A sad ending for my old S 2

[jrowan]

I just have to report the downfall of my old S 2 to the idiot that I sold her to.
About a year and a half ago I sold my beautifully restored S 2 1980 8.5 meter racer-cruiser to guy who bought her at the marina here in Va. I spent a year doing a complete refit on the boat, and everyone always remarked on how sweet she turned out after the restoration. I bought her for only 5k and sold her for over 15 k a year later, so U can imagine that she was pretty much in bristol condition for the money spent. We had outgrown her with my growing family, so I reluctantly sold her to a fella who lied & said he was an experienced sailor. I wanted my baby to go to a good home, but instead she went to hell. This fool on his first week out got her grounded so hard that he killed the engine & trans. & actually called for the coast guard helicopter for help! Then he proceeded to leave a kid stranded 200 miles from home who was supposed to be his 1st mate. Then he let his girlfriend fall off the dock at the marina & nearly drowned. She had to be resusitated on the dock by EMS. Then he managed to get his young son's arm broken by trying to get him to tow this boat by rowing it with a dinghy! I kid you not.

After allowing the boat to ride up on the dock & tear out all the stantions & rigging it was finally time for the marina to kick him out. I was actually interested in buying the boat back from the marina for salvage, but the bastard had it towed away to god knows where. I'm sure I'll her about it with a new disaster story in the local news. I know its not my boat anymore & its kinda like a divorce - can't live with her or without her. But I'm kinda bummed about it. What makes me the maddest is being lied to, and that he goes around blaming me & my boat for all the problems he created through intentional neglegence & stupidity. But I took his money & bought a beautiful Catalina 30, and she is the bomb. C'est la vie.

 

[BobM]

Sorry to hear about it. I sold my Lancer 25 to a young guy, about 25, who "knew how to sail" too. I offered repeatedly to take him out for a trial and to help him move the boat a couple of miles to its new berth. He went with his Brother instead on a beautiful day...with 10-15 knot winds. The main was care worn, but serviceable. He called me after the trip to tell me how they tried to sail the boat over and to report that the main had ripped at the top. I told him that I had offered to help him and that it sounded like he buried the main in the spreader and damaged the sail. Later inspection of the sail certainly seemed to support my analysis. I had bought the boat for $1000 as a project and sold it to him fully functional for $1500 (he tried to talk me down to $1350 too).

I kept in touch with him and he didn't have much luck sailing. He finally decided to sell it. I went with him to help him clean the boat up and to go for one last sail on her. The poor thing was SO neglected. You just can't imagine all the gull shit on this boat. He clearly hadn't been aboard in three months or more. I almost told him to turn around and drop me at the dock, but I am a nice guy. I actually helped him clean the boat and then took him for a sail. He literally had not used the jib as the one time he tried it was too scary. And I do mean a 100% jib, not genoa. We has a stiff breeze. With the jib and main I had her clipping right along with the rail in the water. I turned the helm over to him to try to give him some experience and he was literally almost panic stricken. He ended up selling the boat for MORE than what he bought it from my for, just to add insult to injury.

He is a really nice guy and I like him a lot. He has moved close to Winthrop and I sponsored him to join the Winthrop Yacht Club. He is thinking about buying a smaller sailboat or power boat. I told him he can sail with me and recommended the power boat ;-)

 

[patrscoe]

I had a similar situation, put many hours and a lot of money in of our first cruising sailboat. We decided to start a family so I sold her.

Something about reviving a sailboat, you end up knowing every square inch of the sailboat and have as many memories restoring her as you did sailing her.
The new owners neglected her so much that they had to put it on the hard and I am sure that is where it still sits. I think when some people initially get into sailing, they have this image of inexpensive fun, no work required and this beautiful image of sailing when it is not reality. Upkeep of a sailboat is a lot of work, can be very expensive at times and sailing is not like hopping in and turning the key. Once they realize that their image of sailing is not true, they loose interest and neglect the sailboat to the point where it needs major repairs and no longer safe and sailable.