{"id":86,"date":"2016-06-01T20:10:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T20:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=86"},"modified":"2019-10-03T20:44:38","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T20:44:38","slug":"how-i-got-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=86","title":{"rendered":"HOW I GOT HERE – A VERY GOOD PLACE TO START"},"content":{"rendered":"

IF YOU ARE BUYING A BOAT, it\u2019s almost inevitable that one smartass friend will tell you that this should be the second happiest day of your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The happiest day of course, will come when you sell the boat.<\/p>\n

So much for conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

Full disclosure, I am not a rich man. I own a modest little business and up until October 5th the most expensive item I had ever purchased (apart from my house) was a 1969 Islander 26 which I picked up for $3800 in Marina del Rey two years ago. I rarely spend more than $10 on a bottle of wine and I consider indulgences like new cars, expensive hotel rooms and manicures to be a frivolous waste of money.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going through a midlife crisis, nor am I stricken with self-loathing (apart from the mandatory dollop that comes with being a Tottenham Hotspur supporter). Yet earlier this month I acquired a sailboat for the sort of money that would buy either a very decent new car or more manicures than I could use in twenty lifetimes. And although my mood following this purchase can\u2019t quite match the births of either of my children or my wedding day in the euphoria stakes, let\u2019s just say I\u2019m feeling pretty giddy right now. And pretty smart too.<\/p>\n

Which is funny when you consider that I\u2019ve never been on this boat. Nor ever seen it in the flesh. Nor have I ever met the seller. Oh, and did I mention it\u2019s almost fifty years old? And located in Sweden?<\/p>\n

Starting with a dream<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sailors love to tell stories, and I am no exception. So, dear reader, please indulge me as I explain.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo \u00a9Andy Schell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am in my early fifties, with two children who in a few years will move away to college. Forgive the Hollywood speak, but I am standing at the cusp of the third act of my life and, like many later-life sailors, I\u2019m viewing the prospect not with trepidation but rather determination to do something big with the time I have left. I\u2019m not interested in retiring to Palm Springs, playing golf and just fading away. I want to do something challenging, something a little scary which engages both the body and the mind and allows me to indulge in my passion for traveling\u2026. and sailing fits the bill.<\/p>\n

Which is what started me on a quest a few years ago and which has now brought me to the ownership of Arcturus, a 1966 Allied Seabreeze 35. Classic plastic. A true good old boat.<\/p>\n

For the last three years or so I\u2019ve spent far more time than is healthy devouring websites, books and magazine articles on what kind of boat to buy and where I should be sailing. And of course like any new field of study the more you learn the more you realize how little you know. I started out reading two widely-recommended books: Twenty Small Sailboats To Take You Anywhere<\/a><\/strong>, by John Vigor and its companion volume, Twenty Affordable Sailboats To Take You Anywhere<\/a><\/strong> by Gregg Nestor. These splendid tomes led me onto John Kretschmer\u2019s invaluable contribution to the genre, Best Used Boat Notebook<\/a><\/strong>and Ferenc Mat\u00e9\u2019s wonderfully wise and witty Best Boats to Build or Buy<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

And then were sail magazines, cruising columnists, full time cruisers, exhibition speakers and other authorities on the subject, whose wisdom I would seek out as they churned out \u2018indispensable\u2019 lists of The Top Ten Budget Cruisers, The Top Twenty Classic Plastics\u2026.you get the idea.<\/p>\n

Sometimes older is better<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Yes,
Yes, she’s a good old boat \u00a9Andy Schell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In short order a few key themes emerged \u2013 older boats might have a few more miles on the clock, but their narrower beams and deeper keels can often make them more seaworthy \u2013 especially in a blow. Compared to modern boats they have less creature comforts but better \u2018righting moments\u2019, which is important in the event of a capsize. They may not be spacious condos down below, but nor do they pound like the dickens going to weather like so many of their modern equivalents. They might not boast a swimstep with attached shower, like those much-loved Beneteaus which infest charter bases worldwide, but unlike modern boats, they do boast that thick, bulletproof glass that was only possible in those dreamy days before the 1973 oil crisis. Which can make all the difference in the world in a grounding.<\/p>\n

My reading also educated me about the kind of problems you can routinely expect from older boats \u2013 water intrusion leading to delamination of the deck or compression of the mast, corrosion of vital deck hardware like chainplates and shrouds that can jeopardize the rig, corrosion of black iron tanks and much more.<\/p>\n

But practical advice is not everything. You have to love the look and feel of a boat too. I wanted a pretty boat. And for safety and comfort I wanted nothing less than a 32, but for ease of single handing nothing larger than a 38. With that in mind I began whittling what at first seemed like a daunting array of boats down to just a handful, finally producing a short list that read thus: Hans Christian 38<\/a>, Tayana 37<\/a>, Camper Nicholson 35<\/a> or Contessa 32.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But it was not enough just to choose a boat. I then had to decide where I wanted to keep her. Living in Southern California there are two excellent cruising grounds within a short plane ride \u2013 the Pacific Northwest and the Sea of Cortez. The latter seemed the better choice for a boat hunt \u2013 it has warmer weather, a longer cruising season, cheaper marina fees and local labor. And noodling around the web \u2013 thank you SanCarlosYachtSales.com<\/a> \u2013 there seemed no shortage of decent old boats, fully equipped for cruising, whose owners had decided for whatever reason \u2013 ill health, spousal strife, lack of cash \u2013 to abandon their cruising dreams and settle down Stateside again. Just the thing for a frugal but moderately educated shopper like myself.<\/p>\n

