Tartan 37...

Review of our Tartan 37: Orion

Specifications

L.O.A. ——————————37’ 3-1/2”

Beam ——————————- 11’ 9”

Draft (CB)   Board Up ———- 4’ 2”

                    Board Down —— 7’ 9”

Displacement ———————- 15,500 lbs

Ballast ——————————  7,500 lbs 

Datum Waterline —————— 28’ 6”

Sailing Waterline - Point of Immersion forward to aft point of immersion—33’ +

Sail Area —————————- 625 Sq. Ft.

Berths ——————————— 6

Power:  Westerbeke 50 engine

Year: 1979

Design: Sparkman & Stephens design

T37 Layout

We bought a T37C (or Centre Board). It is a great little ship and the one pleasantly surprising thing about her is the vast amounts of storage space on board. 

Whilst looking at a number of other vessels we were surprised at the lack thereof. We keep discovering new hidey-holes. 

Up forward is the traditional V berth which we use as the master cabin. There is a chain locker directly in front of that with easy access to the windlass, nav lights and chain bin.

Under the V berth is the usual storage space, however this vessel has a retrospective Holding Tank fitted on the port side. We use the space under the V berth for our winter clothes, spare sails (cruising chute, yankee) The previous owner also built in 2 collapsable water tanks for additional water carrying capacity.This is plumbed into the main fresh water system. Brilliant for additional water for long range cruising.

There is ample locker space for all of Sally's clothes. The starboard side has 3 draws and the small foot locker and a larger hanging locker. On the port side is a locker with shelves for my 1 pair of underpants and a spare shirt. 

Above the V Berth is a very large opening hatch with a fly / mosquito net flap. GREAT for the tropics as it lets air in and keeps mozzies out. This is why i would always buy a yacht from a cruiser as it is these little additions that require a lot of time, money and thought to do and Mike the previous owner has kindly done them all for us!

Moving into the saloon, working our way aft, there is another locker on the starboard side for more hanging stuff. We put our wet weather gear in there. Directly aft of the locker is a wood burning bronze and soapstone heater. Although I have never tried it out, it looks amazing and I almost want to go somewhere cold just to have an excuse to fire it up (excuse the pun) and fill the boat with the lovely smell of wood smoke.

Underneath the heater is the Jabsco Fresh Water pump. Which supplies the head and galley and the shower in the cockpit. Directly to port is the head. A practical space with a shower, basin and toilet. Good stowage space, however it will be interesting when we take her out to see what jumps out of the racks as there is always a lot of movement / motion the further forward you go. 

Interestingly the shower drains to a separate sump under the floor in the saloon and there is a automatic float switch that pumps it dry. A good idea as this means that soapy water does not drain into the bilge. 

One of the best features is the drop down saloon table. I always seem to trip over centre mounted saloon tables. We use it for a fraction of the time but it is constantly in the way when moving fore and aft. With the tartan drop down table, it gives the feeling of a lot more beam / space in the saloon and easy access to the bilge etc. The water tanks are arranged port and starboard under the saloon settees. They have twin access hatches for easy cleaning. An activity we have just undertaken and were surprised how easy it was to clean them out. 

Behind the settees (port and starboard) is additional stowage space for tools, stores etc. We still have loads of empty spaces (but we have not provisioned extensively yet)

Some Tartans have a pilot berth on the starboard side and I believe this one had one once upon a time but the previous owner wisely converted it to stowage space. We keep all our towels, linen etc in there.

On the port side in additional stowage space above the saloon settees with books, glasses, etc.

Another hatch above the saloon with a solar fan to provide a bit of breeze and another fly net to keep the biters out.

Most yachts have the galley on the port side. Tartans have it on starboard. The fridge is very large and deep especially when you consider its a 33 year old boat. Fridge works really well, however we don't run it 24x7 as we are power misers and just run it to keep it cool.

There is stowage space above the stove with 3 sliders hiding 2 shelves in each for groceries. Aft of the stove is a deep well for pots / pans etc. There are twin sinks. Very useful for a wash in salt and rinse in fresh operation that I like to use for dishes. Did I mention I am also a fresh water miser?

Behind the sink is a well built rack for dishes, bowls, cups, etc. Well positioned as a knock down should not dislodge these (in theory). 

Under the sink is the usual nest of plumbing, but also extends quite deep enabling a lot of cleaning products to be stored.

The chart table is on the port side and is very large by todays standards. I know that electronic charts are the way forward and call me old fashioned, but I still want a piece of paper to jot a lat and long, especially on a long trip.  There is a cubby hole to the left of the table where we keep key tools, torches, winch handles etc. Nice big space for odds and ends. Chart table opens and has ample space too.

Aft of the table is the aft berth. In true cruiser fashion this has become our garage. Full of bits and pieces. What you may ask...well, washboards, cockpit cushions, tupperware full of stuff etc.

Under the aft bert, is a stainless fuel tank. The chart table seat, contorts into an extra length to turn the berth into a double. great for guests. 

