VERY IMPORTANT NEWS: We’re buying a boat!
I’ve heard of people who spend their entire lives in the place where they were born. I’m fascinated by such people. Do they stay because of inertia or complacency? Were they lucky enough to be born in a wonderful place? Or is the magnetic pull so strong, they can’t leave?
I was born in a wonderful place, Savannah, Georgia. A very strong magnetic pull, called a boat, is taking me back.
After almost two years of searching the world (including a wonderful trip to Portugal), we found the boat we want, on Hilton Head, South Carolina, just a few miles south of Savannah by water.
Readers who have known me my whole life will nod and understand the importance of that.
Just a few miles north of Hilton Head by water is Harbor Island, where Barry and I had our wedding celebration in 1991.
Readers who have known us since we got married will nod and understand the importance of that.
The boat is a red Freedom 33 cat ketch. The F33 is like a baby version of Cayenne, the Freedom 44 we cruised from New Orleans for Baltimore with our friend Brian.
Readers who have known us since we retired will nod and understand the importance of that.
The man who is selling this boat has replaced a lot of very important things, such as the engine, hatches, portlights, thru-hulls, and head. He has not done much cosmetic work, so the boat isn’t terribly pretty.
Readers who have known us since we owned our last boat, the Northern Crow, will nod and understand the importance of that.
We value seaworthiness above beauty. We use the term “furniture boat” for one that has lots of nice furnishings but doesn’t go anywhere. This is not a furniture boat, and I like the idea of making the interior look the way I want it to.
We’re currently in contract, so stay tuned for more information as we go through the survey and sea trial. If all goes well, we’ll be sending out some combination of birth – adoption – christening – bon voyage announcement. And while we’re on the east coast, we’ll get to visit with Margaret’s Dad and our friends in Florida and attend the annual meeting of the Seven Seas Cruising Association.
I have a friend who can trace her ancestry back for five generations within twenty miles of where she lives. This makes her family tree far easier to trace than mine, which goes all over the USA in that many generations. I guess I will never understand that.
I understood that you would find a boat. I’m glad you have found one that suits you well. We do our adventures on land, but we share that sense of adventure.
Calvin of Calvin & Loretta
Your F33 may be a baby version of Cayenne but she is also a multi-masted replica of a Freedom 36 without the swim platform. That is definitely a boat that you are familiar with as well. I hope that your shakedown and inspection yields all you could hope for and more. I’m still working on putting the house remodel plans on paper. Gudrun and I have two new wines to celebrate with when you come back.