-Hell freezes over
-Pigs fly
-We find a boat
It’s hard to explain to your brain that it’s ok, you’re in control. You’ve heard that last clack at the apogee of the first big hill. You seem to hang there. And then the bottom falls out beneath you and you’re plummeting into the abyss. Control is the last thing on your mind. It’s more like will I survive this?
Finding a blue water cruising catamaran is like riding some kind of malevolent roller coaster.
Take our friends’ ride for example. Before we met them last summer, circumnavigating Florida counter clockwise while we were circumnavigating clockwise, they found a catamaran in the panhandle of Florida. Clean decent example of the breed. Reasonable asking price, well known brand. They negotiate a deal, fork over the hand money, everybody signs. Smiles all around, but they don’t hug it out. Why? The survey and sea trial, that’s why. Survey went well but during the sea trial our friends noticed some strange maneuvering on just one engine. The broker was trying to cover for a bad transmission! Once the cards were on the table, the owners would only pay for half. Our friends pulled out and left. This is not easy to do. I mean once you’ve measured for drapes it’s hard to walk. There’s an emotional attachment between you and your boat and it happens fast. It’s like the puppy dog close, on a very expensive level.
We’ve emailed them recently and they’re back buying the same boat a year later with a new broker. Yes, it’s a roller coaster alright.
We’ve negotiated the first drop off the big hill. We have a signed deal, hand money in hand, and if the survey and sea trial go well we have a new home.
Marce has been treating this like a pregnancy. Apparently you just don’t speak of it until you see it. Kind of like the malocchio. I just don’t roll that way.
Meet our new home.
Oh…one last thing. Did I mention we’ve been on several Mantas of various sizes but we haven’t been on ours yet. It happens. As a matter of fact she’s not even in the country yet. Which is why we’ve been waiting around Florida for months.
How she came to us is strictly Marce’s story and she’s not talking until the keys are in her hand! Stay tuned.
Well, even without Marce’s part of this story, it’s quite a story……. looking at her all snug in her slip, under her blanket I say she’s pretty nice and will be just lovely in the harbors around here…… but I won’t talk about that ’cause ….
I’ll keep candles glowing for a successful survey and trial…… In the mean time, have fun going all through your storage; finding boxes and visiting your old haunts and of course have fun getting Izzy ready for her life vest!!
Cheers and Love
Carole
We wait with bated breath and all are excited to see her on land being examined for perfection.
And Wess and I were so glad to have a last chance to see the two of you in Pittsburgh Friday and Saturday. The pizza was eaten with relish and the salad added crunch and freshness to wine and good conservation.
After you left we spent the time empting the refrigerator of some good and some overdone vegetables and fruit that should have been pared a week ago. Two peices of star fruit and a vegetable were wrapped and taken to the Smith’s across the way for Claire to turn them into a salad and tasty vegetable dish. Peter will cut the fast growing grass of Spring at least two if not three times so we don’t look like the forgotten propertieds of the ninth ward in New Orleans afte Katrina. I made a new leader with bamboo stick and twine on their weeping redbud that I designed into their garden three years ago. The February snow of 2010 caused a tree to fall into the top breaking off the top branch. Unless I tied up a weeping branch the tree would always be a minature and the spot in the garden was ripe for a tree with more height. Success in tieing a branch upright and time will tell if it works-I am sure it will.
Laundry to fold and pack or put in the dresser for a later time, left over vegetables put in the compost container on the west porch, suitcases to finish before weighing the largest bag so as not to pay freight in the belly of the plane and time to dress and check that all neccessary apppliances are unpluged, water turned off in the laundry room and doors locked.
Patty picked us up on time and drove to the Pittsburgh airport and then luggage was checked in at the US Air desk while our tickets were affirmed and seats still available. A drink was downed at Friday’s before walking to gate A37 and then it was time to board. Not a completely full plane but a number of babies and small children made Wess cringe. The babies were pretty good and only about a half hour of wimpering to disturb the quiet as the lights were dimned for sleep.
Our aventures will be continued on another day as I must go watch the three little ones making Zucchini bread with Mom, aprons covering their clean for now just put on clothes.
Nancy b.
yay!!! I am so happy for you, and sad at the same time. When can we have Thanksgiving on the boat? Congrats – I’ll still say lots of prayers that all comes through for you in the end.
Marce,
I wish you and Jack the best, and hope everything goes well as you await your new “puppyboat” as i think of it now. Let the housetraining begin!
I have always been in awe of you. Always. At PSU you were the model of astounding cool I could only hope for in my next incarnation. You were (are) smart, hip, beautiful, ironic, clever, tasteful, and cutting edge, I’ve always felt slow and clumsy and vapid when I’ve spent time with you, through no fault of yours. And as i’ve followed your world in dribs and drabs over the last 30 plus years, you haven’t altered in those basic principles. You even managed to find the perfect guy to go along with it.
I’m glossing over the stress and storm in your life only because you’ve always gotten through it with style.
At any rate, I am so excited about you and jack on this adventure. I’m glad you are documenting it for us. What I know about boats either comes from playing Battleship, mocking James Cameron’s Titanic, or finding the most tubworthy toy. So now I get to learn about them vicariously.
Blessed be in this great adventure! I can’t wait to hear about the breaking in period. Blessed be. You and Jack and Izzy rock. When I’m cooler in my next incarnation, maybe I’ll try something so exotic.