The Idea of a Boat

It started with a bottle of wine…

Whilst sharing a bottle of wine over dinner George and I ended up discussing what we always dreamt of doing. I have always wanted to explore the world, especially beneath the sea. George had always loved the idea of sailing around the world. It may have been the wine talking, but I said why don’t we just do it? Buy a boat and go exploring! And so, the idea was seeded.

Over the following year, I spent time gaining some RYA qualifications so I could earn my use as a crew member to captain George. We spent many hours looking at boats for sale on Yacht World, trying to figure out what sort of budget we had and what sort of boat we could realistically afford. Between us we had some savings and inheritance money, which worked out at a budget of around £80,000. Bearing in mind that any older boat we could afford would certainly need some work doing, it really wasn’t much money at all!

The first boat we saw was actually in Jersey, which a friend told us about. Sea Whisper, a Seawolf 44, made in Taiwan. Her owner was selling her for only £20! With one major catch, she needed A LOT of work.

We took George’s brother, uncle and two sailing friends to check it out. After seeing her, all of them unanimously said it was a no-brainer and we should buy it. After thinking it over for 24hours and sleeping on it, we decided it probably wasn’t the best idea. Everyone who came along with us also got in touch throughout the day and had decided the same! Unfortunately, she just needed too much work, esentially building a whole new boat. For us the dream was to get out sailing and she would have been a serious project taking at least 2-3 years to complete. We hope she will be rescued by someone and restored to her former glory!

The next step of our plan was to look for a boat in Florida, as we would be spending time there for George to visit his son. We figured there was a lot of boats in Florida and we probably had a better chance of finding a good deal. In Florida, we hired a Mercedes Sprinter Van, that had been converted into a camper, from a lovely couple in Miami. We really recommend Outdoorsy.com where we found the van, its like AirBnb for RVs and Campers! The freedom of the van would enable us to drive and stop over around the state, at the numerous marinas, to check out all the sailing boats available.

Whist we were in Florida we found the perfect boat...check out the next post to find out more!