After a whirlwind 2 day trip to NC and back, we are excited to be the (almost) proud owners of a 1999 Lagoon 410 catamaran (paperwork pending!).
We found this one the day after our less than stellar survey on the other boat put us back on the search. The pictures and description online made it seem almost too good to be true, so we were slightly skeptical whether or not everything would hold true when we saw it in person.
Of course we had been stalking her via Google Earth, so we knew exactly which slip she was in when we arrived at the marina. At first glance we knew the pictures were dead on… she was absolutely freakin’ perfect. We both knew it was THE ONE after spending less than 5 minutes on the dock.
We met one of the owners, Beth, who invited us onboard to peak around while we waited for the surveyor to show up. We were all a little nervous at first – Beth, with her husband Dave, had obviously loved & cared for the boat for over a decade, and here we were – the inexperienced young couple – about to take her from them. We could tell she was a little sad to sell, and we hoped that were were making a good first impression so she wouldn’t get cold feet.
The first part of the survey went well – no issues with the general inspection, which was great news considering we had put it all on the line for this one and were quickly running out of time. We decided to meet back at the boat early the next morning to depart on a 5 hour sail to the yacht yard where we would have a haul out and inspect the hulls. We left the marina the first day overwhelmed with emotions – relieved because we loved the boat, nervous to meet Dave, the other owner, and excited that this could possibly be the first day of our new adventure.
Over dinner we dissected every hour of the day and discussed about 20 different scenarios of how Day 2 would play out. We finally said screw it, and decided to head back to to the hotel exhausted, drained, and ready to sleep so tomorrow would come quicker. On the way back, we decided to have some fun at the local grocery store. I didn’t think that a Piggly Wiggly actually existed, but here it is in all of it’s glory! Culture Shock!
The next day we were at the docks bright and early to prepare to get underway. We met Beth’s husband, Dave, who was awesome (more relief!), and watched in awe as they untied the dock lines and prepared the boat. It was clear that they had a well orchestrated routine together. Trying to interject seemed like it just messed up the dance. I tried to soak in that moment knowing that one day soon, Matt and I would be doing the very same thing in the same rhythm on this boat. Just knowing how much this is going to change our lives makes me giddy.
For the next several hours the surveyor worked around the boat and we worked on Beth and Dave. We wanted them to trust us to take care of their baby and take her on many more adventures in the future. We knew that when Dave asked Matt to join him at the helm and started showing him all of the navigation instruments that we had won them over. And just like that we knew we had a boat. The feeling was glorious!
The rest of the sea trial was great. The boat handled extremely well under sail, averaging about 7 knots on the open water. There were no issues to report in the survey, and we have enough spares on board to nearly rebuild anything that may go up anytime soon.
So, it’s official, we have a boat! The paperwork is processing and we have arranged to drive down to NC to sail her back up to Annapolis next Wednesday. I don’t think it’s actually registered yet that we’ll be living on a boat and learning how to sail in less than a week. We’ve been working towards this for so long, it’s crazy that it’s finally here. Everything just fell into place with this one… it almost seems like IT chose US. Either way, we are so freakin’ excited to let the adventure begin!
Paperwork Pending
