Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Time to start Blogging again!


Presenting The S/V SEA GLASS
It has been a long 8 months since we last posted. It's not that we didn't want to post but that we were really kind of in a waiting mode and there has been very little to post. Both of us have continued our 9-5 lives working and once we bought the boat we spent the remaining time working on projects to make it and ourselves ready ready. For the most part we have kept our friends and family up to date on this blog's Facebook page which I will try to condense a little of here.

In the Yard for the Out of the water Survey
So I had to fly down to Puerto Vallarta to do my inspection and survey to finalize the deal. I found the owner had already had her hauled and a fresh coat of bottom paint was being applied. I brought in a new transducer and VHF radio which they quickly installed while my surveyor checked her out.

Sea Trial on Banderas Bay


After putting her back in the water we left the harbor to do our sea trial. There was a good swell but not much in the way of wind.



Survey Complete and Happy It's ours!
 After discussing with Amanda and receiving the details of the survey we decided to buy her. I finalized the purchase with the broker and flew back home.

The slip is all ready in San Diego. Just waiting for delivery from Puerto Vallarta. 
We were lucky to find an available slip for her in San Diego. All we could do now was to just wait for the seller to deliver her to us in San Diego. There were a lot of storms and weather but we got a call about a month later to come down to the slip "Our Ship had Arrived!"



 The previous owner was amazing. She spent over 2 weeks on the delivery. When we came aboard she had flowers and Champagne waiting for us. Arriving the day before she had the oil changed and a complete detail service done.

The boat was in great condition as the previous owner had already completed a 3 year refit of her systems. We did need to fine tune her for our purposes. We put in a new Radar and Chartplotter, Returned her back to her original cutter rig by adding a new roller furling stay-sail with running back stays. A very talented shipwright repaired her water damaged teak walls and cabinets with new teak veneer. We had the windless repaired that had broke on the delivery. Put in a new Range/Oven and repaired the cold plate refrigeration. Repaired the depth gauge, and are now in the middle of re-doing all new cockpit cushions and upholstery throughout.

New Radar Display

 We went with Raymarine Electronics since it matched up with existing equipment.
New Roller Furling Staysail





Our Sailboat is a Kelly-Peterson 44' Center Cockpit. It was originally built as a cutter. The previous owner took out the rigging and sail and sailed her as a sloop. We had to completely re-rig the Inner Stay and order a new custom sail restoring her back to a cutter which we prefer.







While this work was being done to the boat we continued working and living. We had to sell all the furniture in the apartment once again and pack up the things we are going to keep before moving onto the boat. We got to enjoy being around family throughout the year. Enjoyed Easter celebrations at Amanda's sisters house, Attended the grand opening of my brothers new restaurant in Los Angeles and survived a bee hive on the bow.













We also got to fit in a weeks vacation the week after we moved aboard this summer. We loaded up the dinghy on a PWC trailer and headed to our vacation home on Lake Nacimiento in Paso Robles, CA. We relaxed as we did wine tastings among our favorite of the 300 wineries there. And enjoyed LakeTime too.




THE BACK DECK AT OUR RANCH

LAKE NACIMIENTO CALIFORNIA

JUSTIN VINEYARDS PASO ROBLES CALIFORNIA



   We both will be leaving our jobs here at the end of September in another week. And we are now 5 weeks from "UNTYING OUR DOCKLINES" and heading south. Follow us over the next month here and on YouTube as we spend the last month on final preparations.




We got the new name on her back side. Now to get off the old painted on name on her transom.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

We may have found our cruising home! Our Offer was Accepted!


                                            The Kelly Peterson 44' Center Cockpit Cutter Rig Sailboat

Well after quite a few weeks of inquirer and negotiation we have an agreement to purchase what we believe is our perfect cruising sailboat. After much deliberation and discussion, looking way outside our current area we discovered this fantastic opportunity! We really had not thought buying a sailboat over 1000 miles away in Mexico. But after exhausting the southern California region of available boats in our budget we had to go outside the box. So currently we are proud to announce that we are now under contract to purchase a boat we have never seen.






These boats are amazing cruising boats. You can find out a great deal of information at http://bluewaterboats.org/kelly-peterson-44/ for the whole story and we are very impressed. The current owner is a genuine USCG certified Captain who put her life and soul into refitting this boat for a circumnavigation over the last few years but in a twist of fate took a dream job to Captain a 100' Mega Yacht for it's owner for the next 5 years or this boat would not have come available on the market. We are so lucky to have found it. It's ready and equipped to go cruising now!

So after deciding to buy a boat that we had never seen, we made an offer. After a weeks negotiating we came to an agreeable price. We now have an agreement to purchase and we have paid the deposit. What is left now is to Fly down to Mexico from San Diego to do our final inspection , Sea Trail and Survey to make sure it is what we were told it was. So this week I'm going to do just that.