The engine is where you would expect to find it. Another reason why i was so taken with the Tartan 37 was the great engine access. You can tackle it from all sides. The companion way stairs come off to reveal the starter, the water pump. alternator etc. There is access from the port side inside the aft berth. There is a large deep locker in the cockpit that one can climb inside to work on the starboard side of the engine and the gear box etc.

Speaking of the starboard locker, it is huge. deep enough to store all the fenders standing up. It has all our sheets, rode, tool boxes etc. Very functional.

There is a large cavity under the cockpit between the stern gland / prop shaft and the well of the cockpit into which there are hanging baskets of spares (fan belts, filters, etc). Accessing them in a hurry is tricky, but they are not everyday items and the less clutter the better in my opinion.

Engine access is great. It is some of the best I have seen on many boats. I have seen a few forums where people argue that having to clear a locker is a pain. It might be a minor inconvenience, however I can get my whole 6ft 95kg frame into the engine space in order to work on it. I can also access the sheaves and steering cables from the binnacle. If need be I can also access the engine from the aft berth on the port side although I don't have quite the same freedom. As a design feature, Tartans have a fibreglass well under the engine into which any oil or water leaks are easily identified, also you will never lose another nut or bolt into the bilge either. Very impressed with engine access and design. Well thought out!

The aft cockpit locker is also deep and capable of additional storage. There is a built in tray to protect the steering lines and quadrant from what ever you pile on top of it. There is also easy access to apply and use the emergency tiller.

The propane bottles don't quite have a home. Had I more funds, I would move them onto the transom with stainless holding brackets (like those for fenders) and clad them in navy blue covers, but for now they are fine in the cockpit.
There is also a dinghy davit to hoist our 10HP on board.

One small bug is that the canvas weather cloths in the cockpit restrict 360 turning of the winch handle. However if i had to chose between a quick tack and good size wave leaping into the cockpit, it seems a small price to pay for a little more awkward winching. If I don't like it at a later date, I can always remove the weather cloths.

We also have a gas BBQ on the stern, fed by a skinny 5lb propane. Yet to use it, but looking forward to doing so.
Another nice to have on board is the hot water tank which can be heated via the inverter / shore mains or the engine. This feeds hot water to head, galley and the cockpit shower.
Ah, the cockpit shower. Great for rinsing snorkelling gear and yourself. Runs off the main Jabsco water pump.

Great little ship. Every day we are on her, the happier we are with her.

The clock of life is wound but once,


And no man has the power


To tell just when the hands will stop


At late or early hour.

To lose one's wealth is sad indeed,


To lose one's health is more,


To lose one's soul is such a loss


That no man can restore.

The present only is our own,


So Live, Love, toil with a will --


Place no faith in 'Tomorrow' --


For the clock may then be still.



Robert H. Smith
©

1932-1982

Our first week as boat owners

Perfume of choice - Baygon


Day One - Friday 20th Jan

We liked the boat, the survey and sea trial had gone well and we had a verbal agreement with the owner as to the price we were going to buy her for. Next step was to get the money to him and sign a bill of sale - both of which are rather tricky when in a country where you know no lawyers and have no local bank accounts. Luckily Alex jumped to our rescue and we managed to transfer the money within a couple of hours using an FX exchange account. Living in a budget apartment a stones throw away from the boat made us want to get onboard her as quickly as possible. Practically unheard of we went from a verbal agreement to transfer of money and signed bill of sale in 48 hours. 

A handshake and our boat keys (well in our case, combination code) on Friday afternoon officially made us boat owners and we hurried over to get on board and have a good rummage around. The boat is like an aladdin's cave full of goodies. All the lockers are full of useful 'stuff'. Opening up all the cupboards, lockers and lazarette we made a 'to do' list as we went to organise our impending work effort.

Unfortunately that night we could not stay on the boat and so we begrudgingly went back to our budget apartment for one final night of air conditioning, water on tap, hot water, electricity on demand and free wifi. To celebrate Dylan made me some 'tuna noods'..yeah we are really rock n roll...and Dylan snuck outside to smoke a cheeky Cuban cigar to celebrate (courtesy of his brother).

Day Two - Saturday

Waking early we paced over to our boat (still feels good to say that!) and moved our belongings onboard. Having only 2 big sailing bags with us, it didn't take long to find places for our items. 

Keen to check out the local chandleries and price up the kit we needed to start the work necessary on the boat, we caught a bus into the capital. Having persuaded Dylan to make this a fun trip and as it was Saturday morning, there is only one place to be in Grenada at that time...the Saturday market. This small square in St George is heaving on a Saturday, full of locals selling all sorts of foods and spices, it is how I pictured the Caribbean before we arrived. Bright colours, larger than life stall owners and bizarre looking fruit on display (I forgot my camera on this trip so see photo courtesy of trip advisor below). We met Rhonda, a huge, friendly Grenadian lady who taught us how to prepare breadfruit. The passion in her voice when talking about her country and produce was infectious and Dylan and I came away with spices, whole nutmeg and a keenness to go and try a truly Caribbean dish.

