AM I TOO LATE?
Take Two

Here it is nine months after my horrific (read that fantastic) sailing experience along the Gulf coast of Florida in January sitting on my very own money pit, time consuming, aggravating and aging...beautiful, fantastic, comfortable sailboat. But, it's been a bit of a journey getting here. Here, by the way, is in Oriental, North Carolina.
Following my sailing classes in December and again in January I began my search in earnest for my boat. After looking and reading about hundreds of boats on the web, magazines, books, brokerages and people in general, I kept coming back to a specific boat and eventually gave up looking at other boats and focused exclusively on the Island Packet.
Every boat has its positive and negative aspects. It boiled down to the Island Packet had more pluses then minuses for my intended use, level of experience (or lack thereof) and what appears to be a descent re-sale value. Plus, the company is still in business and has a rich IP owner website for answers to any question I might have. Did I mention the company is still in business? Let's not forget the fact I used my retirement money to fulfill this dream and hope to one day recoup a good percentage of it back when it's time for the 'ol folks home (I'd rather be eaten by a shark!)
At this point let me inject how brilliant I looked to all my friends at the time of my purchase. Rather than face their scorn and ridicule, I was praised as being a "master of timing", a "smart tactician"; and "savvy investor". The same week in July I pulled my retirement money out of the market (much to my financial planner's dismay); the market dropped several hundred points...and continues to do so as of this writing (I believe riots occurred over the lack of adequate training for sanitation workers in Lichtenstein causing the most recent drop).
These are indeed strange and unchartered times when a person can look brilliant to friends for pulling his/her retirement money out of the market and buying a damn boat!!
Back to my journey to find my "perfect" boat; a couple of months after completing my January sailing classes I found a boat for sale by owner located in the US Virgin Islands. The boat was a little smaller than I wanted, but hey, it was already where I wanted to be. How convenient is that? I had been talking to another couple selling their IP in North Carolina. It was the boat I wanted, but the appeal of already being in the USVI was strong.
I spoke with the owner of the St. Croix boat numerous times over several weeks and we developed a good repoir. I believed we had covered every system and piece of equipment on the boat. The boat was in terrific condition, needing nothing essentially. I lined up a surveyor on the island, arranged for a short-haul for the survey, bought my airline ticket, got a certified check for the deposit and planned on a quick 3 day trip...down and back to by the boat.
It's a loooong flight from Oregon to the USVI. I got there mid-afternoon following the red-eye flight. The owner was anxious to meet me and show me the boat. He had lived on this boat for many, many years and was very proud of it and the improvements he had made to it.
I would have preferred to catch some shut eye for a few hours. I felt a little "rummy" following that long flight. But, I too was anxious to see the boat so plowed on meeting the owner and seeing the boat.
We sat in the salon as he pointed out different things to me; the total amp hours the batteries provide, what the solar panels contributed to the house bank, the improvements made to insulate the freezer/refer; condition of the rigging, tackle, sails, gel coat, etc., etc. The day ended with an early dinner and I crashed in the hotel room I had reserved at the same marina the boat was docked at.
We had not discussed what I would offer him for the boat. Over one of the meals we had together he mentioned he had several parties inquire about the boat but they were trying to steal the boat with their offers. He mentioned a figure as an example. Damn if it wasn't what I was going to offer. It was ten percent less than his asking price. I wasn't trying to steal the boat, but given the economic times we're in, and the fact it was a cash offer with no financing involved, it would have been a fair price. I didn't say anything to him yet as I was now thinking what my new offer might be.
The next morning we continued to talk and look at the boat. "Where is the dingy", I asked? "Oh, it's over there", he said, pointing to one of several deflated dinghy's on the ground next to the dock. "It has a small hole in it", he commented. "I've looked for it and can't find it", he said, "so I have to put air in it every so often" he added.
So I may need to buy a dingy. I held back a little money for something like this. No biggie.
"Where is the outboard", I inquired. As I did so, my eyes searched the dock area for an outboard. The only one I saw was lying in pieces on a nearby dock. "It's over there", he pointed. "Its shot", he said. "I've tried to get it to run but you'll need to get a new outboard".
So I may need to buy a dingy and outboard, plus I've already spent $1500 in travel expenses, not counting the survey and haul-out fees. My hands are starting to itch from nerves.
