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I

drive by the place at least twice a day. It is on the way to Olga’s place of employment and near most every convenient retail establishment in town. The boat’s wonderful lines force me to stare and take in her beauty. A modified Herreshoff 28, so easy to imagine slicing through the water leaving no hint of her graceful passing.

The classic Herreshoff lines (they are a bit shallow).

As life would have it the boat sits behind a chain link fence, in a boat yard. Her fading beauty hurting me each time I drive by. The sun baked teak, dulled gel coat, and the imagined disaster below, often causes me to take the longer way home to avoid the pain of seeing her.

I have heard a that someone took a good look and that below decks she is ‘old school’. A narrow sole designed to prevent one from falling or getting launched across the interior in a rough sea. All the woodwork below crafted in teak. It is said that water is seeping into the bilge and that the finish work and bulkheads are deteriorating. Rumor has it the owner thinks the boat is worth 150k. She sits rotting in the yard.

Today I decide to see if she has sister ships out there for sale, and what their price may be.

I make a quick stop at the coffee shop on the way home. There is a visual gift for me at the Town Dock. I ignore her at first and get my coffee before I casually stroll toward the boat that must have arrived early that morning. A sleek craft herself with two adults and two children aboard. She is from nearby, an NC boat. Despite showing her years a bit, she is a very pretty Sea Sprite 30.

I chat with the owner for awhile and admire his boat. He asks if I want to buy her. I ask if he wants to sell her. We dance a bit, then exchange information. I am again on my way, now with another boat to investigate.

Finally at home and at the computer I punch in H28 in the hope of determining the going price of a healthy boat unlike my boat yard prisoner up the street. There is only one listed and it is in Wisconsin, on a triple axle trailer and seems in great shape. The asking price is $34,500… a long way from the $150K of the local Herreshoff, and a long way from Oriental as well.

I then notice that she carries only 32% of her displacement as ballast, and just a 3 1/2 ft draft. A ballast to displacement ratio well short of the recommended 40% for cruising, and not very deep. If only Herreshoff had talked to me while designing the boat, he might have not made these beginner’s mistakes.

I decide the H 28 is not a good choice for a couple as an offshore boat.

A Sea Sprite

I turn my attention to the Sea Sprite. A search shows a dozen listings of lengths from 23’ to 34’. I avoid the 34’. Large things make Olga nervous, and the smaller ones are cheaper. The 28 footers look great, although they are a little light at 7600 lbs. I figure Olga and I can take a physical beating better that a financial one and I locate a choice boat. It is in Rhode Island.

I email some friends up north and ask if they can look at the Sea Sprite for me. It is only a short sail from their location. They are more than happy to look for us and write that they will call the broker, take a look at the boat, and get back to us right away.

Then the phone rings. It’s Olga. She informs me that a knowledgeable friend has stopped by her office, and has told her about a boat that, “we need to look at”. “He was very serious and said and that we should see this boat right away.” I ask for the information so that I may make an appointment with the owner for that evening. The boat is in a nearby yard and not in the water.

The boat turns out to be a Cape Dory 30. I call the owner and we make arrangements to meet at the boat.

That evening Olga and I drive through a tangle of boats in the boat yard and find the Cape Dory. It is incredibly hot and we are tired from work. The owner greets us with a friendly smile. He shows us the boat.

The boat is a perfect gem

We are flabbergasted.

Everything that could or would need repair has been attended to. The owner builds machinery that makes medicine and there is great use of surgical stainless steel in the engine compartment. She is painted, re-bedded, tuned, with newer sails. She has radar, GPS, bags of back up parts for everything and all LABELED and SORTED and in plastic bags. He has a full compliment of photos showing the work on the hull, detailed and in an album. It all comes with the boat. He is asking 36K, a fair price, and tells us he will personally take us through every bit of equipment and explain all.

Despite the onslaught of an overwhelming amount of information and despite the oppressive heat forcing us to hurry and get out of the boat I manage to catch Olga’s glance. I know that look. It is the one that tells me that this is a boat she wants.

Back on the ground we tell the owner that we are very interested and will call him. We say our goodbyes and Olga and I head to a restaurant so that we can focus on this new development and decide what to do. Over the meal we decide that I will call the owner and offer 35K. We want the boat and do not want to lose her.

We begin to imagine ourselves sailing the Cape Dory 30

As we arrive home we are very excited, already dreaming of being on the boat. We enter the house and notice the message waiting light blinking on the phone machine. We listen to the message.

It is the owner of the CD 30 telling us that he has just had a call from a person that he showed the boat to a week before. The guy said he will bring the owner a check the next evening. Olga calls the owner and tells him that we will come over with a check that evening. He declines saying, “I can’t do that”.

We understand. He can’t do that. He is a honest guy. It is partly why we felt so good about buying the boat from him.

The boat is sold. I would have bought it. Really. No more being forced to do these columns.

Damn.

We slump down into the couch, pondering our incredibly bad luck.

The phone rings. Our friends say the Sea Sprite is too hard to inspect. It’s on a mooring. The broker is nasty.

Olga and I call it a day. We turn off the lights and unhook the phone.

We go to sleep and dream of boats that might be.

Treblig Setnof

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