Laden with bags of goodies to fill our galley we went to the chandlery and paid an eye watering price for 2 tins of anti foul...here starts the realisation of how expensive anything with the word 'marine' in the product actually is.

Back at base we got stuck in with our to do list, Dylan commenced scraping and sanding the hull whilst I painted 20ft lines on the anchor chain and cleaned the cabin.

Content with our productivity on the first full day of being sea gypsies (although to remind you...our hull is yet to touch the water) we went and treated ourselves to a meal and several buckets of beer in the Happy Hour at De Big Fish. 

Perhaps still on cloud nine that our dream is actually going to happen, we fell asleep with little mosquito protection on and no net. The next morning I awake to find my entire body covered in red blotches. On a huge learning curve, ever since we have stocked up on Baygon (the local bug repellent) and dug out the mozzie nets...my red blotches are yet to go down, an angry reminder to bathe myself in the stuff at dawn and dusk.

Day Three - Sunday

My apparent chickenpox like blotches aside, this was another day of working through our to do list. Very little happens on a Sunday in Grenada and hardly any shops are open. With the sun blazing in the sky, Dylan concentrated on cleaning out the bilges and anchor locker whilst I continued cleaning the cabin. 

Having done a considerable amount of walking in the past couple of days in cheap flip flops and feet now covered in blisters, I didn't even leave the marina all day.

O, I must mention the showering and toilet facilities. For those of you not up to speed on yachtie life this is the score. When 'on the hard' you obviously can't flush the toilet onto a passerby and we also don't want to flush the toilet into a holding tank (think of the smell) so most people decide to use the bathroom facilities in the yard. 3 showers and 3 toilets for the people living on the yard is more than adequate and a key gives you access to these 24/7. Although at first I felt like I was back on a Duke of Edinburgh camping trip when lugging my toiletries and towel to the opposite side of the yard and returning my journey with a towel on my head, I soon got used to this way of doing things.

We choose to sleep in the v berth and above us is a mozzie proof hatch. After a night of being rained on and continuously being woken to close the hatch every time it started to pour - we put an awning over it and later replaced that with the inflatable dinghy.

Day Four - Monday

7:20am - Dylan's watch alarm goes off and he scrambles up to turn the radio on - this was the first time we listened to the cruiser's net. Found on channel 68 this is a forum specifically for yachties in Grenada to hear about local events, businesses, gain advice from fellow cruisers and buy /sell goods. Its a great way to stay in the loop and hear about the opportunities to explore the island on a budget.

Another day of boat work, Dylan became an electrician and fixed the wiring to the port nav light and fan in v berth, ordered Garmin depth instrument to replace the original (then cried silently inside at the price and how long it would take to arrive - 10 days) and took off the mainsail and dodger and sent them to the sailmakers to be repaired. We reminisced about our day skipper course whilst flaking the mainsail beautifully on deck - it was one of the tricks our instructor Mike taught us, how to impress fellow sailors and intentionally leave the sail bag off to show your skill.

Not wanting to use marinas in our trip, we are trying to make our boat less reliant on electronics so they chew through the batteries. As such, we signed up to a Facebook group to get rid of a microwave, toaster oven, air con, TV and DVD player that came with the boat from the previous owner. Facebook is everywhere! One item we can't live without though is our Mac and thankfully, the inverter works really well charging this device until we find a suitable 12v replacement.

Continuing our search to try new food, we came across Rosie selling her wares near the yard entrance. Christophene was our new vegetable of choice and as usual, the seller was more than happy to prepare it for us and give a recipe prior to taking any money. That night we dined on minced beef and mashed christophene - tasted very similar to pumpkin but was green in colour and white inside.

Day Five - Tuesday

Keen to crack on with our boat work whilst waiting for the depth sounder to arrive, we got up early to beat the blazing sunshine and completed the following: Dylan replaced the anode on the prop shaft, masking taped the hull and performed minor fixes that the survey had highlighted. I cleaned the brass inside (a satisfying yet tough job) and empty and cleaned the port water tank. Yet to finish all the brass work, here is a photo of one of the lights half cleaned and half not:

After another physical day that our bodies are slowly getting used to, we headed to De Big Fish to meet a Vernon and Donna, a Canadian couple that own a Tartan 40 in the same yard.

Day Six - Wednesday

Feeling like we hadn't seen daylight for a while whilst scrubbing away inside, we treated ourselves to a day of tanning...whilst working on the deck. Dylan angle grinded the hull (courtesy of Vernon's orbital sander!) and I took my bottle of trusty Brasso and attacked the rust on the stanchions. Cooling ourselves down with the excuse that the deck needed to be cleaned, we then tested the theory of soapy water apparently making lines softer - it works! Revelation over, we located the Bosun's chair and hauled an eager Vernon up our mast to check out the Windex. Unfortunately when we bought the boat one of the cups had already broken off so at present we are without wind speed. Upon Vernon's descent he informed us of the problem and we hope to find suitable parts before launching.

