Hello out there everybody!

A little about myself before I get to my story. I am originally from Montana, graduated H.S. in Colorado and became a ski instructor at Breckenridge. My knee's were getting pretty worn out so I moved back to Montana for a bit and decided I wanted to go explore Alaska. Stayed there for about ten years and after experiencing -63 degrees I decided to freeze no more! So back to MT to recoup and decide what my next adventure might be. I have visited the east coast from GA to NY and had Always loved Pennsylvania so off I went.

I started to get an interest in sailing immediately so I started looking at boats, a lot of boats. It took about two years of searching every website I could find and sometimes looking in different states on Craigslist. One day I popped on CL and decided to see what's for sale in Virginia. I saw an Islander 32 marked for sale for $15,000 and it looked liked a very well maintained boat with a decent compliment of goodies included. So I contacted the owner and made an appointment to see her in VA. I went to the bank and drew up a cashiers check for the above and drove the 4 hours down I-95 to Richmond. My appointment was at 9am Saturday morning at the yard near Deltaville where she was on the hard and was to be put in at 10. I fell in love with her and upon inspection she was very, very very clean. So I bought her right then and there, YAY!

The owner had bought "Kismet" four years ago from a doctor that had owned her since 1993. He took impeccable care of her and kept some amazing records of all he did and wanted to do. In 1998 he installed a new Yanmar 3GM and a well designed fuel re-circulation system that will pump fuel through a filter then back into the tank. He also took out the oven and put a microwave in it's spot with a butane stove above it. The most recent owner had a new a new dodger and bimini made two years ago and new cushions were made just this summer. He had the boat hauled out a month before and had the yard do all sorts of maintenance so I didn't have to! Nice guy! New bottom paint, hull touched up with gel coat and then buffed and waxed. He had them change the oil and filters, put a new shaft seal on and zincs were put on right before she got wet. I am very appreciative of all this work as I probably couldn't afford to do all of it for another year. Thanks David!

So I went back to PA to get prepared to sail her up to Forked River. I chose the Marina at Captain's Inn for her new home as they allow liveaboards and the slip fee is very affordable. My friend Scott has his boat there and I have met so many great people there. It's more of a blue collar place with a mix of sailors, fishing guides and recreational boaters.

I contacted everybody I knew to help me sail the five to six days up the coast and only my friend Joe had the time and he is a very experienced sailor and a pretty cool dude as well!

I met David at the boat on Saturday the 7th of Sept. so we could go to a notary and get the papers signed over. He had me follow him home to pick up some more boat stuff and I was surprised with more goodies! He gave me a Crusair AC, a 35lb delta plow anchor and 30' of chain, 6 bumpers, a 120% hank on jib and a big bag full of line that were in decent condition. Thanks again David! I love free stuff hehehe.

We shook hands and I went back to the boat to spend the night on my new boat! I drove back to PA on Sunday to prepare for the trip up the coast. It didn't really hit me until I was about 50 miles into the drive and I let out a loud WHOOOO HOOOOO! I can't believe I bought a sailboat!