Ian we were still finding new models or brands that we hadn’t looked at already, rather than reducing the number on our (already too long) shortlist. I was starting to feel that despite having worked really hard for the last month, pretty much every day, comparing the merits of different yacht designs and interior layouts that our goal was no closer.

So we did what comes naturally to us… walked across the road to the Granville Island Brewing for a pint of their finest ale and some pub grub, I had their Island Lager and Keli had their Gastown Amber Ale and took a step back to talk it out. With some fuel in my belly and some time to reflect on the conversations with Keli it all started to make sense, were buying a Beneteau Idylle 37 or 38, and here’s a example of what she may look like:

Beneteau are a French company that have been building boats since 1884. They are known worldwide, and whilst some of their more recent models aren’t considered particularly suitable for offshore cruising as their construction is not as robust, the boats built in the 1980s are really good, and that’s exactly the era of boat that fits our budget – perfect.

We’re getting on one in Vancouver next week with Ian to double-check that we’re happy with how it feels, and then we’ll look at all the boats available on the market – at the minute only 3 in North America – and make an offer on the one we prefer. It looks unlikely that we will find a boat on the east coast of the States as we had previously hoped, so we’re considering one in San Francisco that we can either load onto a lorry and transport to Florida, or sail down the west coast. Over dinner tonight we’re going to chat with Humphrey and Claire, and Dennis and Pat about the two options.

Looks like we’re still on track to start sailing in November which is great. We’re both enjoying our Vancouver lives, but the cost of living here is a good bit higher than the Caribbean and we’re can’t afford to eat into our travel budget too much.

A thought about the blog…Not being a blogger, and having not attempted to write about travelling while travelling before, it’s been hard to find a balance between the factual information about where we are, the calendar of events as they occur in our day to day, and the reflections on who we really are as people and how we’re doing. Up to now things have felt a little stale, and/or polished. A little impersonal. And so from here on I’m going to try to loosen up a little on the keys and get more frequent updates about what life is like, rather than the calendar entries or factual monologues. Maybe it’s a bit of a ego thing too, little background questions like ‘would they publish this in the Independent?’. So a new resolution today… forget the Independent… I shall blog with personality and humour… loosen up a little… laugh at myself… post naked pictures on the Internet… continue merrily on my way without harming people.

I’ll keep in touch.