Monthly Archives: May 2013

A Birthday Gift

Matt’s birthday. We said ‘yes’ and put a formal offer on the boat. I told him he was never going to get a bigger birthday gift from me in his life.

A First Look at the Boat

I flew down to Maryland to see the boat. It was wonderful for just the two of us to spend time with Matt’s sister and her husband. I had some trepidation about going to see the boat (I’m the kind of person that needs a lot of personal space and quiet. Thinking about the four of us locked up in such tight quarters was starting to freak me out …). The boat was out of the water and up on stilts in the marina (‘on the hard’ in sailor lingo). I slipped off my shoes and climbed up the ladder and onto the boat. As soon as I was on deck, I had this incredible feeling of freedom and expansiveness. When I went down into the cabin, I looked around at the space and thought “Yup, this is doable.”

Maryland

Matt called to say he was thinking of going straight down to MD to see the boat. After he saw it, he called me and said it seemed pretty good and that he wanted me to fly down and see it. Thankfully, my mom was visiting and was able to stay with the boys. Things started happening very quickly after that.

Looking for a Boat

Matt had been interested in two boats – both the same model (a ‘Baba’ – I know, I keep wanting to add ‘ghanoush’ every time I say it). One was in Hawaii and one was in Guatemala. Matt had both of them reviewed by surveyors in order to assess what kind of condition they were in. We kept wondering about the logistics … how we’d get them to the East coast or how we’d get to them (with all the gear that we’d need for the boat) while at the same time being told by other sailors that posted photos of a boat are far from the scary reality. While Matt was in Ithaca visiting his father, he started working with a broker who had taken his family and done exactly what we were thinking about doing. The broker led Matt to an even better boat (a ‘Lord Nelson’) that had just surfaced in Annapolis, MD. It had an extra berth and its location was incredibly appealing. Annapolis is only 45 minutes from where Matt’s sister and her husband live – and the idea of being able to see them more and stay with them was at once appealing and comforting. It seemed like things might work out.

Finding a Boat

One of the very time-consuming tasks was to actually find a sailboat. Matt, who owned a 27’ sailboat (a ‘Yankee Dolphin’) shortly before we were married, loves boats and loves discussing them. I, on the other hand, know very little about them but attempt to feign interest. At some point, after a long discourse on the various types of boats and their pros and cons, Matt said that people tend to get distracted by all the equipment with which one can outfit a boat. He then expressed his own views by saying, “The most important thing is … you want the boat to float.” His profundity is one of the reasons I married him…