The Beginning…
Where to start? Sailing obviously requires a boat. Who knew how many makes and models there were. It is a bit like buying a house or choosing a husband. You start of dreaming about Chris Hemsworth and you end up with Ben Stiller. Reliable but not quite the look you were after.
What to consider.
A: New or second hand. New everything is shiny, with all the latest mod cons and under warranty. Second hand. Slightly dented, musty smell but you know it floats.
B: Size of boat. Too big requires, more people to sail her, more berths (Bedrooms to the uneducated amongst us.) and a very large wallet. Too small, can’t stand up downstairs and far too bouncy in the middle of the pacific. (What looks large in the dock looks, and feels, remarkably small in the middle of the ocean.)
C: Cost of the Boat. ‘How long is a piece of string?’ You can spend a lot on a boat or you can spend and obscene amount on a boat. You just have to pick your budget.
With these things in mind we started looking. Chris had always converted an Oyster, a beautiful bespoke boat. Fitted A and B but definitely not C. Then found a lovely old Amel. Fitted A and and C but not B.
After looking at hundreds of boats and attending at numerous boat shows we found her, A+B+C= perfect. Flew to New Zealand to look at her, second hand, good condition and in budget. We flew home happy and excited. We had found the one.
Wrong. We may have achieved perfect but we had not anticipated D, the human factor.. Negotiations, promises made and forgotten led to goodbye to Perfect.
It did however help us decide. We would by a new one of the same model and not have to deal with this type of disappointment again.
Boat ordered! Well actually part of a boat. What you actually buy is the very basics, which by the way is not quite enough to sail the boat. Now the fun starts with a long list of items to add or upgrade. Still in budget….just. As long as I didn’t have to down grade my coffee machine and there were enough fridges and freezers for the bubbles and the ice I was happy. At this stage in my sailing career the radio was about music, the sails were more about their colour and flotation devices were stand up paddle boards. I had a lot to learn and boy how my priorities were about to change.
After numerous name suggestions we settled on ‘Quirky’. Meaning unusual, eccentric oddity but to us a family name and the nickname of my husband and all my kids.
So now there’s 3 of us Chris, Ruth and Quirky. Let’s hope she floats.