Finding our Dragon
The following is taken from an original blog entry written in 2010, about the purchase of our first (monohull) sailboat, the original Wind Dragon.
First and foremost, I should relay that going into this venture we weren’t entirely new to the ocean, or boats, or even sailboats for that matter. Well, he wasn’t entirely new to sailboats. I had been on a sailboat under sail before, but not on a small sailboat under sail heeling at a 30 degree angle (that angle looks scary, doesn’t it?), and in fact the true extent of my prior ‘sailing’ experience had been aboard a few of those paid sailing, snorkeling, and drinking excursions like you’d take while in port during a cruise vacation, but we were not total novices.
While neither of us were experienced in Sailing per se, William and I were both experienced boaters and aware of the differences and nuances of handling a boat on the ocean and coastal waterways versus inland lakes and rivers. Additionally, we are also both open water certified scuba divers with advanced certifications, and we harbor a deep love and respect for our planet, its oceans, and their inhabitants. Still, we were fully aware that we had a lot to learn.
All of that being said, when William first broached the subject of living the cruising lifestyle aboard a sailboat, I quickly agreed that it sounded perfect (because it does), but when I saw he was serious and I had to actually consider it as a possible reality, I faltered. Every aspect of this idea from top to bottom needed to be analyzed. I asked about the different types of boats, safety issues, weather concerns, boat maintenance, insurance, documentation, animals onboard, living spaces, amenities, traveling, work prospects, on and on and on.
William being the patient soul that he is never grew tired of my questions, never got upset by my random “what if” scenarios, and never laughed at my ignorance no matter how silly I must have seemed. After months of this torture he finally managed to sway me and we agreed on a plan to find a smaller, starter sailboat which we could learn on, and if we were lucky, maybe one we could possibly turn into a longer term living accommodation in the future. We didn’t have a lot of money, and it would take time to make a move so bold, so we were in no big rush.
By March of 2010 William was deep into the search. He had joined forums where he could read other’s opinions on different boats, makes, models, maintenance, etc., subscribed to sailing blogs, articles, and magazines, read through hundreds of online listings of boats for sale and began touring interesting prospects in person. For the most part, I was largely unconvinced that we would find anything worthwhile within our price range, so I left the arduous task of boat shopping to him and reserved my input for serious considerations.
Historically on the first Saturday in May I could be found in my hometown of Louisville attending the Kentucky Derby, but this year we had decided early on to skip the trip and put the Derby tradition to rest so I was pretty bummed when the day rolled around. William had found a couple of listings he wanted to see in person in Savannah, GA and one in particular he felt pretty strongly about, so I agreed to tag along. I had seen the pictures on the sale listing, but I was skeptical and knew that the pictures always looked better than the actual item would look in person, so mentally I had prepared myself for this to be just another ‘scouting’ mission and I was fairly blasé about making the trip.
Arriving in Savannah quicker than we had anticipated, the broker agreed to meet us at the marina early however he warned us that he had another appointment at another marina and would not be able to stick around very long. I was relieved to hear that personally, because I hated the thought of having a salesman hovering over us while we were making our inspection. I was able to recognize the boat that had drawn us there even before Jim Bullock (the broker) pointed her out to us, and was thrilled to see that she was absolutely beautiful! (Below are the first fore and aft pictures I took of the Hunter 33′)
Climbing aboard and inspecting her brought even more surprises; a rather spacious layout, good storage, a roomy head, she was clean and neat, everything we were looking for! Jim soon left for his other appointment and we were left alone, able to inspect everything thoroughly; taking some time to really walk the top checking for soft spots, making sure she was in good sound condition, and the whole time I kept wondering where her secret issues were, she was priced so low, this had to be too good to be true! See here for our initial tour pics.
In truth she was just a hull and an engine: no electronics, nothing fancy, just beautiful wood and a clean interior but we both felt drawn to her, and that prompted Will to ask me if we were ready to put the “hold” money down on her which would effectively take her off the market for other prospective buyers, until the boat could be surveyed and (at which time) payment would be made in full. Trusting 100% in Will’s judgment (remember I was leaving the decision to him), I nodded yes and Will made a low ball offer which surprisingly, Jim accepted on the spot with no hassle.
Honestly, I was in a haze after that. I remember walking up to the office, meeting the marina owner and making the down payment, and then we spent another several hours just sitting inside the cabin on the boat musing about the changes we want to make which will make her more home like and efficient for our future cruising lifestyle. I think we were both in shock really, and I kept asking myself, “Did we really just do that?”
On the way home that evening we couldn’t keep ourselves from thinking about the boat and discussing the changes we planned to make. We had both liked the name Sea Dragon, but out of nowhere William casually mentioned that Wind Dragon might be more appropriate under the circumstances, and it seemed to really fit her better to which I immediately agreed.
In the boating community re-naming a boat is a tricky subject (there are superstitions and rituals to be performed as well as the legal stuff), but with Wind Dragon, we were fortunate to have learned that her previous name was “Intrepid” which means resolutely fearless; dauntless: as in an intrepid explorer, which is also what our “Wind Dragon” will surely continue to be in the future. Thus, we felt the name transition was natural, and our Wind Dragon was born.
