Cruising the Med

One year after selling the business, I set off to find an Amel Sharki. I had been watching the market on the Internet for quite some time so I knew what was for sale, where and at what prices. The criteria were fairly straightforward, the boat needed to be within a sailable distance from the Med, it had to have roller furling sails and it had to be in good condition. At this stage of life, I didn't want a "fixer upper".
I knew that my search would have to be in winter to avoid the "spring rush" when sailors thawed out as the weather warmed. I decided to start looking, in earnest, in January 2013. I thought that would give me time to run at it a couple of times, if necessary. Since I wanted roller furling, this limited me to boats built from 1986 to 1989, of which there are less than 100. As 2013 dawned there were three candidates, all around Marseille. In retrospect, I made two mistakes in choosing January. Living in Florida, one forgets how grey, miserable and cold it can be in northern climes in January. You forget that Madrid and Rome are on about the same latitude as Chicago and Milwaukee, and who wants to go to Illinois or Wisconsin, in January. My second mistake was to choose the worst winter that the Europeans had encountered in decades.
Naively I blocked off five working days towards the end of January 2013 and set off to see two and maybe three Sharkis.
The first one I saw was the only sloop rigged Sharki ever built. Amel boats are always ketches. It was built specially for Henri Amel's attorney, in Switzerland. Sailing on a Swiss lake, the attorney wanted a taller mast and bigger sails. Henri acceded to his wishes but I wondered who paid for the redesign because you don't change rigs so dramatically without revisiting the design calculations and ballast specs. I was excited to see this "one off" especially as I am not a fan of the ketch rig. What a disappointment. The boat was a "fixer upper." My reading was that the elderly owner (it had changed hands since the days of the attorney) had used it as a power boat, installing a 100 HP turbocharged engine in place of the original 50HP one and then simply driving his grandchildren around the Med, each summer. Apart from the very expensive engine, it looked like nothing else had been spent on the boat. It seemed like the boat had been "ridden hard and put away wet." A big let down.
The second boat was in much better condition and had one of Amel's early attempts to convert manual furling of the main to electric. It was in generally good condition but, like the sloop, not much had been spent on it during the last 25 or so years. I decided that the cost of getting her back up to scratch was going to be very expensive and was not reflected in the asking price. I took that one off the list.
I had not actively pursued boat #3 because it was somewhat further away, close to the French/Spanish border and I thought I would find what I wanted in one of the first two. Bummer. But I still had a couple of days in hand so, rather dejectedly, I set off in pursuit of boat #3. The Europeans are not known for their attention to the customer's needs and it was almost impossible to contact the broker and get him to return my calls. Several times I was ready to quit but I thought "What else are you going to do for the next two days?" To add insult to injury, it had been snowing, something I never expected in that part of the world and my rental car was woefully inadequate at coping with the slipping and sliding. Finally I made an appointment to view boat #3.
The snow had receded and I (halfheartedly) set off to Gruissan, where boat #3 was located. I had looked up Gruissan in Google maps at the hotel but once I left the hotel network, I just had that page on my I pad. Driving towards Spain I listened to the weather report on the car radio. Although it didn't look like it, the forecast was for snow. I decided my French was inadequate, I couldn't see anything that looked like an impending snowstorm. Fifteen minutes later, wham, a blizzard. I was learning about the vagaries of the Languedoc-Rousillon weather. More about that later. To cut a long story short I reached Gruissan about 6:45 PM for my 5:00 PM appointment. The snow was coming down, people were hurrying home, it was pitch black by then, cold and miserable. Several times I thought of throwing in the towel. No boat was worth this. My I pad page was not fine enough to give me good directions, I asked passers-by but they were not much interested in some foreigner, with bad French, who was stupid enough to be asking for directions in the middle of a snow storm. I did not have a cell phone to call the broker but finally I shouted uncle. I figured I was somewhere near the boat and there was a small "corner grocery" so I went in and asked to borrow the proprietor's cell phone. I called the broker and was astounded to find he spoke English. Wait, were his instructions.
After about twenty minutes a 30-something transplanted Breton arrived. Off we set in the snow to the marina. It was less than 100 yards away. I had almost found it on my own.
We climbed aboard, taking off our snowy shoes before entering the cabin. So there we were, the broker and I, in our wet socks, in an unheated cabin shivering up a storm (excuse the pun). I made a quick inspection and the boat seemed to be what the other two were not. Generally in good condition. A full array of electronics. Enough stuff on board that you felt you only needed to bring your toothbrush. I thought "You may have found your boat."
Realizing that I needed to take a better look in daylight, I said as much to the broker and asked if there was somewhere I could stay the night. His reply elicited a wry smile from me, "You don't have a choice" he said, "We have received 10 cm of snow and the roads out of town have been closed. This is the first time we have seen snow in Gruissan in fifteen years." So, off to the Best Western I went.
I woke the next morning to bright blue skies (see photo) and a howling wind. I knew immediately what I would find when I stepped out the door. Wind chills below zero Fahrenheit and snow that had turned to ice. If I hadn't been so anxious to see the boat again, I would have happily snuggled back under the covers. Braving the arctic cold, the broker and I returned to Cap des Isles. I went through my check list and decided that I would make an offer subject to survey. The offer was accepted, a tentative date in March was chosen for the survey and late that day I drove back to Aix for an early morning flight, the next day, from Marseille. Interestingly enough, as I drove out of the hotel to go to the airport, the thermometer in the car showed minus 7 C. I thought the Med was supposed to be balmy Maybe it wasn't and maybe I was.
Interestingly, both of the other boats were sold by spring, in fact I believe there was an offer on the sloop the very next week. Even more interesting is that, during the nine months that have elapsed since that snowy day in Gruissan, there have been no more Sharkis that fit my criteria, for sale. When the three I saw were sold, that was it. If I hadn't bought Cap des Isles when I did, who knows when I would have found another opportunity, and, at this stage of life, waiting for opportunities is probably not the best use of one's time.