I must be getting lackadaisical with delivery applications because it was day two on this delivery when I realized that my folks had owned this boat and sailed it extensively.
Back when my folks owned the boat.
A rig you can’t miss. More about it to come.
My folks have owned quite a few boats, and in my defense I’d only been aboard this one once and I think it was at night. Several things should’ve alerted me other than the name. The tall fractional rig for one because I remember reading something in Brion Toss’s Rigging book “The Rigger’s Apprentice” where he used it as an example of a performance-oriented cruising design. Also, the fact that it is an aluminum boat, which is fairly unusual in the Northwest or the United States should have tipped me off.
The thing that made me finally realize that it was my folks’ old boat was the Data Scope, and its custom-wood holder that had been made for the boat we cruised on as a family when I was a kid. That, and then later noticing the upside-down compass we got my dad for his birthday was mounted in the v-berth.
The delivery started a little bit more awkwardly than most. Traveling to Vancouver BC shouldn’t be as hard as it is without a car but there we go; two hours late on the train from Bellingham to Vancouver. A brief orientation from the broker who acted like selling a boat worth less than a million was an act of charity, and I am off. Off to spend the night at Cabbage Island just Northeast of Saturna Island, or at least that was the plan.
Once underway in calm water, I checked the forecast for the following day and the current at the Eastern point of Saturna was going to be Max flood against me in the morning on top of an adverse southerly. So I changed my plans and continued into the night landing in Friday Harbor at 11. The following morning went through the customs process with the additional stress of dealing with the importation of the vessel without the proper documents the import brokers were supposed to have waiting for me. I could say many things, but I won’t other than that I wouldn’t recommend “Border Buddy” to anybody looking to import a boat. Once cleared, I provisioned the boat with my first mate and we left for Watmough Bay (an anchorage on the South end of Lopez). I made this decision because there were a number of logs floating in the area and I didn’t want to damage the propeller unnecessarily or risk more night running than I already had. I don’t mind running at night but it is an added risk and it needs to be weighed against the benefits.
Once in Watmough we grabbed a ball and had a nice dinner and I worked on getting the bulkhead heater working with no real success. The following morning we headed south without much wind but not much adverse current. That evening we found a spot in Eagle Harbor and grabbed some dinner ashore. Back at the boat later I struggled more to get the bulkhead heater going. It looked like the former owner had never cleaned it and unfortunately, the forced air Webasto Heater no longer was serviceable after a conversation with the nice gentleman at Sure Marine in Seattle. The next morning, just after clearing the breakwater, the engine stalled and wouldn’t restart so after rolling out the jib and passing the helm to my mate I started to look for a set of wrenches or a crescent wrench on board. Finding only a pair of channel locks I thought twice about whether I wanted to risk damaging the fuel hose nuts trying to bleed the fuel system on the old Westerbeke. Not too far from Quartermaster Harbor inside Vashon Island where we were heading and the Salty Boy’s Marine Repair headquarters are, I reached out and asked if they would be able to make it out and assist us if I couldn’t get it going, and they kindly obliged, but not wanting to be beat by something as simple as air in the fuel line, I jumped in the engine room while my first mate steered under sail. Not much cranking later and the old red beast came to life and we were off again adding a little delay and perhaps disappointing our Salty Boys that they couldn’t save the day.
Autopilot from a galaxy far far away and a long long time ago that works only when under power. And the cutest shipmate a salty dog could hope for.
Click on image for Brion Toss’s words on the design from his book The Rigger’s Apprentice.
Rental upgrade!
A fine boat for ocean sailing but the mainsail as it is, is more headache than I would want to deal with sailing in the close waters of the Puget Sound. Speaking to the owners, they said that they were planning on cruising the world and skipping the intermediate boat that would have taken them from their previous starter boat of a Tanzar 27 to this ocean beast.
I connected them with my folks who it sounds like got much more use out of the boat than the guy these people bought it from.
Lessons
Be very careful when using companies like Border Buddy that have amorphous areas of operation. It’s better to use a company local to the area and well-established in that field. This instance showed that talking to the customs officials ahead of time to ensure that things would move smoothly was not helpful.
Bring a crescent wrench in your kit and if it’s your boat be sure and have good tools aboard. I also recommend a start switch like this so you can jump the starter while you bleed the fuel line.
One of the great things about yacht delivery is getting to try out different designs and sometimes designs you think that you would really enjoy turn out to be a pain. If I compare this rig to the Cal 40 I have a lot of miles on I would say that I prefer the lower aspect masthead rig. I could hoist that main without a winch by myself and even though I didn’t have furling and carrying a variety of headsails was a bit of a pain - the ease of hoisting means sailing more and that’s what it’s all about. Now that said I am sure that the Brewer goes to weather better and more comfortably than the Cal with its flat bottom and outboard chainplates but it’s the rigs I’m comparing not the hulls.
Long may you run as Mr Young says.