The only problem was that time was not on my side. My ultimate goal was to have a boat in the Mediterranean, just like my good friend Franz, the man behind the Sailing in the Mediterranean<\/a><\/strong> podcast and my host during a fabulous ten days sail in Greece and Turkey this past summer. If I wanted to become an accomplished sailor capable of making a blue water passage I would need a least a couple of seasons in the Sea of Cortez \u2013 where I soon learned, the searing heat often renders summer sailing unbearable  \u2013 followed by a jaunt through the Panama Canal, followed by a few seasons in the Caribbean (silly not to, since you\u2019re there, right?), followed finally by an Atlantic crossing God-knows-when to achieve my goal. And then, to top it all, I would have to pay VAT on the boat\u2019s value to keep it in any EU-flagged port.<\/p>\n

The only other way would be to buy a boat sight unseen in Europe, which was fraught with all sorts of other issues, including  lining up half a dozen boats at the same time for test sails, flying across the Atlantic and moving from France to Spain to Portugal to perhaps even Turkey at great expense hoping one of them fit the bill.<\/p>\n

Fate intervenes<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was wrestling with this dilemma when two things happened. The first was that I noticed a boat I had long coveted in my local marina was for sale. The boat in question was a gorgeously maintained Weatherly 32<\/a><\/strong>, a stout and seaworthy Thomas Gilmer design that has known several incarnations by different finishers over the years, and has been variously badged as an Aries 32, a Roughwater 32 or a Southern Cross 31. The owner is an affable Porsche mechanic who lavished years of TLC on the boat \u2013 but his asking price \u2013 almost $60k, was a bit rich for my blood. That same evening I came home and logged into the 59-North<\/a><\/strong>website. Which is where Arcturus came to my attention. Again.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9Andy
\u00a9Andy Schell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

59-North is the website run by Andy Schell<\/strong>, he of the podcast of the same name. Andy (and before him, Ben Weems of Weems and Plath, the famed manufacturer of high-end nautical compasses) had been a wonderful steward for this good old boat and had restored and upgraded her in almost every way possible. But last year Andy bought another boat, a Swan 48 in which he hosts bluewater passages for paying customers throughout the year. As such he was keen to sell Arcturus. Andy\u2019s list of improvements was daunting, but so was the initial price. But this particular evening I noted a rather drastic price reduction from $50k to $39k. The price of the Weatherly underlined just what a good deal the blue water proven, fully restored, considerably bigger Arcturus was. I pondered the matters solidly the next day and the next night.<\/p>\n

And then I emailed Andy. I followed up with a phone call and quickly made him an offer. Which he quickly accepted.<\/p>\n

My reasoning for finally pulling the trigger was this: Arcturus ticked all the boxes apropos of strong, safe, offshore-proven construction. She has a thick fiberglass hull and it\u2019s no surprise that plenty of Allied boats have circumnavigations under their keels \u2013 in fact an Allied is credited with the first fiberglass circumnavigation in 1964. Two of the Seabreeze\u2019s sister ships \u2013 the Allied Princess and the Seawind were mentioned in despatches in the books I had initially read with high praise for their strength and quality. And she had the added advantage of being owned by someone I knew \u2013 sort of. Having listened to Andy\u2019s podcasts for two years I thought I knew him. Even better, he has spoken at length about his love for the boat and his painstaking restoration had been fully documented. When I examined the scope of the recent work done both by Andy and Ben Weems before him, which included a full deck restoration, replacement of the hull-deck joint, replacement of the caprail with a no-maintenance aluminum replacement, installation of new titanium chainplates from Colligo Marine<\/a>, allied to completely new rigging using Colligo\u2019s acclaimedDyneema Dux<\/a> \u2013 more strength, less weight \u2013 I was sold. So it was an added bonus to find Andy had also completed a nifty redesign of the lifting keel system AND redone all primary wiring AND installed low output LED lights AND installed integral solar panels into the dodger that allow the boat to be fully energy independent from the sun WITHOUT running the engine. And talking of the engine, Arcturus boasts a virtually new Beta Marine 16hp diesel with just 75 hours on it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure this litany of Arcturus\u2019 merits is getting boring, but I would be remiss if I didn\u2019t mention she\u2019s reposing on the hard in a Swedish marina where, thanks the country\u2019s socialized boating culture, it costs just a fraction of what you\u2019d pay in annual fees in Spain, Italy or France. Plus she\u2019s VAT paid. And did I mention that Sweden is a country my whole family knows and loves, and where my children\u2019s godmother has a large country house where she spends every summer?<\/p>\n

