Seeking crew for a change...but not quite yet

It’s been over a month ago now.. In fact it was before the end of October that the broker...after several weeks of offers and counter offers, sent the email. “Congratulations your offer has been excepted!!”  Sadly, while waiting for the seller to return the e-signed agreement, the broker messaged me the sad news.  The owner had reconsidered and taken the Tayana 37 off the market.  I told the broker to increase my offer to the maximum I had in mind, but to no avail.  After a day or two of feeling sorry for myself, I contacted the owner of the Tayana 37 sitting on the hard in Venezuala as to if it’s still available.  It had been months sense I’d told him I was probably going to buy an Islander Freeport 36 in Rio Dulce.   He was happy to hear of my renewed interest.  This Tayana 37 in Venezuala is 1 year newer than the Antigua one but has the original wooden spars.  Although, they’ve been well maintained by the looks and sound of things.  The owner is an Austrian who had been living on h…

I was quite certain I would end up buying the Islander Freeport 36 down in Rio Dulce, Guatemala.  I had an offer to purchase price much below the asking price and the location was good as it is where I plan to keep the boat much of the year..hurricane season. Granted I had hoped to find a boat closer to Duluth but was planning to head south in a year or 2 anyway.  I searched online for a bluewater sailboat on the Great Lakes in my price range without success. I widened my search range and found several Tayana 37s and several Islander Freeport 36s...in my price range.  Both of these sailboats were designed by well known and respected Robert Perry.  Needless to say, being a true bluewater boat, a Tayana 37 was my preference between it and the Islander Freeport 36 just in case I might want to eventually cross oceans?  Two Tayana 37s stood out as both in my price range and in great shape with a list of extras. However, they were not ideally located.  One was in Antigua in the lesser Anti…

For about a year, I’ve done a lot of online browsing for used sailboats and took a closer look at 5 different sailboats.  I blogged about and almost bought a lovely Tayana 37 in Kemah, Texas last December.  Now I feel I’m very likely to be buying my own sailboat in the next few weeks.  An Islander Freeport 36.  Her name is Samarang and the owner and I are traveling down to Rio Dulce, Guatemala at the end of September, just weeks from now.  Once there I will have a marine survey done, including haulout and take a sea trial.   If the deal works out, I’ll return later on this December to spend some time getting familiar with the boat and the area.  Perhaps adding a few things I know I’ll want on my boat or at least researching the costs. Samarang is a 1979 Islander Freeport 36 .. a Bob Perry design.  I’ve been watching the listing for about a year.    

I certainly would have preferred to be sailing now... perhaps nearing the Rio Dulce or passing through Belize?  I booked my flight to Thailand looking only at the price and one fare, from an airport along the route my friends would be driving to visit mom stood out at $200 less.  I finally took the time to look closer at the itinerary on the drive north.  After a short flight from Saginaw, Michigan to Detroit Airport I had a 22 hour layover.   I did manage to get some sleep.  Just as I was getting kind of cold having decided to pack my jacket in my checked bag...an airport employee was handing out Delta blankets to the dozen or so terminal over nighters I noticed around the terminal end I’d chose.  I had found couch type seating in an open air restaurant seating area.  The wait is nearly over.  We should start boarding in a little over one hour.  

It’s been a few days now since I looked at a 1978 Tayana 37 in Kemah, Texas.  The Tayana 37 is on my ‘boats of interest’ list.  I’d been doing searches on various boats for sale including Tayana’s going back a couple months.  While at my friend’s Arlo and Jan’s, I decided to do another search for Tayanas and was surprised to find 3 or 4 I’d not seen before.  One was a real stand out especially considering it’s asking price.  It was in amazing shape and had obviously been well maintained considering it was nearly 40 years old.  There was also another Islander Freeport 36 also in east Texas, with a lower asking price than the nice one in Pensacola.  With 2 boats to look at I rented a car and drove to east Texas.  I first went to see the IF 36 near Dallas, which was on a reservoir.  The owner was living aboard and the boat smelled of tobacco.  It was not nearly as nice as the higher priced one in Pensacola.  It did have a very new engine with only 218 hours but it needed all new sails an…

After the Chaos at the Atlanta Greyhound Station, I was in somewhat of a zombie state when picked up by my old high school friend Arlo. That was on the morning of the 10th and my last real sleep was at the hotel the night of December 7.  Anyway, I caught up on sleep that next night...beginning at 2:45 pm haha.  After a relaxing next day and a lot of talking about sailboats, I mentioned a Corbin 39 CC I’d been looking at online that was located on an inland lake about a 2 hour drive away.  Today we decided to drive down to meet the broker and see the boat on Lake Lanier.  We could not figure out why the owner would have moved this true bluewater sailboat up to this inland lake?  It had previously been down in Stewart, Florida.  Lake Lanier is well away from the coast northeast of Atlanta.  One of the first things the broker talked about was the cost of moving the boat to the coast.  It’s estimated that cost would be $10,000 to $11,000.  It’s clear why the boat remains unsold.  Also the…

After arriving late to the Atlanta Greyhound I found the terminal packed with stranded passengers due to the winter storm.  It was insane.  They were announcing delays pretty much every single route.. as the hours passed a few busses announced loading..generally those heading south.  After another couple hours a list of cancelations we’re giving and people were told to come get re-ticketed.  We were told our bus was still delayed and we waited and waited.. total confusion as some holding the ticket I had were told to move to different line for boarding.. I was told to continue waiting with about a dozen others.  2 hours later we were told to go get re-ticketed as the bus was cancelled.  Our group was invited into a back desk for re-ticketing as the line was so long.  When I was just a couple people back from the counter someone... I think this one obnoxious woman giving everybody a hard time did it... Hard to say but a large fire extinguisher was knocked to the floor and fully discha…

It’s hard not to think about the contrast of my current travels compared to where I’d be now if there hadn’t been the engine troubles and I was still sailing.  Actually this was to be the estimated final day of motoring down the ICW and we would be likely heading out into the Atlantic to sail.  It’s 72 right now in Fort Lauderdale at 4:00 am December 9th.  I’m on a Greyhound bus yet again this time bound for Asheville, North Carolina.  Next stop Atlanta, Georgia and it’s 32 degrees as we passed Montgomery, Alabama.  The bus driver just told us there’s 3 to 4 inches of snow in Atlanta but he’d do his best to get there on time.  We were late leaving Mobile and Montgomery... I will switch buses 2 more times, once in Atlanta and again in Greenville, finally arriving in Asheville at 3:45 pm.  Hopefully the sun will be out and melt the snow so Arlo can come pick me up.  I’m sure there’s more snow up in the mountains near Bryson City where Arlo and Jan live.  It will be fun to spend some tim…

After my planned volunteer crewing from Jacksonville, Florida to Rio Dulce, Guatemala was canceled due to engine issues it was easy to decide to take Greyhound over to Pensacola to have a look at a Islander Freeport 36 I had been looking at online. I contacted the broker and he was nice enough to drive 21 miles to the Greyhound station and pick me up.. It had been a more grueling travel day than the trip down with waiting at bus stations and long bus rides. He met me at a McDonalds next to the bus station where I’d hung out over 4 hours. We had a good look at the boat and he answered a lot of questions and showed me more details not in the online listing. It’s certainly possible I could end up making an offer on this boat but not until I’ve looked at quite a few other boats. After looking at the boat he dropped me at a hotel fairly close to the marina I had reserved a room.. I was very tired and slept 14 hours. Here’s a few photos of the boat.