Written by Mike
How exactly did we come about owning 3 boats in less than a year?
Yes you heard that right! 3 boats in 2015!!! No we are not spoiled rich, and nobody has handed us random gifts. No did not win the lottery either!
This story has several parts to it; for now I will focus on the boats. We have a 2nd home in Florida (just north of Tampa). We are fortunate that we are in a neighborhood with waterfront canals, and a 5 minute water commute onto the Gulf of Mexico. Its the best back yard in the world!
When we got the home, the intention was to get a boat to play on the sand bars, and smaller islands just off the coast. Its not quite the Caribbean, but the sandy beaches and clear water sure is refreshing.
Insert boat #1 – A SeaRay SunDeck 220. Yes I, Mike, might be a bit impulsive from time to time. I walked into MarineMax and just signed the contract and bought a brand new boat. Lucky for me Lauren did not divorce me 🙂 This was a perfect boat, to go to the islands, throw on some tunes, pack a cooler, enjoy the wind and water and beaches.
How does boat #2 come into the picture.
The Fontaine Pajot “Lucia 40” catamaran “s/v UN-SPOKE-N”. Well this story is a bit more complicated. We did a vacation in Saint Martin in February of 2015, and fell in love with the island. How can you not? Sandy beaches, the nicest water, the best food, all of it was awesome. On this vacation, we took a day sail with a big 80 ft catamaran, with 20 strangers. The whole day was amazing.
Now fast forward 6 months. I watch an ex-pat show about a family running a catamaran charter in St Thomas. Immediately my mind starts to race. I knew right away what I wanted! No I did not go buy a boat with out the wife. Well almost 🙂
I started to follow blogs and read about powerboats. My friend Jamie, says “Dude you need a Sail Boat!” He always seems to be right, and wears the “I Told You So T-Shirt” with me. So I started researching sailboats.
I was home alone for 4 weeks in Florida.. Lauren was up racing in Canada at the Pan American games. This is where i get in trouble 🙂 I contact Frank McCarthy at Atlantic Cruising. I am curious if he has a Helia 44 in the area to look at in person. Why the Helia? Well, I stumbled upon Starry Horizons , a very cool blog of a couple who just got one, and started to sail the world. Great blog by the way….
I set an appointment to go look the boat, when Lauren came into town. The conversation went like this…
Mike – “Hun I have an Idea”
Lauren – “Oh boy now what?”
Mike – “I want to see this boat, its pretty cool”
Lauren- “We are not buying a 2nd boat”
Mike- “Yeah yeah, I know”
Lauren- “Ok I will go look with you”
I smiled deep inside and knew that seed had been planted!! Off we went to go look at the boat. Immediately we fell in love with the Helia, but felt we wanted a bit smaller boat. Frank, told us about the new 2016 model in the 40Ft coming out soon. The rest is history!
Expected Delivery – July or August 2016 (Yes I am counting the days)
How the hell do we end up with Boat #3?
I will keep this one short, and more to come in the upcoming posts.
In short, we took our ASA courses and realized that we loved sailing. Did we mention that we bought a brand new Catamaran with out ever sailing 🙂 Yes we are nuts.
So after the courses, we realized we have about a year to practice before this amazing Catamaran gets delivered… So I looked into chartering to practice, and its expensive. So I looked on boat trader and found a little 25 footer Macgregor from 1985, that happened to be in our neighborhood.. PERFECT! I said, “Lauren I have an idea” – She immediately said NO!! But, i am persistent.
So we are the proud owners of a little beat up sail boat, that I am doing a refit on. What a great way to learn to work on the boat and practice sailing.
Let the adventures begin!