Our day was completed with sun downers on Vernon and Donna's boat, now part of the elite and self formed 'Tartan Club'. Wow what a beautiful boat they have (1985 Tartan 40 - Endless Love Too).

Day Seven - Thursday

We had decided that today we were giving ourselves the day off to explore the island. I wake to find Dylan on his hands and knees, contorted into a weird shape under the galley sink. Having not been able to sleep, he got out of bed at 4am and decided to start fixing the manual water pump - although Dylan is not one to stay still, I had stern words and after using the radio for the first time to invite ourselves to a fish braai the following evening, we commenced a day where I chose what to do.

First task of choice was to make a typical Caribbean breakfast of salt fish. Usually bake and salt fish is the dish but we did without the 'bake' part and put our energy into fish preparation. The fish (bought salted) needs to be soaked to remove excess salt, then we added tomatoes, garlic, oregano and onions. Not what I would have chosen back in London but when in Rome....verdict was that it was far too salty and we had rumbly tummies for the rest of the day! Not one to be defeated, I shall be trying it again but perhaps soaking the fish overnight to remove more of the salt.

By the time we got to Grand Anse beach the heat was phenomenal so we popped into the local mall to cool ourselves down with their homemade mango smoothies, mmmmm.

A couple of hours spent sun bathing on Grand Anse beach we caught a taxi into St George and went exploring. The roads in the capital that veer off the bay are very steep so we worked up a good sweat to get to Fort George and beyond (see picture below). When at the top of Church Street we witnessed a funeral procession where an entire town had flocked to mourn the passing, jamming up the narrow one way street for a good 10 minutes. People dressed in black and white followed the Hearst with the ladies tottering up in high heels!! Ever friendly Grenadians, despite the circumstances they all gave us a wave or stopped for a chat. For the second time since our arrival, Dylan was offered 'hash'. This time from someone in a graveyard at a funeral! Politely we pointed out that Dylan was now too bald to be a Rastafarian and too conservative to be a hippie.

Thanks to the Cruisers Net, we were aware of the Budget Marine billfish tournament taking place in Port Louis so on our way back home, we stopped in for a beer and to check out the size of the sea monsters they had managed to haul. A respectable 141lb tuna was the winner of the day and I started to dream of how good that would taste on our boat with some wasabi and soy sauce....no pressure Dylan but I am expecting some pretty decent fish to satisfy my sashimi cravings as soon as we get underway!!

All in all, life is pretty darn good just 'chillin' on de island'.

The yacht buying process...

Despite reading a ton of blogs, forum discussions etc there was very little by way of information to help illustrate the steps or the timeframes involved with buying a yacht / boat. Even less so when dealing abroad.

This is a quick post that may aid a future yacht buyer who is buying a vessel out side of their home country. These timings are my experience. Yours may be different.

1. See the vessel and make an offer (1 day)
2. Negotiate / Offer accepted (1 - 2 days)
3. Find and contact surveyors (2 days)
4. Survey vessel - in and out water and sea trial (1 full day - ours was split over 2 days though)
5. Await survey report (3 days)
6. Review survey and major cost items (1 day)
7. Renegotiate price if any major issues are identified (1 - 2 days)
8. Bill of Sale: This is where it is different for certain countries...For Americans buying from an American and going to register the vessel in the US, I recommend going through some one that does this sort of paperwork as it requires a Lien check and a specific Bill of Sale template and Coast Guard registration etc (to my knowledge)
9. A Lien check is always a good thing to do anyway. In the UK if a yacht has a mortgage it has to be listed on Part 1 of the Small Ships Register. In the US they have it listed with the Coast Guard I believe. Worth you checking with the marina / yard (and even chandleries) to make sure all the bills are up to date too. (3 - 5 days)
10. Once you are confident there are no Lien's you can get a Bill of Sale done. This part was trickier than you might think. There are various templates to chose from. No one template is more legal than the next. The US Coast Guard have a template (which has to be signed in front of a notary), the RYA (Royal Yachting Association) has one which requires a witness and there are a few others online.
11. Drafting up a Bill of Sale (.5 of a day)
12. Signing Bill of Sale (.5 of a day)
13. Transferring finances can be a long winded process due to money laundering regulations and limitations on internet banking transfers, international money transfers etc. A friend recommended using an Foreign Exchange currency service and boy am I glad I did. Transfer cash to FX house in your own country in your own currency (this can take a variable amount of time depending on your daily limits)  (3 days) 
14. FX house will transfer the funds on your say so and in a matter if hours the cash will be in the sellers account. (1 day)
15. Confirm payment with seller and get the keys to the castle!
16. But you are not done! You now need to register the vessel. If you are registering her in the US, as i mentioned before, best to get a professional to do this. I believe that this process can take weeks. In the UK if you have bought the vessel outright, you can register her on the Small Ships Register Part 1 (online) and then you await the delivery of your Certificate of Registration / Documentation (4 weeks to arrive).

