Hello Hunter Owners everywhere, especially all you fellow Cherubini people out there. I’d like to introduce myself: My name is Chris and I’ve actually owned my 1979 Hunter-27 for over 10 years now and am only now posting something on-line, although I’ve been looking at this website for several years off-and-on. I originally bought my boat in Port Hueneme, CA (original name Jernica, renamed Badger) and single-handed it down to San Diego over the course of two weekends. I over-nighted in Long Beach and again in Newport Beach, then Oceanside and finally got it to San Diego. (Shout-out to the yacht club in Newport Beach, they really helped out a tired single-hander who fought headwinds the WHOLE way.) Single-handing on the ocean is very humbling for someone accustomed to Lake Michigan, big as it is.
I kept my boat in the Navy-run marina near the San Diego airport over at the ASW Training Base for a few years, enjoying San Diego Bay and the occasional peek out into the open ocean just South of San Diego. This is where I learned how stable a Cherubini-designed boat is, sailing in 17+ knot winds and leaving the mainsail unreefed and everything was steady as can be! San Diego is where I met my then future wife and enjoyed sailing with her.
I got transferred to Bethesda, MD and the boat followed me there. I had a slip at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I had a so-so experience there that all began when the boat yard in San Diego that prepped my boat for overland transport just cut all my wires short that go into the mast without giving me time to disconnect anything. Then I learned about bottom painting and finally got the boat into the water after a year on the hard. I then had issues with my raw water pump not drawing water very well and…one thing led to another and I was headed back to San Diego with the Navy and I had the boat put up on the hard AGAIN and put her up for sale…right when the stock market crashed! Ugh.
So the boat has remained in Maryland for the last four and a half years (out of the water thankfully) without selling. I am at the end of my tour here in Japan aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard (in Korea helping with the ferry boat sinking in the news now as I write this) and will be bringing my family of four (remember that future wife thing…it worked out wonderfully), and now my Hunter-27 to the Great Lakes Naval Training Base marina just north of Chicago. My dad is active at the North Point Marina near Waukegan and is looking forward sailing Lake Michigan with my family starting this June (and doing maintenance…insert evil laugh here).
This website has been an invaluable resource over the years and has expanded my knowledge considerably about care of these boats. Rather than being a frustrated owner, just dumping money into a boat repair facility, I feel that it has empowered all of us who desire to maintain and upgrade our own boats. I think this website makes us all better consumers, more knowledgeable when talking to professional repair people, and safer sailors overall. My wife would say that this website has also made my clothes smell of Bilgekote and my wallet a little lighter. She also doesn’t like dinner conversations about sailing when they inevitably sidetrack into discussing the possibilities of upgrading to a H33 or H37 cutter…. But she does enjoy our time together on the water and looks good in those new deck shoes!
So that’s my story. I look forward to being a more active participant on this forum and learning/discussing more about installing that new Garhauer mast base block, inspecting my 35 year old rudder and attachments, upgrading to all-LED lighting, and installing a new traveler…oh, and actually SAILING on Lake Michigan . (Any other moral support or good arguments in favor of moving up to a Cherubini H33 or H37 would also be greatly appreciated, just don’t tell my wife!)
I kept my boat in the Navy-run marina near the San Diego airport over at the ASW Training Base for a few years, enjoying San Diego Bay and the occasional peek out into the open ocean just South of San Diego. This is where I learned how stable a Cherubini-designed boat is, sailing in 17+ knot winds and leaving the mainsail unreefed and everything was steady as can be! San Diego is where I met my then future wife and enjoyed sailing with her.
I got transferred to Bethesda, MD and the boat followed me there. I had a slip at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I had a so-so experience there that all began when the boat yard in San Diego that prepped my boat for overland transport just cut all my wires short that go into the mast without giving me time to disconnect anything. Then I learned about bottom painting and finally got the boat into the water after a year on the hard. I then had issues with my raw water pump not drawing water very well and…one thing led to another and I was headed back to San Diego with the Navy and I had the boat put up on the hard AGAIN and put her up for sale…right when the stock market crashed! Ugh.
So the boat has remained in Maryland for the last four and a half years (out of the water thankfully) without selling. I am at the end of my tour here in Japan aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard (in Korea helping with the ferry boat sinking in the news now as I write this) and will be bringing my family of four (remember that future wife thing…it worked out wonderfully), and now my Hunter-27 to the Great Lakes Naval Training Base marina just north of Chicago. My dad is active at the North Point Marina near Waukegan and is looking forward sailing Lake Michigan with my family starting this June (and doing maintenance…insert evil laugh here).
This website has been an invaluable resource over the years and has expanded my knowledge considerably about care of these boats. Rather than being a frustrated owner, just dumping money into a boat repair facility, I feel that it has empowered all of us who desire to maintain and upgrade our own boats. I think this website makes us all better consumers, more knowledgeable when talking to professional repair people, and safer sailors overall. My wife would say that this website has also made my clothes smell of Bilgekote and my wallet a little lighter. She also doesn’t like dinner conversations about sailing when they inevitably sidetrack into discussing the possibilities of upgrading to a H33 or H37 cutter…. But she does enjoy our time together on the water and looks good in those new deck shoes!
So that’s my story. I look forward to being a more active participant on this forum and learning/discussing more about installing that new Garhauer mast base block, inspecting my 35 year old rudder and attachments, upgrading to all-LED lighting, and installing a new traveler…oh, and actually SAILING on Lake Michigan . (Any other moral support or good arguments in favor of moving up to a Cherubini H33 or H37 would also be greatly appreciated, just don’t tell my wife!)
