Getting started 1988

Our first steps were taken in mid 1998 when we talked about what we planned to do with everyone we knew. In June we went to find boats sitting in yards in need of TLC per the instructions in the Cruising 101 book. We found a 32' Pearson-Vanguard in Sheboygan, and somehow Judy found out who the owner was. The owner invited us to tour the boat and we did. We decided she was going to be a bit small for us and that we really, really hated gasoline engines. Next we kept hanging around harbors and one Saturday a retired school teacher and his son were docked in Port Washington with a for sale sign on their Tartan 30. They invited us to sail back to Milwaukee the next day if we were ready to leave at 8:30AM. We did and had a nice ride on a nice boat with lots of sunshine and a moderate breezed that allowed us to just make the harbor light on port tack very close hauled. Stopped in at the Racine Boat show and saw our first center-cockpit boat.

We got some real good pointers. The best one came from a fellow, former UW Hoofer who was in the small boat, sail making business for 30 years and was closely associated with a very successful Olympic Finn campaign that was headquartered in Madison. For the past 7 years he had been living three houses from us and sharing the same community pier with us on Pewaukee Lake. His advise was to spend a few hours talking with Chuck Kotovic, a fellow yacht club member, who managed a large boat yard in Milwaukee. He spent two hours with Judy and I one afternoon in October and helped us understand what our priorities should be. 34 to 40 feet, nice accommodations so that you could be comfortable, and it needs to sail well.

Next the very knowledgeable, Captain Ed took us on a brief tour of two boats. A Pearson 36 with deep draft and tall rig. This scared Judy a bit. Then we looked at a very clean Morgan 38, we both loved her, but the price was just outside of our comfort zone and I was a little bit intimidated with her large size.

Intense look around near Milwaukee in spring 99'

During the winter, we spent a lot of time looking on the Internet at Yachtworld.com as they had the nice pictures. We learned about Morgan 34's, Allied Princess, Allied Mistress, Tartan 37, Pearson 365, and Pearson 35. We went to the Strictly Sailboat show and spent most of our time at the Take the Helm seminars that were thoroughly enjoyable and informative. We also toured one of the newer Catalina's at the show. In the spring we stopped in at Larson Marine several times, and once at Crowley's. We saw in person a Morgan 34 that needed TLC, an immaculate Pearson 365, and a Morgan 38 that needed lots of TLC. In early June, we made an offer on a Bayfield 32, but it was rejected. An owner of a Tartan 37 let us look at his in great detail and we liked it, but there were none to be found in our price comfort zone.

We also purchase Volume 1 and 2 of the Practical Sailor's "Practical Boat Buying" books

The tour of the country - Summer 1999

We bought the pop up camper and started off to see the East Coast. First stops where on the West Coast of Lake Michigan. We found a lovely harbor in Menomoniee MI. Next we saw a Morgan 34 on a bulletin board near Charlovoix MI. It was located in the very pretty Harbor Springs area of Petoskey Bay. She had a very pretty dark blue al griped hull and was nice and clean inside. We made an offer that was accepted. Then we found a surveyor and agreed on a date to survey her. The first thing was to pull her out of the water. Within the first hour of the survey they found lots of damage to the centerboard trunk and asked us if we wanted to continue the survey. After considerable discussions we found that it would cost roughly 10K to fix and could only be done in the following winter. We abandoned her and continued our travels while scrounging the Soundings magazine. We inquired about a Tartan 37 in Sandusky, OH, but it was sold already.

Then we found Hummingbird, a well-kept 1979 Tartan 33, in Croton on Hudson. Croton on Hudson also had a nice campground at the county park right on the Hudson River and only 30 miles from New York City. I loved Hummingbird, but Judy thought she was just a bit too small and our offer was refused. Then we went across the river to the Haverstraw Marina and there we found a 1988, center-cockpit Gulfstar 42. We made an offer and it was accepted.

The Gulfstar survey and the cost of fixing her up. Early August 99'

I fell in love with this boat because we could get it for a reasonable price and she was big. We lined up a surveyor and spent the better part of a very long day going over everything with him. Then we analyzed the cost of getting her ready to cruise. The long and short of it is that she would have ended up costing us way more than we were comfortable with. So we abandoned her as well.

The Pearson 365 late August 99'

This boat was in Cotuit MA on the Cape. She has been out of the water for a few years and had corrosion on the valve cover of the diesel. We made an accepted offer and had a surveyor come to evaluate her. His conclusion was that since the hull repairs were not done by a qualified boat yard that it would not be suitable for the blue water sailing mission that we had anticipated. So we dropped that offer as well. We did meet Sam Lawson a very friendly and knowledgeable broker at Lawson Marine close to Boston.

Our son called and said that his old roommate and sailmaker friend in Racine had a friend that was selling a Pearson 365. The one that Judy saw in the summer of 1998 when she stopped in at a marina in Racine.

So off we went to go back to the Milwaukee area.

The Mariner 36 Labor Day 99'

We stopped at the Michigan City Marina to look around on our way to the National Dunes Campground and Park, and saw a marina with huge steel rod fences and steel gates with security coded electronic locks. We did not get to go in there. We then went to the campground to, drop of the camper and set it up for the night. On the way out of the Campground we came upon a small factory store for boat polish and asked the fellow if he knew of any sailboat brokers in the area, and he said there are none in this area. He suggested looking for a sailboat on the Michigan City Municipal marina bulletin boat. Then we asked him how we could get in there to look at the board, and he said just push on the gate and they will let you in.

So we drove backup there to Michigan City Marina and sure enough there was one boat on the board. We called the number and they told us which slip it was in and to take a look outside and call back if we were still interested. Needless to say Judy loved the inside which the previous owner showed us the next morning. Looking at the Pearson 365 in Racine the next day was just an exercise in sticking to commitments.