You cannot exit / enter a foreign port without the Cert. of Registration (I believe), so you will need to wait until this comes before you are set forth on your adventures. 

What I would do differently next time:

1. Line up the funds with the FX House before we finalise the agreement on price.
2. Create an appendix of the yacht inventory and include it in the Bill of Sale to ensure that the yacht you see is the yacht you get. The seller we had was very honest and had removed all his personal belongings before we viewed, but sometimes a seller will strip a vessel of expensive items like tools and hand held electronics etc etc.   

We have a yacht...

And we shall call her Orion!

Orion, often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognisable constellations in the night sky. Its name refers to Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. - Wikipedia

When we first saw her online, she ticked almost every box for us. Plus, she is in Grenada!

Something was indeed written in the stars, for in November of 2011, I bought Sally's Christmas present. It was a star in Orion's Belt. The thought process being that as we cruised with nothing but the stars to blanket us, we could look up and try and find her star in one of the most visible constellations. 

It was a heck of a gamble buying one way flights to come to a foreign country to look at a boat, but it was well worth it, for she is beautiful.

She is a 1979 Tartan 37 Centre Board. 

There is all the cruising gear onboard that we could need, including a monitor wind vane for long passages.

What a relief to finally have a boat. She cost us a packet and is slightly older than what we had originally set out to buy, but the previous owner has looked after her incredibly well. Buying it from Mike Young (from Vermont) was a tough exercise as you could just see the emotion in his eyes. He was a VERY reluctant seller. What a great guy too. He spent hours showing us all the additions and tweaks that he had made to the boat. How they all work and what goes where. We are very grateful to him for his help in teaching us all about her.

Although she is 33 years old now, Orion has spent most of her life in fresh water or on the hard. The first 20 years she was on Lake Champlain in Vermont. The sailing season is only about 4 months of the year up there and the rest of the time she was wintered on the hard. 

Mike and his wife Joanne bought the boat in 1996 and got her cruising ready to sail down to the Caribbean in 2000. After sailing her down there they kept her out the water and would use her for 4 / 5 months of the year. As such she has very little wear on her. Hull is in great condition as are the sails.

We are very excited to get aboard and start making her ours. Mike has left us a ton of stuff on board and we need to get our heads around what goes where etc.

We have got some work to do on her, like paint the bottom and sort out a few issues with canvas while she is on the hard, but looking even more forward to getting her onto a mooring and chilling out!

A Buying Methodology...

Consultant speak for "how we intend to buy a boat'!

As we plan on jumping off to the Caribbean and starting small, we have had to take a different approach to sourcing yachts.

• First we sat down and discussed what we THOUGHT we wanted from a yacht based on what we planned to do with it and where we wanted to go. Cruising, not day sailing. Comfort, safety, space, performance, turn-key, etc - We soon found out that there is no such thing as "turn-key" when it comes to things that float...
• Then we identified a specification that met our requirements. Deciding on all those features like size, build, equipment, specification, pedigree etc
• I subscribed to Yachting Monthly Magazine and a number of online newsletters
• We started reading blog postings of Lin and Larry Pardey, Beth and Evan, Morgans Cloud, Mahina.com and other such authors and evangelists
• The Q&A with my parents increased 10 fold as we drilled them for information
• We started looking at boats and models that we knew of. Generally UK or South African designs. This expanded to US and Canadian boats as we realised that most UK / South African designs were mainly in the UK / South Africa. Buying in the US, you are better off looking at US designs
• We viewed a number of yachts in our nearby vicinity (of London / Solent) to learn more about boats, speak to owners, brokers etc. You can read a million books, articles and magazines but there is no substitute for actually stepping on board to take a look first hand. We were surprised just how many yachts looked good online and were far from it in reality!
• Online shortlist - created a Excel spreadsheet of a number of potential yachts in our proposed jump off area. Listing out kit it has and does not have. Pro's and Cons to provide a tool for side by side comparison
• On the list we identified nice to haves vs necessities. A radar is a nice to have in my book not a necessity, whereas a bimini (awning) to keep the sun out the cockpit is a necessity in the tropics. Sure you can get one made, but it will cost you thousands of dollars and weeks to accomplish
• We worked out that a cheaper boat with less spec, will often cost more in the long run than a more expensive vessel with all the kit. This even more so if you consider the time involved. Also remember that kit does not tend to affect the overall resale price of the boat. Just because you added a $5000 dodger does not increase its value by $5k...unfortunately
• Arranged viewings with those on the shortlist. All this involves significant time and expense as we hire cars and trains and aeroplanes to do this...The boat is getting more expensive by the day and we have not even bought one yet...
• We would view each boat and weigh up the options. Every boat has its value. Some however are just not appealing and don't fit the criteria. Others need more than just a polish and would be "project boats" for a long time before we could set off. Too long in some cases
• Every now and then you find the right boat but at the wrong price. As we are in a buyers market (the American economy - and the world economy - is in a poor place at the moment) we have considered a few yachts with prices in excess of our budget. Sometime a seemingly cheeky offer is accepted with the right timing and the right seller
• The most difficult part is realising that whatever you spend on a boat, you will spend an additional 40 - 50% on getting her cruising ready. I never thought about this until this was called out by my parents and seconded by John Neal - from Mahina.com. I started doing the math...no dingy, + $1000. No outboard engine for dingy, + $1000, no self-steering, + $2000 etc etc - THAT affected the boat budget!
• When we found one that we did like on paper, but it was far away, we made a few calls to the owners / brokers to find out all about the boat and what the condition was of the big ticket items Namely - the engine, hull, rig, sails etc. An engine rebuild can costs tens of thousand. Delamination on the deck costs thousands to fix. Chainplates are a mission and costly to replace etc
• If we liked what we heard we would go away and research the make, design. There are loads of forums with information from owners. Also some have websites dedicated to the design. We also emailed owners to ask their advice and what to look out for when considering the boat
• If all was to our liking, we would then make a preliminary offer. "Based on the information you have provided I would like to offer you $X for her...subject to viewing, survey and sea trial"
• If the offer was accepted, we would make our way to the boat and view her
• We would have a full survey done and would do this every time from now on. Preferably with the owner present for both the out the water survey and the sea trial. Together we can identify and discuss in an open forum any issues with the boat and it adds a bit of realism to the deal
• If there are any major issues that will require additional capital that you have not budgeted for, negotiate with the seller on price