But let me revisit the issue of the lifting keel again because I think this, as much as any other factor, proved the final trigger for me to press the buy button. The boat\u2019s shoal draft \u2013 she draws just three feet with the keel up \u2013 means I can take her not just across Sweden\u2019s famed Gota Canal<\/a> to the west coast, I can also take her south to the English channel and into Calais en route to the famed French canals, for a leisurely two month journey south to the Mediterranean. After that, who knows? I have the enviable task of choosing my summer vacations over the next decade from between Ibiza and Menorca, or the French Riviera, and the Amalfi Coast, or between Croatia, and Greece, or Turkey, come to that.<\/p>\n

And the takeaway?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"arcturusThank you for your indulgence in allowing me to outline the factors that turned buying this boat from a huge gamble into a no-brainer. After coldly weighing the pros and cons I honestly couldn\u2019t think of a reason why I shouldn\u2019t buy Arcturus. I think it\u2019s one of the best decisions I\u2019ve ever made and I\u2019m thrilled, with zero second thoughts.<\/p>\n

Which brings me finally to the last word, about the philosophical takeaway from this process: The English have a very simple aphorism: fortune favors the brave. It\u2019s certainly always worked for me. The famous novelist Paolo Coelho<\/a><\/strong> made this the central theme of his bestseller The Alchemist, memorably writing that when you set your heart on doing something, no matter how hard or unlikely, the universe conspires to help you make it happen. I\u2019d seen that at work in my own life 30 years ago when I moved to the USA on a whim and was rewarded with some remarkable luck to help me, then a penniless immigrant with no friends and no contacts, get set up and make a new life in Los Angeles. I truly believe that by taking a similar leap of faith in buying Arcturus I will be rewarded with many wonderful years sailing and traveling to come. It\u2019s been my dream and I\u2019ve achieved it quicker than I ever thought. And that\u2019s the takeaway not just from this blog but from the most recent Sailing in the Mediterranean podcast<\/strong><\/a>featuring yours truly: the most valuable advice Franz can give us comes right from the intro clip from Risky Business<\/a><\/strong>. Forget the technical instruction about how to raise a halyard, trim a jib, or when to reduce sail, that\u2019s just detail. The most fundamentally important part is: DON\u2019T JUST DREAM! Try to make that a dream a reality. Figure out where you are, and where you want to get to. Then start making waypoints. That\u2019s what you do when you are passage-making across an ocean. And it\u2019s a perfect method to get you everywhere else in life, too.<\/p>\n

Neil Fletcher<\/strong><\/p>\n

October 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IF YOU ARE BUYING A BOAT, it\u2019s almost inevitable that one smartass friend will tell you that this should be the second happiest day of your life. The happiest day of course, will come when you sell the boat. So much for conventional wisdom. Full disclosure, I am not a rich man. I own a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7wHME-1o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":142,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=142","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":0},"title":"Vasahamnen to Saltsjobaden","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"June 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Mon: June 13th: Andy had kindly marked a few of his favorite destinations on the charts and first on the list was Saltsjobaden, an easy three hour journey away from Vasahamnen mostly motoring but with a nice sail at the end. Richard and I cast off around mid-morning, bidding a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"stockholm to saltsjobaden wred","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/stockholm-to-saltsjobaden-wred.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/stockholm-to-saltsjobaden-wred.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/stockholm-to-saltsjobaden-wred.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/stockholm-to-saltsjobaden-wred.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":345,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=345","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":1},"title":"One last time at Wasahamnen","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"August 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 It\u2019s early evening on Monday, August 1st and I\u2019m sitting in the cockpit looking out at the Vasamuseet which dominates the skyline looking north from Wasahamnen. I\u2019m back on the boat after six days R&R \u2013 if that is the appropriate term \u2013 at our friend\u2019s house north of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sweden at my feet? not quite, but Wasahamnen has become a home away from home for me","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/wasahamnen-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/wasahamnen-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/wasahamnen-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/wasahamnen-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":208,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=208","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":2},"title":"A little detour to Arcachon","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"June 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 If you are only\u00a0 here for the sailing stop reading right now. Okay, consider yourself warned. The number one reason I have this blog is to document the events of a life that seems to be speeding by too fast. I had planned to be on the boat this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/oysters-and-crevettes.jpg?fit=500%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":972,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=972","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":3},"title":"Mariehamn to Bj\u00f6rk\u00f6r","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"July 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Fri. 6\/28\/19 Dep 11.16am, arr: 3.18pm. 15.5nm. 4 hours 2 minutes For a higher-resolution map of this route, click HERE: Bjork\u00f6r: what's not to lichen? With my newspaper deadline safely out of the way Kevin and I rose early and grabbed a shower and sauna. 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Winding, leafy lanes and clean, crisp\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/on-the-hard-2.gif?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/on-the-hard-2.gif?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/on-the-hard-2.gif?fit=600%2C450&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":382,"url":"https:\/\/www.sailingarcturus.com\/?p=382","url_meta":{"origin":86,"position":5},"title":"Home for the winter….","author":"Becoming Salty","date":"August 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Winter storage. The Swedes have a word for it and that word is Vinterf\u00f6rvaring. 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