We Bought a Boat!
I never thought it would happen. I didn’t grow up around the water (except for getting ice cream in the summertime from a safe distance at Bronte). In fact, I had never stepped on a boat until I started dating my husband-to-be in 2002. He had been sailing since 1994, as part of the Sea Cadets, as well as racing with the Lightning club in Thunder Bay, and teaching through the Canadian Yachting Association for 7 years in various places across Canada. If there was ever an example of a “bird falling in love with a fish”, this was it.
Somehow, we made it work. A few years ago, he got back into sailing at the National Yacht Club, racing as crew on a J105 and getting to know people. After 3 years of racing as crew, he developed an “itch” last October. He didn’t just want to go out on race nights, or ask people if he could take me out on their boat. He wanted us to own a boat!
Personally, I was worried about the cost of the boat, and how buying a boat would prevent us from doing anything else. Say goodbye to the mortgage down payment and the rainy day fund for maternity leave. Plus, I don’t love sailing. I love camping and hiking, being in a tent under the trees and freaking out about bears on the beach.
We agreed we wouldn’t get a boat unless I absolutely could imagine myself on the boat having a good time. We also agreed that his sailing buddies needed to stop showing me high-speed boat racing destruction videos, like the America’s Cup crashes. I put together my “perfect Sunday on the boat”, and it went something like this:
- Wake up after a comfortable night’s sleep
- Cook breakfast on the stove, using my favourite camping recipes
- Say good morning to my husband, any friends that have stayed on the boat, or possibly a little one
- Go on an adventure
That actually didn’t turn out to be too different from our camping trips, except instead of biking around Prince Edward County, or hiking through Algonquin Park with no one in sight for days, we’d be sailing.
That did put some limits on what we could look at. Straight-up racing boats were out. If he wants to hardcore race, he can get on the J105 team during the week. But, a boat that can be used for racing as well as cruising would be OK. I could bring the ultralight camping equipment on the boat, but it’s designed to be used on stationary ground, so it would be dangerous to use. A gimbaled cooktop or stove would be necessary, as well as some sort of icebox/cooler/fridge system. And, for me, it had better be big enough to have friends and family hang out on it on days when we weren’t taking it out. Land is pricy in Toronto, but a boat makes it easy to have a party with friends, sail to the Toronto Island, or just have a catnap in the sun when you live in a tiny basement apartment.
We looked at a lot of boats online to figure out our price range, and how far away we were willing to look for a boat. There were a couple for sale at the yacht club, but when looking at them in person, neither of us felt they were for us, either for his idea of sailing or mine. I’m not exactly sure about how many boats he investigated without me, but he showed me at least 10 he was interested in.
One of the boats we kept coming across was an Islander 36, but it was all the way out in Wiarton, Ontario (home of Wiarton Willie, the better groundhog!). Wiarton is close by driving, only a few hours, but the sailback would have taken us through Lake Huron, Erie and Ontario. Way too far for a newbie sailor like myself to help him sail, and I would never be able to get the time off of work. We didn’t even know how to get started with getting someone to transport a boat by truck or rail, so we set it aside.
A few weeks later, looking for other boats, we came across some very familiar pictures. It was the same pictures as the Islander 36, but based out of Kingston! There had been some drama with the previous owners, and so a trade had occurred with the original seller in Wiarton and the current owner in Kingston. A 55' boat went up to Wiarton, and this one came to Kingston, still on the market and at the same price!
The location change made it actually possible for us to go see the boat, as Kingston is at the other end of Lake Ontario, and it would be totally possible for me to help sail it back, especially if we could get friends to come aboard and help for a few days. A long-weekend sail is definitely possible, whereas a 2 week to a month sail was not happening!
So, on a cold, grey day in Kingston, I found myself climbing up a fancy portable ladder to look at the Blew By U. The outside was pretty standard for a boat, with some neat wood that needed repairs, and a shady top that required some major cleaning, but will keep the sun off my skin while hanging out on the boat when not racing. The boat had definitely not been put to bed with love and care (the dock lines had been outside all winter!) but all the key parts were there. Then we got to go inside.
Now, this isn’t my picture, and it doesn’t do the boat justice. I fell in love with it! Unlike the other boats I had been in, I could picture my perfect Sunday with ease. That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s problems, like the cushions maybe not having been replaced since the boat was built in 1974, and the curtains coming off their rails, and questionable fluid in the bilge that I’m hoping is antifreeze and not something else. We tried to play it cool, but when you ask questions like “what paperwork do you need and will you take my money now?” the selling agent definitely knows he’s got you on the hook.
We put in the offer while I was away on business, and the conditional offer was accepted! Now we just need for it to warm up a bit so no one freezes to death at the “sea trial” (where we put it in the water and see if it actually floats), then we can gather up our “crew” (my friends) and bring it home to it’s happy new mooring in Toronto!
