2/18/17 - Lake Norman, NC

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the "Rode Trip" as she sat in the dealership lot

It was finally time to make the leap into our first sailboat. Similarly, I'm going to assume that nobody is still following this blog with bated breath since the last post that doesn't already know something about what has happened in our lives since then (Marriage, bliss, bought house, new car, etc...) and jump right into what is happening currently.

My amazing wife Samantha has kindly agreed that my dream of owning a live-aboard sailboat and traveling the world would work as a dream for her as well. (the boat pictured below is obviously not the aforementioned live-aboard). We have a plan to get us there in the next four years, and needed some way to get some sailing practice between now and then. After talking about it for months, Sam gave me the go-ahead to make a leap and find "First Boat".

Two weeks later, we paid cash for a 1984 Catalina 22. The mother f*&#in Catalina wine mixer (for Wylie's benefit, I've still never seen Sep-Brothers).   I found her by calling around to every marina between Savannah and Charlotte, and going to see between 15 and 20 different candidates. It took about the first 6 or 8 to determine exactly what we wanted- trailer-ability, ease of maintenance, the ability to rig and sail single-handed, and a place to camp for the weekend. I ended up finding the "Rode Trip" as she's currently named at a pontoon dealership Co-Owned by an eccentric South-African named Barry.

an example of the type of regal fucker I'm talking about

Barry was one of those true old-salt sailors. He'd been doing it since he was 4, it'd taken him around the world, and he'd developed a true passion for old boats (thus the boat dealership he bought, we found out, solely so that he'd have a shop and covered space to restore his 1946 Chris Craft 40' with the sunken fly bridge and 1955 Chris-Craft Corvette 37'! I'll try to make a side-post about his story sometime in the future with pictures because they're truly something to behold.

Panorama of her interior

A detailed negotiation and a stiff handshake, and the boat was officially ours! Her previous owner was a meticulous German man according to Barry, and the boat showed his fastidious tinkering with pride! The interior is immaculate as you can see above. The boat had every detail thought of- albeit a few years of sun had not been kind to some of the plastic bits.

proud owners at the dock before the maiden voyage

After waiting a week for the trailer tires to be fixed and the lights to be replaced, we hauled her down to the boat ramp for her first sail (in quite a while by the look of her). Part of the negotiation, was that Barry agreed to meet us at the boat launch and show us how to rig and un-rig her.

So, on Friday afternoon, we met Barry at the Ramsay Creek boat launch on our local Lake Norman at 5:00 for our lesson. By the time darkness hit, we had her rigged, and Barry agreed to meet us again at sunrise the next morning to help us launch.

*As a side-note, I have to give Barry a plug here- anyone that says a bad word about Wher-Rena Boatland or Barry can answer to me. As a salesman myself, I can attest to the fact personally, that no boat-selling businessman cares as much as Barry about the success of his clients. His commission on selling this sailboat was earned ten times over with all the help he gave us. I know we could have figured these things out without his help, but it wouldn't have been pretty. I can't thank him enough for his patience and time getting us on our way!

the next morning as we reached the Ramsey Creek boat launch, we saw the one thing we hadn't expected. The running lights of 250+ bass boats in the water waiting for the starting gun for the Skeeter Owners bass tournament!
Aside from the parking lot being overflowing with trailers, we found that the timing worked out quite well. By the time we were rigged up and ready to launch, the ramp was wide open, and we made sure to plan on returning to the ramp before the 3:00 pm weigh-in when everyone would be pulling their boats back out of the water.

Sam at the helm on our first cruise!

The shake-down sail went well. About as well as it can go without any wind. There was a breath of air enough for each of us to tack back and forth a few times, and we gave the 5hp Honda outboard a good shakedown as well. We ate lunch on the boat, christened her with the first beer on board, and found the boat's new theme music- a CD left behind by the previous owner of German Imperial March music by "Deutsche Grammophon Reacords" (imagine me wearing my captains hat conducting to the lake with German march music in the background).

Barely squeezed between the fence and the bushes, her new home for the foreseeable future

It only took us 1:45 hours to break down the mast and rigging, and only one minor mishap when we forgot to close the companionway hatch before dropping the mast- adding a nice new hole to the fiberglass of the hatch.

A quick stop at West Marine to get a trailer lighting extension cable, and we had a smooth ride home. Next project, trailer work. If only there was time to finish all the other open projects like the porch ceiling!! Hopefully the next update will be about our first big overnight camping trip!