The maiden voyage...

The Maiden Voyage from Andrew Turner on Vimeo.

My first boat...

It started as a mere idea, owning a boat. It started when I was waiting at a bus terminal in Costa Rica, talking to a guy in his mid fifties, from San Diego. He sailed down the Pacific Coast, and through the Panama Canal, until he fell in love with the Caribbean island chain of Bocas Del Toro, and decided to live there, at anchor. I was backpacking at the time. It was May of 2009. I thought about owning a \boat all throughout that trip, especially as I eventually visited Bocas Del Toro, and saw many sailboats anchored just off the beautiful islands with crystal clear water and rarely a wave in sight.

It wasn’t until about a year later that I bought my first sailboat. I was hooked on the idea, and after getting back home to California from that backpacking trip, I went back to work, and sort of entertained the idea of buying one. I would check some local ad trader magazines and Craigslist, and just stare at pictures of boats for hours. One day, when I had a day off from work, I looked on the Craigslist boat section, and saw 2 sailboats in the Channel Islands Harbor, in Oxnard. I called and arranged a meeting time for both, and headed down the coast. 

First boat, was a 26’ Colombia sloop. The older gentleman had owned it for a while, and it was in great shape. Had a diesel engine that was in great shape as well. It was all white, and was very pleasing to the eye, but had a small cabin, that I could barely crawl into. He started up the motor, showed me around the boat for a while, and I told him I’d think about it.  I had about an hour to kill before checking out the second boat in the harbor that day. I wasn’t familiar with the area at all, and drove around for a bit, and was amazed at the size and stature of Channel Islands Harbor. I kind of got lost, just driving around and exploring. I finally found Peninsula blvd. and headed down it with the directions I was given. 

I reached the large parking lot at the end of Peninsula where I was supposed to go, and called William’s cell phone, the man who was to show me the boat. He came up from the dock, and met me at the gate. I followed him down the ramp, and down to where the boat was berthed. The first sight I got of her, was a port side view, in direct sunlight, in all her glory, chipped paint, and sea life eating away at her hull. The hull was dark green, almost a forest green, and the deck was an interesting off yellow, almost tan-ish beige., finished off with a brown trim. The rigging was quite unique, and all in all, instantly I fell in love. There was no other boat like it, in color, class, or in shape, and I still hadn’t entered.

William invited me inside for a closer look, and we climbed aboard, and down the steep ladder steps heading into the galley. The interior was long and narrow, with quite some headroom for her length. The galley was small and semi nonexistent, with the double stainless sink not connected or plumbed. The v-berth was very roomy and comfy, with lots of storage underneath, and two couches lay on port and starboard. He had a small dorm refrigerator hooked up to shore power under the sink, and offered me a Corona. We chatted a little about the boat, and his experience with it, then told me he had to go, but I was welcome to stay and feel it out, and think some more.

I spent probably 2 more hours alone on the boat, mostly sitting inside, imagining it being mine, and what I would do to it fist, and what not. I drove home later, and of course, thought about the boat the whole way back.

I didn’t really have anyone I knew of to ask about this, and their opinion. I did call a friend with a sailboat, and told him the low down, and he thought it sounded great, but I needed to make the decision on my own. She was a 1979 Seabird Yawl, of 26 feet in length, and a 9 foot beam. Indeed a small boat, but, of course for me, I couldn’t afford a whole lot more, and neither could I afford a whole lot more in slip fees, comparing what this one would and could cost. I figured out the price overall, and the price per month for the slip, in order to keep her there for now, and do some work.

I woke up fairly early the next day, and called William back…I must have sounded pretty excited, and I think he knew it. I made him an offer over the phone, and was on my way to the bank, and back to Oxnard that same morning. 

The next day I called him back and made him an offer over the phone...