We got a boat! About 5 years ago, Angela got me an engraved magifying Chart viewer (a magnifying glass that’s meant to sit right on the chart) that said “Onward 2022” - which was meant to represent the name of our future sailboat and the year we were planning to get it. Well, after 5 years of hard work we have achieved the goal set out and we are now the proud owners of a 2007 Catalina 34 sailboat.
We started looking for a sailboat about 6 months ago and we finally found a boat about 3 months ago. After a very prolonged closing process (took over 2 months) we took ownership of our boat in early August. We decided to spend our first day as boat owners having dinner and spending a night on the boat. Sara had a blast - the build-up was very exciting for Sara and on Friday night we headed out with all our stuff for the weekend down to the boat.
Our boat, a Catalina 34, was in great shape. The only seller’s disclosure was that the heater wasn’t working - but I recognized a loose wire during the survey and after tightening it up, the heater started working. There were a handful of other minor things - but nothing urgent. The boat was/is beautiful and is super comfortable - big enough for us and comfy beds.
Derek and Diane came down for dinner and brought their grill + ingredients to make dinner. We had a delightful dinner on board and headed off to bed for the night. We had coffee/snacks the next morning on the boat before meeting to Hattie’s hat to meet up with Derek and Diane for breakfast. They had offered to help us sail our boat from Shilshole to Elliot bay where we had a slip.
Sailing was delightful, a smooth trip with good wind. After some docking practice and planning, we made it into our slip with only minimal trouble in some fairly strong winds. Lots of learning for us to do on docking - we have a while before we learn the ins and outs of our new boat and how she handles.
Lots more sailing posts to come - I have a feeling this is going to be a prevailing topic for our life for a while.