I take a deep breath and plow on. I've already invested a lot of money into this boat. Let's continue on. "Can we fire up the radar so I can take a look at that", I asked. "Ya know, that radar doesn't really work so well anymore", he said, "plus its only good for 16 miles, you need to get one good for 24 miles".
Now the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up and not only are my hands itching, but my arms too as a nervous rash continues to spread.
Seriously, I was dumbfounded that he had not revealed these things to me on the phone during our numerous conversations. I really didn't know what to say. I went to my hotel, then for a walk.
We met the next morning and I told him I was feeling uncomfortable with making the purchase at this time. I wasn't calling off the deal just yet, but I did not want to invest in the survey and haul-out until I had a couple of days to digest what I now knew about the boat and review what my cash reserves were for all the other things I would still need to acquire.
I couldn't call the surveyor to cancel him, so he showed up and joined us for breakfast. I apologized to him for cancelling and explained I couldn't get a hold of him in time to cancel. He was a very friendly chap who completely understood. He had lived and sailed the Caribbean for many years and was very knowledgeable. He advised me not to proceed with the survey if I wasn't positive it was the boat for me. He declined my offer to pay him something for the inconvenience.
After he left, I told the owner that I would like to start the engine up and take a look at that. His response floored me. He said he was going to be too busy selling his boat to meet with me any further. We parted ways.
I flew home and kept going over in my mind what had happened and what did I do to contribute to the deal blowing up like it did. My biggest mistake was not making an offer for the boat early in our conversation. This was foreign to me, as I never made an offer on something sight unseen before. But it appears in the boating world that this is a common way of buying boats.
I was also wrong for keeping my thoughts to myself. I didn't express my misgivings and growing list of concerns clearly. Instead I just kept gathering all this negative information. I kept waiting for him to "sell" me on the boat...and that never happened.
He is a nice fellow and I hold no ill-will towards him even though he concealed problems with the boat until I traveled all that way. I think we both approached the selling/buying process from different perspectives.
Upon my return home, I called the couple selling the boat in North Carolina. I had told them if for some reason the deal in the USVI fell through I would get back in touch with them.
I explained what happened and we went through every item I could possibly think of with them. A couple minor items that needed attention were taken care of by the sellers. We stayed in regular communication both via telephone and email. We communicated well with each other. This time, we had discussed a specific price other than the asking price.
With the help of the seller I arranged for a survey and short-haul and sea trial. I flew into New Bern, picked up my rental car and drove to Oriental, a beautiful, quaint tiny community made up mostly of retirees and sailboats and people who work on boats. I got to the hotel around midnight...and crashed. At 8am (that would be 5am my time) I met the surveyor and seller on the boat.
It was clear the couple selling the boat took great care of her and tended to all necessary matters. The surveyor, at the end of the day and the sea trial, commented on what a good boat she is and what great condition she was in.
The next day at lunch we struck a deal. The sellers had retained the services of an attorney to act as the intermediary for the transaction and hold all monies in escrow. We signed papers. I flew home, wired the money as directed to the attorneys escrow account and we proceeded from there.
The sellers were absolutely the best. They went out of their way to assist me with every silly question I could think of about the boat, sailing, North Carolina, transferring the Coast Guard documentation into my name, transferring the EPIRB registration, how to light the stove, turn on the air conditioning, etc., etc. On July 26th I took possession of the boat.
I had the boat hauled out the first of August to have one side of the hull peeled and paint the entire bottom, add a swim platform to the stern that swings up and locks in place when not in use, added a Wi-Fi antenna to the mast, change the name and added a teak bow seat.
The insurance I secured for the boat requires me to stay in Oriental until Nov. 1, 2011 and return by June 1, 2012. The odd thing about that requirement was shortly after buying the boat the only major hurricane to hit the US mainland so far this year aimed directly for...you guessed it...Oriental, NC. I think I will call my insurance agent and see if they want to amend that requirement. Maybe make sure I'm in Florida during hurricane season...or Hispaniola.
The boat suffered no damage as it was on the hard being worked on and all the people at Sailcraft Service were here throughout the storm guarding the boats and constantly working the screw pedestals they sit on as the storm and weight of the boats kept driving them deeper into the ground.
The plan, at this point and subject to change at any time, is to stay here for another month learning the boat and then head south to Florida with the Bahamas as the final destination (for this year anyway). Let the adventure begin...and to hell with the stock market!!