The Spice Island

Saturday early morning we are asleep on the blow up bed in our friend's apartment in Florida, happily having our 10 hour a night beauty sleep, thinking we were off to St Augustine that day to do a second viewing on a boat when the next phone call changed all plans. "Good morning Dylan, Mike here, my boat you were interested in a couple of weeks ago is back on the market". Not one for early mornings, this was a rare occasion when I shot out of bed and listened intently.

Turned out our first choice in boat that had disappeared from our grasp with a quicker offer when we first started our boat hunt had fallen through with the current buyer and the owner was offering us a chance to put in an offer. One small problem...the boat was in Grenada and we were in Miami. Unfazed by this, we put the phone down on Mike and an hour later we had booked ourselves onto flights the same afternoon, leaving Miami and flying to Grenada via Trinidad arriving at the boat yard by early Sunday morning...24 hours from now.

A hasty exit from our friend's apartment and a trip to Enterprise to deposit our hire car, we flew 2 1/2 hours to Trinidad and prepared for a 10 hour layover. Unable to find any accommodation near the airport in Trinidad we decided to kip at the airport. Eager to find a spot suitable for snoozing we had a quick drink and headed straight through to departures to find that there was no food vendors in sight. O well, having lived on an american diet we didn't really miss the food but what we did miss was the sleep. Our luggage had been checked through to Grenada and we had but hand luggage with us. Wearing appropriate Caribbean attire, we thought we were suitably prepared for the climate. However the air conditioning made our old flat in Peabody seem like the tropics, we shivered our way to 5:45am when our 20 minute flight to Grenada left.

Arriving in Grenada 'international' airport, we were met with 85 degree heat and high humidity...my favourite type of weather. With a huge smile on my face, we made our way to the only choice in breakfast where I munched on corned beef, bread and salad at 6:30am and Dylan chose the salt fish. Yum. Having made a last minute decision to go to Grenada, we had no accommodation booked and so rocked up at the closest hotel, woke the owner up (since found that no Grenadians are out and about on a Sunday morning) and booked a room for the night before moving to a more budget self contained apartment for the remainder of our stay.

Up till now we had only seen photos of this boat as well as a detailed specification so it was a big risk to travel to a small island in the hope that this yacht was the one for us. We had invested airfares, accommodation and potentially losing another boat to pursue this one... Luckily we were not disappointed, she is a beautiful boat and we hope that within the next week she shall be ours.

Boat aside we set about enjoying the island, and wow, what an island. We had done our homework before we arrived reading multiple cruising guides and blogs but nothing prepares you for the real deal. A silent nation of people they don't seem to greet each other but communicate in smiles, grunts and hand signals. Boy do they love the horn...and music! Us tourists get around the island by relying on the buses, easily identifiable by looking out for any number plate starting with a 'H'. EC$2.50 (50p) to wherever you want to go we climb aboard the minibuses, crammed in like sardines and bounce along the road listening to ear deafening reggae music which is practically nonsensical to the untrained ear (but is apparently English!) until we spot our destination and a tap on the roof brings the bus to an abrupt holt and we are bustled on our merry way. We are yet to wait more than 30 seconds for a bus to come by.

