Surveys, Sea Trials, and Signatures
The following is taken from an original blog entry written in 2010, about the purchase of our first (monohull) sailboat, the original Wind Dragon.
We had two weeks between the day we first viewed her and made our offer on May 1st to the boat survey and sea trial which were scheduled for May 14th, when upon satisfactory completion of both these items we would make payment in full and officially take possession of our Wind Dragon. Technically we were sitting on our hands since she wasn’t paid off and we didn’t have a full bill of sale yet, but we weren’t expecting any surprises so mentally we were already adjusting to boat ownership. Translation: it was time to get our heads into some serious research!
There is (not surprisingly) TONS of information on sailboats, sailing, and the cruising lifestyle out there. I finally took after William’s lead and joined forums, read and bookmarked blogs, requested catalogs, and (in general) dove into the sailing & boating community as its newest official member. William kept busy with lining up the surveyor, setting the time for the sea trial, reserving the dock space for her new home, getting insurance quotes, pricing out equipment necessities, and creating this website for me to play with in my spare time.
By 5:19am on May 14th we were on the road to Savannah with millions of butterflies in our stomachs, both nervous and excited about the day to come. When we arrived at the docks our surveyor (Scott Boyd) had just finished the diving portion of his inspection (to check her bottom side), and was climbing aboard to complete the rest of his survey. At this point I have to admit to being a little nauseous because I was suddenly terrified of getting a bad survey (sometimes I panic), but of course his inspection revealed no major surprises, and Scott gave us the two thumbs up signal to go ahead with the sea trial.
While William, Scott, and Jim left the dock on Wind Dragon for the sea trial, I went back to the Jeep to wait it out with our dogs because I didn’t like leaving them alone. Forty minutes later the guys surprised me by returning early, the sea trial having been cut short due to a smoking belt (that could be easily replaced), but Scott had finished his report and we had the official go ahead to seal the deal. By 2pm that afternoon she was paid for in full and we were moving aboard, fully armed and ready to begin planning our first projects. Whew!
It was a busy day of firsts really. Besides making our first boat purchase together, we made our first purchases for the boat that day, introduced the boys to the boat for the first time that afternoon, spent the first evening planning and measuring and making the first of what would later be lots and lots of notes, and spent our first night onboard. Our first onboard dinner was (insert sarcasm) pretty fancy: we dined by candle light (citronella tea lights), with appetizers of tuna and crackers, followed by an entrée of ham & cheese sandwiches and baked Doritos! Of course, no day such as this would be complete without a first champagne toast to christen the boat; so after dinner we sat topside for a while and enjoyed our champagne while looking out over the marina and drinking in the first night time sights and sounds of the wildlife around us.
The next day before we left I was able to snap a quick picture just as Will was checking the main sail before preparing to remove and store it:
(Wind Dragon’s first picture with her main sail up)