Nuevo Vallarta Where the boat is docked now and has been since 2008

1050 Nautical miles from San Diego

It's not that easy to get to from San Diego as there are no direct flights. The two choices were to cross the boarder into Tijuana Mexico and fly from there or what I'm doing is to drive to Los Angeles to fly direct as I hate layovers.

I had to previously arrange to schedule the boat for the haul out and surveyor while I'm there.

The plan is if everything goes right and we decide to go ahead with the purchase that a delivery Captain and crew will bring the boat to San Diego as soon as weather will permit. I would most likely fly down again to come back with the boat. About a 10 day bash to weather.



I have also had to make plans to find a marina here in San Diego to dock the boat when it gets here and have spent the better part of the week looking over facilities and walking docks. San Diego is a very popular place for yachts and is very difficult to obtain a slip for a mid 40' boat. I also came across dockmasters who were not to keen on work being done to boats in there slip or the eventual fact that sometime soon we would be living on the boat as we prepped for sailing away. We finally locked in a good mooring which will allow us to do both of those things over the next 8 months. We are happy also with the amenity and location near all the chandlers shops, grocery stores and restaurants.   So wish us luck. Here is a sneak peek at where we will be bring the boat to be our new home once the purchase is finalized. Stay tuned in as this story will certainly be continued.

Shelter Island is the closest docking to the open Pacific Ocean within San Diego Bay



Thursday, January 12, 2017

Kicking it in full throttle this month looking for our perfect sailing yacht....

Wow, in hopes of seeing a sunset like that from the deck of our own boat soon we have been looking at sailboats like crazy these last few weeks. We have had to look at all kinds of boats to make sure we could get one comfortable for our sabbatical. We have probably looked at most of the boats we considered candidates that are available in southern California.



We looked at this just listed C&C Landfall 48 in Newport Beach, CA. These are fairly rare as only 24 were built. We liked the raised deckhouse that provided great visibility and where you could monitor radar/chartplotter and be in out of the elements. But we didn't like the rear cockpit where we couldn't figure out how we could give it shade. And looking at the lack of a lazarette  & deck space aft for ease of boarding and having a place to hang out at anchor.


Then we went to Long Beach and San Pedro CA. to look at the next 2 yachts. This next one was an all original Celestial 48 center cockpit which we immediately fell in love with. This boat had the layout and space that we were looking for. We did not like the teak decks but they were in good shape for now. The owner of the last 15 years hasn't really done anything and it looked like it would take a lot of money and time to get her back to the condition we needed but at the price she could be bought for in comparison to what a yacht this size would cost today it was a tempting prospect.


The next boat the broker we were with exclaimed it would be the best he was saving for last. It was a Spindrift 43 in the rare center cockpit layout. If you have herd anything about the docks in the 9 square mile Wilmington section of the Los Angeles Harbor Region where this boat was located you will know it can only be described as a final resting place for broken dreams. After walking out through a sea of tied up derelict boats we came across the one shining light in this harbour. We were impressed with the overall condition we found this yacht to be in. and was even able to talk with it's owner. But after really spending time aboard this impressive double ender we knew it wasn't the boat for us.

We called it a day after traveling 4 hours round trip to look at 4 sailboats including a Morgan 41 that we immediately dismissed we needed to stop for  a bite to eat and to talk over what we had seen. We stopped in Laguna Beach at The Cliff restaurant where dining on the Pacific Ocean were able to see the entire Catalina Island in the distance 27 miles away but it looked so close you could swim to it that night. We eat and watched the sun set before driving back to San Diego.


The next day we were surprised to see a new listing for a boat we had looked at two of before and I was planning to go to see another one in San Carlos, Mexico in a week. We liked the layout but the one we had seen a few weeks earlier in Marina Del Rey, CA although being in Bristol original condition with a good price was not equipped for offshore cruising.

California Boat in Excellent Condition but no cruising equipment.

Irwin in San Carlos Mexico was loaded with cruising equipment.
















We immediately called the broker representing this boat excited to see a cruise equipped Irwin 38 (40.1' LOA) center cockpit. This would save a 22 hour roundtrip drive and the boat would be here in San Diego saving a $5K transportation expense, so we went to look at it. As a bonus the owner was there to talk with about the boat's equipment and history.





This boat was in great condition and we were instantly reminded how we loved the light, bright, well organised interior. The boat had a new cockpit enclosure, solar , etc. But we came off the boat instantly knowing we had been spoiled looking at 44' to 48' yachts and the safe living space they provided. Also we were not so sure how a 20k lb. boat with a 7K lb. keel would hold up in the open ocean after being saddled with all the food, equipment and gear we plan to have with us. We knew as soon as we got home we needed to take these Irwin's off our list.

So we end this 2 week period exactly where we started without the prospect of a boat. But the more we look, the more educated we become. And we know the right one will present itself at the right time.