A month has disappeared somewhere since our last entry here and a lot has happened. So much in fact that we are precisely where we were a month ago!
We flew out of chilly, wet England and into a warm, sunny San Diego. And it's true, it never rains in southern California. Once again we were offered, and were delighted to accept the use of the Patchett's Oceanside condo. You can't pick your relatives, but sometimes you just get so lucky!
Our reason for coming back here was to take a good look at Captain's Mistress, the 50 ft cutter we've had such mixed feelings about. She has the perfect layout for a liveaboard cruising vessel, but she is a cutter, not a ketch. It means instead of the sail area being divided up between 2 masts(ketch) with head sails etc, with each sail being a manageable size for a cruising couple to handle, a cutter has a significantly bigger main sail... on a single taller mast and longer boom. It means more mechanical leverage is needed which is a significant added investment. Not that we couldn't
manage the sail in normal conditions, but it's the abnormal that needs to be catered for too.
She is still on our list of possible boats, but we would need to be able to agree on a lower price than the owner would accept at the moment.
During this month Bob the broker has also shown us over a couple of Hardin 45s, which was quite an eye opener. His parents lived on one for years so he knows the boats well. We were impressed with just how spaceous they are. Even though they're 45 ft on deck, they have more useful living space than a Vagabond 47 which was the minimum size we would have considered.
With a bit of detective work we were able to establish that the boat doesn't go out much at all, and via the Coast Guard register we were able to find out who the owner is.
Basically, she is a delightful lady in her 70s who can't really handle the boat on her own anymore. She is financially in a position to keep the boat in good condition and not be concerned about the cost. So she and her son just use as a home away from home.
Initially she felt it was probably time to sell it and we agreed to go forward to try and establish a fair and reasonable price in this market. Of course she was totally out of touch with where boat prices are at the moment, and in particular the fact the market for her kind of boat isn't big in the first place. Also, while the boat is well looked after, there are very few of the items and upgrades boats in the market place have these days.
I prepared a document outlining what the market today would expect to be present in a boat, what similar boats are listed for, and eventually sell for, knowing she would not like the reality. We expected to have to pay a bit of a premium and were prepared to, but we didn't make the market and certainly couldn't afford ignore it.
In the end she said she believed the boat was worth twice what the market, brokers and surveyors are saying and decided she wasn't ready to sell. In reality she is deferring facing the market, and can afford to. In her own words... "I guess I'm being a bit of a dog in a manger, but I'm the dog and I own the manger".
If she wasn't such a genuinely nice person I may have been tempted to remind her what a female dog is! As it is, it just remained an inward chuckle.
But that wasn't the only reason the time slipped away.
The 28th May was a very big milestone in Sandy's life. I wouldn't dare say the number, but this is the last time she will be able to count the decades on one hand...
A few weeks before, I got an email from her daughter, Bek, asking if we were still going to be around southern California because she and Maddy were trying to arrange to come over to surprise her. At that point it looked as though we were likely to buy the above boat, so we'd certainly be here.
My job was to keep it a total secret until they walked through the door, but of course they needed picking up.
All emails were transferred into one of my many boat info files so Sandy wouldn't stumble across the secret in my Inbox.
I got Robin to send me a very convincing email saying he had to come over for work, which he did a number of times a few years back, and that he had a couple of hours between flights at LA airport for a coffee and catch up on the 27th.
Well, we stood there waiting for him to come through the arrivals door and I had my finger on the camera button and zoom because I knew it would be a split second, one off oportunity to capture the moment. In all modesty, I think I nailed it!
They were here for 12 days and the time really flew. Not only did we do all the above, but we also went to Hollywood and walked down Hollywood Boulevard, and Santa Monica, and Venice Beach, and factory outlets, and explored San Diego's Old Town, and the most haunted house in America... the ghosts must have had the day off but the woman taking the money sure was creepy.
All too soon the time was over and we dropped the girls back at the airport. What was really interesting was taking them to see Captain's Mistress. We forget what a mystery boats are to most people and it was fun to see their reactions. They were amazed with what they saw and I think they feel a lot better about what there mum is up to.
And now?
Well, we've heard about this great boat that may be available in the Caribbean and we're doing some detective work....
Watch this space, again!