Living near Prickly Bay (probably one of the prettiest anchorages on the island), it is a short bus ride to the most amazing beach in Grand Anse. Clear gin blue waters and a white beach that stretches right around the bay this is the stuff for postcards. Without the tacky sea fronts you see in so many holiday destinations, there are no shops /casinos / seagulls/ beach clubs in sight. We lay there uninterrupted for hours, no one trying to lay their towel right on top of us, no squealing children or people trying to sell us fake sunglasses...heaven. That's Dylan in the photo below trying to re-enact his younger years of being a lifeguard:

Yesterday we decided to venture into the capital of St George. Whilst shading from the raging midday sun we looked out over the bay at the chocolate box houses against a lush green backdrop and breathed in the smells of spices as the local lady next to us sold her wares. School children coming back from sports day were lead single file around the water with impeccable manners (see photo below). We went to BB's Crabback recommended as a place to go to eat traditional Caribbean food. Looking out over the marina to the multi million dollar boats moored up, I ate kingfish, fried plantain, rice and beans and dylan had the same but with mahi mahi, delicious. This evening we tried to repeat the dish but with chicken, think we need a lot more practice!

Sick of being a brunette I have purchased blonde hair dye and shall attempt a home kit Grenadian style tomorrow (yes I must be desperate).

My christmas present from Dylan was a star named after me in Orion's belt...with this boat sharing the same name, hopefully the next post shall be about being new boat owners (it is a sign)!!

America...F@£$ YEAH

Excuse the profanity in the title. It comes from the infamous puppet parody "Team America".

Although we have to admit, America has it pretty jacked up in some respects!

• 6 lane highways (in 1 direction!)
• Fridges with ice and water filters (we don't have those in our meagre sized kitchens in the UK!)
• With the fridge comes apartments that are big enough to house said appliances. We have been to two Floridians houses / apartments and they suitably large!
• Free WiFi is available pretty much everywhere. Every fast food joint or motel has it. There is no "fill out all your life details" to access it either!
• Toll by plate - You drive on a toll, it bills you for the privilege. No wait in a queue to pay a dollar. Very streamline!
• Fuel is way cheaper here. @ $3.69 per gallon it works out to around $1 per litre or £0.65 per litre!
• Car rental is cheap too! We pay about $26 per day. HOWEVER, you have to pay mandatory insurance on top of that at a further $30 per day for basic. It all works out not so cheap as you have to have a car here to get around.

But not in others!

• Drive through Starbucks, pharmacy, ATM, fast food etc - For the incredibly lazy.
• Fast food joints at every exit off the highway. Eating a healthy meal on the road is practically impossible so we try buy healthy snacks from Walmart etc
• Not pedestrian friendly. This is a car culture and although drivers are very respectful of pedestrians and let them have loads of space to cross roads etc, the sidewalks are not conducive to "leggin' it" in cities
• 3G access on mobile phone contracts is not like the UK. There is a serious monopoly on smartphones and usage over here. But, we got a "pay as you go deal" that works out at $2 per day for unlimited local calls to landlines and mobiles

Florida Road Trip

Standing at the carousel quietly mocking the Justin Bieber lookalike and old dears with toy boys at their side, we were remembering all the stories we had heard of baggage going missing when using interconnecting flights in the US. Cursing the fact I hadn't slipped a bikini into my hand luggage 'just in case' I was very relieved to see our North Face and Helly Hansen luggage pushing out of the plastic slats towards us.

Hauling the heavy bags onto our backs, we set off in search of the car rental area - what turned out to be a total MISSION away using bouncy travelators to speed up the route. Our old faithfuls Enterprise were our company of choice and never failing to please they gave us a free upgrade to a Dodge Avenger - butch name, butch car! As I quickly realised, everything in the US is big and I was very glad we had already decided that Dylan would do all the driving, considerably bigger than the Daewoo Matiz (0.8) that I was used to driving back home. Things got off to an interesting start when we attempted to navigate the car park in the opposite direction to the one way system, all smiles and waves we did a quick u turn and sped out into the night before any further embarrassment was caused.

Continuous chanting of 'driving on the right' got us to Ft Lauderdale in one piece, unfortunately Dylan only figured out how to use cruise control 4 days into driving having already clocked up 900 miles.

The next 3 days were a blur of yacht viewings, communication with brokers and not so cheap motels. In Fort Lauderdale we encountered Pepper, an over the top American yacht broker with whiter than white teeth who had previously sold a boat to Tom Cunliffe (Dylan's hero). Disappointed by the boats in this area, we headed up to Fort Pierce and checked into a truckers motel where their idea of a 'continental breakfast' was a honey bun in a vacuum sealed plastic packet with a filter coffee the colour of dishwasher, we soon learned not to bother getting up early to take advantage of the free food on offer!

Up till now we had made do with our UK phones on pay as you go but this was proving costly when ringing in the US. Sprint (an unknown company to us) was the first phone shop we came across and we purchased a 'boost' package which gave us a very simple phone and then $2 a day from then on as long as we want to use it for giving us unlimited minutes to anywhere in the US.

