April 17 - 20 - The big orange distraction

I had pretty much stopped shopping for a boat of our own, planning on resuming the search  next spring (2017), but I was intrigued enough by a listing I came across to correspond a bit with the owners.  It turns out that the UK-based boat was in BC waters, and would still be here at the start of our vacation.  They were eager to leave though, so we went to see the boat as soon as we arrived in Sidney.

The boat, "Arctic Tern", immediately felt right.  She is a real ship, with the accomplishments to prove it, including a transit of the Northwest Passage in 2014.  The owners were very accommodating and lovely to spend time with.  To keep this post brief, we decided that we want to make her ours, and spent the next 2 days trying to make that happen.  For many reasons, we arrived at a plan that has the following steps:

• Arctic Tern leaves immediately for Panama, via Mexico (to get through the hurricane belt before hurricane season starts - end of June)
• Put a formal contract in place over the next 2 weeks
• Assuming we have a signed deal (subject to inspection in the UK) I join boat in Panama early June
• I sail with Ali and Les from Panama to North Wales, with possible stop in Bermuda (5 weeks approx).  This is a tremendous opportunity both to learn the boat really well, but to build my experience as a sailor as well.
• We conduct full boat inspection in N Wales
• Barring any major technical issues with the boat, we finalize the purchase
• Emily and Sara come over mid-July through late August for some cruising around the UK and Ireland
• We put the boat into storage for the winter somewhere over there
• Full summer season in Norther Europe in 2017

This might seem a bit bold and crazy, particularly to materialize in just a few days, but I feel like we have been preparing for something like this for a few years now, and finally the right opportunity has come along.   

The whole family sailed (well, motored actually) from Sidney down to Victoria with Ali and Les on Wednesday morning, and said our good byes until (hopefully) Panama for me, and Wales for the girls.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled vacation...  I need it.

If anyone want more detail, the boat's web site may be reached by clicking here, and the sale brochure may be read by clicking here. (no need to sign up, just select "continue to view" at the bottom of the first page you see).