In the last post, I did a basic “catch up” of the few months post-lockdown and how we find ourselves in Port Townsend, Washington at the end of 2020 and most of 2021.

In January of 2021, David starts school at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. March 2021 begins the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. All through David’s many months, he’s been getting up very early, and after bringing me coffee in bed, he is on Zoom running personal training sessions and every morning stretch classes. Then, he goes to school all day, and comes home and often cooks dinner. How I got so lucky in the husband department after so many years of being with losers is beyond me, but I’m lucky!

Since our Sabre 36 sold in February, we start looking for a new boat in March.

The real estate market is hot hot hot, and you can’t find houses to buy. As soon as one is listed, it sells and usually for way over asking price. This is the same situation in the boating market. The pandemic and social distancing has caused people who probably shouldn’t even be buying boats to buy boats. Some people are selling houses and dumping ALL of their money into large sailboats they move onto, go sailing around the world, only to realize they don’t know how to sail as soon as they own the boat. Other people are taking basic sailing classes and thinking they now have the ability to sail in the ocean. All in all, it’s crazy, and because of that, 36′ boats are almost non-existent to buy.

Let me clarify that. 36′ boats that we WANT are almost non-existent. There are still plenty of Catalinas, Hunters and Beneteaus to be had out there. And since we have a 36′ slip in Port Hadlock, that’s what we are looking for.

In April, I contact the marina and ask if we can be put on their waitlist for a 42′ slip. As luck would have it, she says, “I just had a 42′ slip open up today, do you want it?” Well yes, yes we do. Suddenly our options have opened up.

Or have they?

We keep our eyes open now for larger boats. The various boats we looked at include:

  • Ohlson 38 – BEAUTIFUL, but at only 11′ beam, a bit too thin for us.
  • Sabre 42 – local, but looks like a blown-up version of the last boat we had, and doesn’t really do much for either of us.
  • Spectre 41 – could be a perfect boat for the PNW, but this one is in San Diego and the aft berth is not large enough.

It’s about this time that we start nailing down what’s important to us in a cruising sailboat.

Since the time David and I met, we’ve both been talking about going cruising. We came to the relationship independently wanting to cruise. My job is conducive to cruising too. Things start to line up, and we realize…

WE ARE IN OUR MID-50’s, and

IT’S TIME FOR US TO START HEADING TOWARDS THIS GOAL.

Or, as my uncle says “If not now, when”.

And that’s when we start coming up with the idea of what makes the perfect boat for us.