Well, this is not exactly what I thought I would be doing tonight: Sitting at a gate in the newly-remodeled Kansas City International Airport waiting for my flight to Tampa. This wasn’t even the plan as late as 3 PM this afternoon. Today’s plan was to keep refreshing email to read through the results of yesterday’s boat survey as soon as they arrived.
Arranging the survey has been fraught with hiccoughs; the boat currently in contention to become our floating home is in the water and not exactly in a full-service marina with a travel lift and yard. Securing a licensed captain to reposition her is the responsibility of the seller and their agents. We hire the marine surveyor and own the report they generate.
This is all to say that flexibility and a willingness to, as Ross on Friends put it “PIVOT!” is crucial. There have been several of these pivots in the years since we first dreamed up living on a sailboat. It started out as Build a 45-Foot Sailing Catamaran. Our trip to the USVI in 2001 quickly changed that plan into Buy A Boat And Get Sailing ASAP. Agile, willing to adjust quickly; just like the way my team at work goes about software development. Make a short-term plan with the best data you have right now and head in that direction. Don’t get stuck, keep moving in the right direction…
In an unexpected turn of events, the inspection was delayed from Tuesday to Thursday; I could at least swing taking off work for Thursday and Friday and be present for the survey.
Over the course of the next 24 hours…
It was an uneventful flight to Tampa International, driving 4 blocks without headlights in the rental car (Where is that switch?) and getting 5 hours of sleep in a perfectly serviceable hotel. Drove drove the last twelve miles to the boat slip with a quick stop at a Dollar General for water and a light snack. I may not have spent much time in Florida yet, but my mantra is already “Hydration. Hydration. Hydration!” I arrived early and greeted the seller’s agent at the docks.
Tom, our surveyor was right on time and we exchanged pleasantries and he went about his job poking all throughout the boat, taking pictures and engaging in a great two-way dialog with me on the state of the vessel. The captain hired for the job showed up a few minutes later (there had been some friction between him and the survey company earlier in the week over the delay) a little on edge. Tom and I smoothed everything over as much as we could, being bystanders in said friction-causing interactions.
“Where’s the Captain?” the seller’s agent, Tom, and I had no clue. Hopefully he didn’t just abandon us; a quick return phone call from him after the agent’s outbound call went to voicemail assuaged the fear. He had just left unannounced to the local gas station to get a pizza.
With the major electrical systems checked, Tom gave the Captain the go-ahead to fire up the engine and reposition her to the haul-out marina a little over a mile away. We passed through the open drawbridge and into the marina. Within a few minutes, we had full access to her hull for inspection of the prop, prop shaft and hull in general. Everything was coming up fairly well; she needed a new cutlass bearing (this lets the shaft rotate inside of the reinforcing leg outside the hull), but this was definitely not a deal-breaker.
With her back in the water, the Captain put her in idle reverse and we proceeded to make our way for some open water to raise the sails for the final major systems check. We’re nearly there; the last checkpoint before buying a boat!
As we slowly backed out in a c-shape from the haul-out dock, it was apparent something wasn’t right. The whole boat was vibrating and there was quite the racket from the engine compartment. It felt like the whole drive train was shaking itself apart. In fact, that was just the case at those low speeds in reverse.
That’s not good; we will need some more information on why this is happening and get it remedied before approving the boat condition. It’s just a minor pivot.
The Intercoastal Waterway (Wikipedia) runs along the US coast from Texas to Virginia and is a fairly-protected, dredged channel. It is generally more than deep enough for sailboat keels unlike the waters on either side of it. This was true for the areas in which we were going for the test sail. Our goal was to raise the sails by cutting across the channel into the wind, sail for a short bit while inspecting the sails, drop them and motor back to the slip.
The raising of the sails was less than graceful; the running rigging (ropes and pulleys used to control the sails) were stiff from disuse. In the end, we managed it and completed the inspection. The Captain went to start the engine. Nothing. Another engine start attempt; another lack of response. For the next twenty minutes, the seller’s agent and surveyor tried to diagnose the issue and get the motor started. What ensued was an hour of contacting a tow service and sailing back-and-forth in a small stretch of the ICW as we awaited rescue. By this time, the inspection was not only finished; the boat under consideration was finished in my mind. It was clear she wasn’t in move-aboard, sail-next-week condition; the effort that it would take to bring her to that state was beyond our Scope of Work.
Back at dock and after helping secure the boat, I drove a few minutes to distance myself physically and mentally from the situation.
“She’s not our boat” I blurted out when Cindy answered. A few minutes of clarification and exposition of the survey ensued and she understood and agreed. Pivot. I just needed to get back to the airport and fly home now. Arriving at the gate with twenty minutes to spare, I grabbed a coffee and sandwich and wolfed them down. It was the first real thing I’d had eaten since my hotel breakfast waffle an eternity ago. It dulled the hunger, but not the mental exhaustion of the day. We were back to square one with no candidate boat for the third time in as many weeks. In the end, that is fine; it is just another “Pivot!”
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