Warm fuzzy

[Sandy Stone]

Yesterday turned out to be sunny and comparatively warm after a spell of cold and/or dreary weather, so the wife and I decided to go over to Mandeville for a walk on the lakefront. Strolling along in the puffy breeze between the big oak trees, we were looking out at the lake where it was blowing a good 15 knots and there were a handful of sailboats out.

As we approached the eastern end of the seawall where the mouth of Bayou Castine forms the harbor entrance, we could see one of the boats rolling up her jib as they were coming in. The boat was looking more familiar as it got closer, beam reaching up the bayou under main alone, going like a freight train. Sure enough, it turned out to be the last boat we had owned, a Pearson 32. The skipper and his girlfriend wheeled the boat around and dropped the main, and we helped them tie up at the visitors dock where they planned to spend the night after crossing over the lake from New Orleans. We had a nice chitchat while they got the boat settled, then started our walk back.

We didn't get far when another familiar-looking boat headed in, which of all things was our boat previous to the last one, a Pearson 26 One-Design. We waved and hollered to the skipper as he cruised past heading for his slip up the bayou, and he recognized us, waved back and told us how much he had enjoyed his sail.

So when you wind up selling your baby, it sure is nice to see it go to a good home where it gets used and loved, and not left to sit and rot at the dock. It's also nice to be able to stay on good terms with the new owners and hear about what a great boat they ended up with, and how much they love sailing it.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Nice. And how well you cared for your prior boats.

 

[Tom J]

Wow. That's a great sailing community you have there.

 

[higgs]

Good for you.

 

[Ken13559]

Well Sandy, you must have taken care of your past boats pretty well, else the new owners would be cursing instead of greetings.

 

[Brian S]

Staring down that prospect now. My beloved Harpoon 4.6 is going up for sale this spring, and I have a former club member interested. On one hand, it would be really nice to sell it to a local person, and see it out on the lake. On the other hand, sometimes it's better out of sight, out of mind. Case in point, a friend of mine sold his ComPac 19 to someone in the club. That particular someone had shown absolutely no interest in boat maintenance, despite any information I give them. My buddy asks me all the time about this thing or that thing on the CP19, and I just shake my head. The current owner couldn't even be bothered to bend the genoa on the CDI furler last season, and just drifted around the lake with the main alone. Talk about under-canvassed - it's a mast head rig, that genoa's supposed to be doing all the work!

Sigh, there's just no helping some people…

Brian

 

[LuzSD]

What a nice post!! I feel that way about many things we sell... a home, a car, boat, furniture.. I love to sell something that has meant a lot to me to a person who loves it equally.... or at least appears to. I have been known to wrap a car with a big bow, readying it for the buyer. Maybe I fool myself but it just makes the experience richer.

Love that you can still see the boats and new owners like you did. I have often wished that we could find the 7+ who used to crew on our boat in SD before we bought her, and invite them all to take her out and show US a few of their tricks (we have yet to rig for spin though we were given everything). I have seen many many photos and videos of her in races and the crew handled her very well and had a great time doing it. We changed a lot about her once we bought her in 2006 and unless they recognized the sail #'s they may not have recognized the boat if they ever saw us. Now that we moved her to Dana Point, the chances of seeing old crew or previous owner is much smaller.

Your point to make an effort to keep the relationship a good one is excellent.

 

[Warren Milberg]

I have been lucky enough to stay in touch with the buyers of 2 of my previous boats. They send me pics and text of the upgrades they did and I can tell how much they appreciate the boats. Nice to know they got good homes...

 

[higgs]

I had something similar. It was early spring, boats were still on the hard, and I was delivering information, by car, on the Hook Race (sponsered by Racine YC on the west shore) to clubs along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. In Saugatuck I stopped at a club and first proceeded to look over the boats on the hard. Somebody has to inspect the fleet even in late fall. I came across one boat, an Irwin 32, which caught my eye as she was in very nice condition had pretty lines. As I walked around her and came to the transom I suddenly realized why I liked this boat. The new owner had not chaged her name and my old graphics were still there on the transom. It was my old boat which I had traded in the year before.