From Fort Pearce we headed to St Augustine and as we were rounding the bend near another boat yard that could potentially have our ideal yacht...the cop car behind us started flashing his lights. Pulling over we start to rack our brains for what we could have done wrong, driving licence and rental agreement at the ready, we wind down the window, our eyes in a direct line to his very shiny belt complete with taser gun. Turns out we rolled at a stop sign, knuckles rapped we got away with a warning and went on our way - from then on Dylan was like a person who was on his driving test, all signs and speed limits strictly adhered to!

Having clocked up so many miles of driving on the interstates (although quick, there is nothing much to see), we went to check out the famous Daytona and Flagler beach on the A1A highway. WOW what a view, with stretches of ocean or intracoastal highway to see, we crawled at a snails pace as we oohed and aaaahed our way south. The property in the area was a sight to be seen, mostly on stilts they offered uninterrupted views of the ocean, real estate to aspire towards!

Having taken a sharp right from Daytona Beach we headed to St Petersburg to view boats on the west coast and then made our way back to Miami via the Everglades on the southern tip of Florida.  Having no choice but to watch Swamp Monsters when Dylan was in charge of the remote, I had a new respect for their profession, seeing stereotypical swamp boats driving around the mangroves and thinking of all the crocodiles that could be lurking in the greenery!

Back in Miami we stayed with a friend of Dylan's right near the beach. Alex (an ex work colleague of Dylan's) invited us to a Puerto Rican BBQ and it was here that we got our first lesson in Caribbean rum. Having only tasted the western version of rum such as Malibu, Captain Morgans and Bacardi, it was an eye opener to see, smell and taste the bottles and bottles of home made rum with different fermenting fruit inside. What friendly, hospitable people and it only put more pressure on us to get this boat found, bought and sailed to the Caribbean ASAP!

No trip to Florida is complete without visiting the Keys so it was on day 2 that we decided to day trip to Key West. Five hours worth of driving one way was a little steep but totally worth it. With 120 miles of Overseas Highway to travel on and 42 bridges to cross, it made for a fantastic drive. At some points it feels like you are driving on water with only ocean on both sides of you and not a car in sight.

Pelicans are sat staring at you from the sides of the road and almost every town has a dive school, fishing shop and seafood restaurant specialising in their local crab (stoned crab). Key West was our destination and once we had mastered the horrific one way system in the town (seeing a pattern here?) we headed to Fort Zachary Taylor Park. A magnificent white coral beach surrounded by palm trees where we soaked up the sunshine before making the 5 hour ride back to Miami.

Dylan's birthday today as I write and his only birthday request was to have a lie in and go for a walk along the beach. Man of simple needs he didn't even want a present and I suppose why would you, having not worked for a month now and with 11 more months of Caribbean sailing in front of us can life really get much better than this?!

Welcome to Miami

Two ferries, four bus rides, a dodgy motel and 2 flights later we have made it to Miami. On our cruising budget we have ruled out any lavish expense (this includes eating out) and as such, the 36 hour option to take us from Salt Spring Island on the west coast of Canada to Miami on the south east coast of the US was the appropriate choice for our situation.

To start our journey, Gem and I bundled into the back seat of their Honda with our suitcases taking up another seat, bursting with sailing gear and xmas goodies. Alright for dog who had the run of the boot laughing at us peculiar humans bunched together! After a short 30 minute ferry ride to Vancouver Island we even managed to squeeze in 3 Canadian Sailcraft 36 boat viewings in Sidney prior to heading to the mainland.

It all started to get a little tedious when on the bus from Vancouver to Seattle. What should have been a 2hr 40 journey ended up being a 5 hour slog through the US border control who treated us as if we were blatant terrorists. Being a Brit means that I have never been subjected to the third degree when going through passport control. Oblivious to the troubles other nationalities have, I breeze through with little questions and wonder what all the fuss is about. With the tables now turned, Dylan assures me that it is way worse at Heathrow with him using an indefinite leave to remain visa in his Canadian passport yet still subjected to a thorough dressing down every time he dares enter and exit the country. Managing to control my outrage at the treatment the border control was subjecting us to, we re-board the bus and head on to Seattle. Just as well we refused the mincemeat and sourdough starter jars that Dylan's Mum had made for us!

With our flight out of Seattle not until 7:25am the next day, we had pre-booked into a Travelodge. Upon arrival I was instantly reminded of a motel used in the murder scenes of Dexter. Apart from our room sounding like it was located in the middle of a race track, I barely slept a wink as I convinced myself the home boys playing latino music full blast at 1am were going to break into our room, going through various ways I could tackle them in self defence. OK so we did only pay $46 for the privilege of having a snooze but at the risk of sounding twice my age – I just wanted a good kip with the little hours we did have available!

With at least a week planned in Florida to complete our shortlist, I'm sure we shall be repeating that scenario a fair few more times although lesson learned – check out the neighbourhood before booking.

Next mission – buy a US sim so we don't pay through the nose when contacting brokers and get cracking on our boat hunting.