the purchase
Our first view of "Indigo" on Yachtworld.
Once we had made Pacific Seacraft our choice, we had a number of boats to look at in the Chesapeake area. Dave van den Arend at Crusader Yacht Sales in Annapolis was highly patient with us as we spent almost every weekend, for a few months, looking at the available boats. We made spread sheets and flipped back and forth between five boats - four 34s (1984-1994) and one 37 (1990). Most of the boats were on Crusader’s lot so Dave would wave acknowledgement that we were there and left us alone to go sit on each boat, comparing and contrasting, hemming and hawing. We made notes, took pictures, and waffled back and forth. Dave was a great broker; he answered our thousands of questions, was never pushy, and knew when to disappear when we were in "thinking" mode. After a couple of months, we were just about to pull the trigger on a rather nice 1992 34 "Benediction", when we spotted one more on Yachtworld. It was a 4 hour drive away and she was the most expensive of the bunch, but her picture was beautiful. What have we got to lose except for a tank full of gas?
It was December near Chesapeake City, Maryland, a quaint little town at the upper portion of the Chesapeake. Indigo was on the hard sitting on jack stands in a cool little marina, Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor. The owners, Jay and Tanya, came out to greet us and walked us through the boat. Surprisingly, the boat was even better looking in person, which never seems to be the case. Jay and Tanya were the second owners and had taken exceptionally good care of her – she looked like she recently left the factory. We spent about 3 hours going through the boat, as Jay showed me every nook and cranny.
Afterwords, while driving home Marya and I couldn’t stop smiling. We knew she was the one, but decided to not let pure emotion make our decision and we waited 2 weeks until we returned home from Christmas vacation to smack the table. The more we thought about it, the more sure we were of our decision and put in an offer as soon as we returned to Maryland. They accepted, and not only did we gain an awesome boat, but Jay and Tanya have become good friends as well.
In hindsight that day we decided to visit Indigo, we lost a lot more than gas money. Some people feel we have lost an incredible amount of money, time and effort. Much of our life savings has gone into purchasing and altering the boat. I should have bought West Marine and Defender stock. Yes, we could go around the world on numerous vacations for the amount of money we have put into this crazy scheme. Fortunately we purchased the boat with the money we made on our house that we sold in Temecula, CA just before the market dump. We are lucky the boat is paid off and now our sole purpose in life is to work to pay for the upgrades we are making in this last year.
What did we gain? Ahhh, that is the more important question, grasshopper. Things more priceless than greenbacks in our coffers...
...satisfaction in knowing we are nearing the end of this particular chapter in our work lives (temporarily anyway). We are both stuck in jobs that do not allow us to leave for more than a week at a time typically. (Heck we can't even up and go to Vegas for the weekend as we must tell the Marine Corps in advance and have them approve it.) In short, we are looking forward to not constantly being told where to live, what to do or when we can do it. When we decide to come back to reality, we may start a business so that we can create our own work environment and make our own rules.
...a means to meet that end. Finding a boat to live and cruise on, from a minimum of one to potentially many years, is daunting, especially when you haven't cruised anywhere before. Since we have found "the boat", we are confidant in knowing she will carry us far beyond our expectations, taking care of us if we take proper care of her. Living on a boat is not typical. But we could never live solely on a military pension on land. Indigo is our means to an end... to adventure, travel, drastic change, and leaving the rat race far behind.
...new friends. We were surprised and very happy to have met Jay and Tanya during the boat buying process. They bent over backward to help us.... they actually helped us bottom paint the boat after purchase to show us how it's done. Who does that? People who truly love and are conscientious about their boat. Since then we saw them often while we lived in MD, rafted up with their new Valiant 42 on the Chesapeake, and they have even dropped by California on business to sail Indigo on the west coast. We like to browse their blog every once in awhile to get some vicarious sailing inspiration.
...new skills. Brian is already adept at woodworking but has since gained electrical, welding and rigging skills, amongst many other things on his quest to add more and better "stuff".
...a boat that causes us to smile every time we see her. We tend to think if this doesn't happen to you, then it's not the right boat. Plus we get compliments from passersby almost every time we are sitting on the dock. That doesn't hurt either.
It was December near Chesapeake City, Maryland, a quaint little town at the upper portion of the Chesapeake. Indigo was on the hard sitting on jack stands in a cool little marina, Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbor. The owners, Jay and Tanya, came out to greet us and walked us through the boat. Surprisingly, the boat was even better looking in person, which never seems to be the case. Jay and Tanya were the second owners and had taken exceptionally good care of her – she looked like she recently left the factory. We spent about 3 hours going through the boat, as Jay showed me every nook and cranny.
Afterwords, while driving home Marya and I couldn’t stop smiling. We knew she was the one, but decided to not let pure emotion make our decision and we waited 2 weeks until we returned home from Christmas vacation to smack the table. The more we thought about it, the more sure we were of our decision and put in an offer as soon as we returned to Maryland. They accepted, and not only did we gain an awesome boat, but Jay and Tanya have become good friends as well.
In hindsight that day we decided to visit Indigo, we lost a lot more than gas money. Some people feel we have lost an incredible amount of money, time and effort. Much of our life savings has gone into purchasing and altering the boat. I should have bought West Marine and Defender stock. Yes, we could go around the world on numerous vacations for the amount of money we have put into this crazy scheme. Fortunately we purchased the boat with the money we made on our house that we sold in Temecula, CA just before the market dump. We are lucky the boat is paid off and now our sole purpose in life is to work to pay for the upgrades we are making in this last year.
What did we gain? Ahhh, that is the more important question, grasshopper. Things more priceless than greenbacks in our coffers...
...satisfaction in knowing we are nearing the end of this particular chapter in our work lives (temporarily anyway). We are both stuck in jobs that do not allow us to leave for more than a week at a time typically. (Heck we can't even up and go to Vegas for the weekend as we must tell the Marine Corps in advance and have them approve it.) In short, we are looking forward to not constantly being told where to live, what to do or when we can do it. When we decide to come back to reality, we may start a business so that we can create our own work environment and make our own rules.
...a means to meet that end. Finding a boat to live and cruise on, from a minimum of one to potentially many years, is daunting, especially when you haven't cruised anywhere before. Since we have found "the boat", we are confidant in knowing she will carry us far beyond our expectations, taking care of us if we take proper care of her. Living on a boat is not typical. But we could never live solely on a military pension on land. Indigo is our means to an end... to adventure, travel, drastic change, and leaving the rat race far behind.
...new friends. We were surprised and very happy to have met Jay and Tanya during the boat buying process. They bent over backward to help us.... they actually helped us bottom paint the boat after purchase to show us how it's done. Who does that? People who truly love and are conscientious about their boat. Since then we saw them often while we lived in MD, rafted up with their new Valiant 42 on the Chesapeake, and they have even dropped by California on business to sail Indigo on the west coast. We like to browse their blog every once in awhile to get some vicarious sailing inspiration.
...new skills. Brian is already adept at woodworking but has since gained electrical, welding and rigging skills, amongst many other things on his quest to add more and better "stuff".
...a boat that causes us to smile every time we see her. We tend to think if this doesn't happen to you, then it's not the right boat. Plus we get compliments from passersby almost every time we are sitting on the dock. That doesn't hurt either.
