Guaymas, Mexico Boatyard February, 2019 Part 2

Holoholo - A journey led by spirit and intuition
Part 2

We don’t yet know how Eileen May (Sin Nombre) will rest in peace. It could be the bottom of the sea, or the dump, or the back corner of the boat yard. But before we can think about that there is lots to do. First comes stripping her of parts and selling those parts. Marine parts are at a premium here in Mexico but the timing is not great since most cruisers are already out having fun and cruising.

It will be work getting all the parts out, steering, pumps, electronics, tanks, appliances, stainless railings, EVERYTHING. And the mast and maybe parts of the rigging too. Its a humongous job and I’m not sure our timing to finish that project, or if it will even happen this year.

Some of the gear will move over to our New Boat; the winches, solar panels, inverter, and BBQ, maybe the generator, and a sail and Shay wants to keep all the great stainless. Which is probably worth about 8k alone.

In the yard currently

What?! Wait just a minute, did you hear that correctly? 

We have a new boat!

Finally, we have a sailboat for the sailboat name we’ve been hoarding for years. We purchased her last week!

I know, I know, so quick, so rash, so unlike us to be impulsive and intuitive and go with the flow. Maybe it was all the diesel fumes killing our brain cells the week before, but it happened. Maybe it's the upcoming lunar eclipse making us a little crazy. I really don't know. 

If you recall, we were making the hard decision to put EM to rest. We both immediately felt relief once the decision was made. That’s how we knew it was the right one. Within moments of making this decision Dale walked by, and after hearing about our decision to stop the repair work on EM, he told Shay there was another boat for sale across the yard. 

Inside is a mess during the move over

I generally ignore this type of gossip, as number one, there is always a boat for sale, and number two, we had viewed a few sailboats the month before just for fun and I was not overly impressed. 

So of course Shay left to find the mysterious boat for sale. 

On her return she begs me to come look at it, right NOW, while the owners are around for the weekend. I think this is way too soon to look at boats, but I follow anyway because a distraction is a good thing when faced with the mortality of your boat and only home at the moment.

Deck after hauling some sails out.

My first impression of the boat for sale is that she’s a big boat, full keel, heavy dispacement, 42’ LOA, and she’s maroon colored. Not my favorite boat color, but okay, up the ladder we go, and its then I realize its a DownEast. They have a unique cockpit. During our many years of boat shopping we considered a DownEaster but I wasn’t fond of their flush cockpit, full keel and bowsprit. 

Now that I have purchased a boat I thought I never would consider (EM), I realize that my preconceptions need to be broadened a tad. 

The DownEaster ls roomy, beamy, with many berths and lots of good offshore and safety gear. I notice the nice size of the galley, the quarterberth(!), all the storage, the liferaft, the Kubota engine, the windvane. But still I’m not sure about this idea. It feels weird looking at another boat today. The day we decided to put EM to rest. 

Then Shay tells me how much they are selling her for, or should I say, how much they told Shay they would sell her for. My interest is piqued. She’s clearly worth much more. Its easy to see that she was cared for, but that the years sitting in the yard have left her rough and discontent, she needs new canvas, paint, lots of TLC. 

My new engine room

The owners are very nice. They are here in the yard, to put her up for sale this week. Its always good to meet the owners, to get a feel for how they speak about the boat, and to be able to ask questions that a boat broker would not be able to answer. After an hour of peeking around I’m feeling overwhelmed, so I ask Shay if we can come back later when we have time to digest this surprise (or as Shay says: the Universe granting us Grace), so we return to EM to stare at the hole in the hull. 

During the next couple hours I see Shay peering at me sideways as we are cleaning up the perpetual mess that is EM, to gauge my mood. It’s obvious Shay likes the boat, the currently named Clipper Spirit, and the soundness of her, and the improvement to safety she would bring to our lives. Shay's energy has changed from sad, and depressed to excited, and a little hopeful. I wonder again if this is her greiveing in a really weird way. But I can’t help but think about the Clipper Spirit myself. All the prebuying questions start popping up in my head. How’s her rigging, tanks, an engine? Is this a project boat? (All boats are project boats. Rather, is she worse of a project than we already own?)

I feel drawn to find out more. 

And so we walk over to her and have and chat with the owners on the side deck. They get out the manuals and I ask all the questions running around inside my head. They are patient with me. 

We leave in the afternoon with plans to start the engine the next day, and go through a few systems together. 

Our little home next door on loan from Georgia

Shay and I  go home a little dazed. We are silent on the way. Too many thoughts and conflicting feelings. I decide to just sit with it all awhile and see what happens. This MIGHT be kismet. But I don’t trust it. I don’t trust myself, or us, right now. 

I’m typically a very right brain, list making, dot the i’s, think it all through, kinda woman. It feels uncomfortable to act impulsively. 

I ask Shay why this is so easy a decision for he since she's ready to sign on the dotted line, and its clear she’s smitten. She says its because we would be much safer and the DownEaster is a sound and seaworthy boat. She adds for my benefit that it's a great deal too. She’s right. It’s a great deal on a good, well known, ocean going sailboat. This does make me feel more at ease. 

But is this a good decision all around, for us, at this time, do we want another project boat? Or do we want to wait a season? Have more time to process what just happened? Make a plan maybe? Start a new boat kitty and do some boat shopping?

About 10 years ago and looking pretty

The next day we meet the owners at Clipper Spirit and go about learning all we can about the boat, with a finale of starting the engine. After some hiccups, she starts! She sounds very good. I am pleased. 

There have not been any red flags all afternoon. A couple yellow flags maybe, but I expected those. 

Shay and I are leaving for a pre-planned trip to Phoenix the next day and the owners are leaving in a couple days to drive home. I am watching myself, detached, kinda floating above as I turn to the owners and say, “Let’s get the process going,” and quickly glance at Shay (since I didn’t discuss this before making this proclamation), to see her reaction and she is smiling big. 

As we walk across the yard to EM I return to my body a little. OMG, what just happened? I can’t explain it. I just did it. For better or worse we just bought a sailboat that could take us anywhere in the world we want to go. A boat in much better condition than EM. If you had told me 2 months ago about this day I would have thought you were cray cray. 

So we all (new and old owners) met in Phoenix and signed the papers a few days later, and now we are waiting on our Coast Guard Documents (with new name). We signed the bill of sale, 2 days before that lunar eclipse, big orange wolf moon event. 

We watched the lunar eclipse from the deck of our DownEaster 38 soon to be named Holoholo. 

What I look forward to; SAILING!