So it begins

Welcome to Horizons Found!

This is the beginning of a new chapter for me, and hopefully you guys as well, in the quest to find continued peace on the water, and afar.

Ok, now that the obligatory opening statement is out of the way, let me get right back to the point. My name is Charles, and I like to sail. So before I get into the rest of the beginning of this story, let me give you a short recap of the last one.

Years ago as kids, our father had a sailboat that we enjoyed for a time. Then more years passed, and times changed. A few years back though, my brother found himself enjoying his own O'Day 23 and I followed suit with an Excalibur 26. Whereas his was in great shape, mine wasn't. I started from a solid hull and rigging, and not much else, and used that as a springboard platform to teach myself more about sailing, and also about repairs, and the like. I kept that boat for three years, the first on Cayuga Lake (one of the Finger Lakes in NY for those unfamiliar), and then two years on Lake Ontario, where the shores are countries apart, and seeing for miles, the weather can still sneak up on you. All in all, I logged over a thousand miles in that cockpit. But all good things must either come to an end, or get better. So at the end of the 2016 season, I passed my sailboat along to someone else. Ok ok, it was to avoid having to pay for winter storage - but I knew I was now ready to move on to a larger boat.

This isn't that boat's story. However, it IS a longer post, being the first of a new start, so if you don't like to read, catch up next post I guess.

I have a short list of boats in mind, for my "forever" boat. You know, the boat that you look forward to keeping for years, and many many miles. I had a checklist of criteria, and was fully ready to wait another year or so in order to check as many of those boxes as I could. And then that good ol' brother of mine, plays this mean prank on me by sending me a link to a boat for sale, payments accepted!

The Newport 28.

Displacing 7000 pounds with over a ton and a half of lead ballast in the keel, the Newport 28 is a C&C designed boat from the 70s era, built from 1974 to 1987, and including the Mark II version introduced in 1984, over a thousand were produced by Capital Yachts. 

Now, to be fair, there are a couple boxes that this checks off. First and foremost, it's a boat. That's kind of an important step, since it's hard to sail without one. Second, it has 6' headroom in the cabin. Certainly more room than my last one had. It does have a quarter berth in addition to a galley (if you can call it that). It's also not 30' or longer, it doesn't have a nice curved sitting area in the cabin, and no roller furling headsail. The original Atomic 4 engine has long since been removed, so it has to rely on an outboard on a kicker bracket right now. And this is just stuff that I knew from pictures on the ad, and from what research I did in the two days leading up to meeting the guy for a viewing. 

However it's hard to argue with the striking hue of this hull.

My original intent going into this viewing, was strictly to assess the boat for how seaworthy she was, what work would be needed, how solid the deck was, and what equipment was included. This is just an in-between, I'm telling myself. Something to use for this season (My brother is selling his O'Day so between us, we wouldn't have a boat set up for next year yet). And then after the season, sell this one for about what I've invested, and then use that towards what would then hopefully be THE boat. That was my intention.

I met Matt at the marina it was stored in, and he was extremely friendly and accommodating. After sourcing a ladder, we made our way aboard. Now, I had already done a quick hull check before he arrived, no blisters, no issues other than some scraped paint that's set to be repaired in spring anyway, and just a mussel-covered prop shaft which isn't used any longer. Once topside, I did a quick walk over of the deck, nothing soft or giving, and no signs of intrusion near any fittings. I'd re-bed them anyway, so that's no worry. The bow pulpit had a broken end fitting from the storm that scraped the paint, but other than needing some lifelines for the stanchions, it was solid enough to check a box.

We stepped down into the cabin. And by stepping down, I mean, down, which is something I'm not used to. Two steps on a ladder AND then the cabin sole? And I was standing upright? What a novelty! We chatted a little bit more about what he had done in the short two years that he had the boat. He had added a Bluetooth stereo and four speakers, in addition to building framing for the galley which he mentioned the previous owner had pulled out.

So we only talked a little bit, and then he told me the original 9.9hp Nissan he had intended to sell with the boat, he actually had sold with his OTHER boat (Matt and his Wife upgraded to a Morgan 32 so they were selling the two other boats they had in order to get into it). He did however, offer to drop the price down five hundred dollars, and give me the Mercury that was going to go with the other one. He said it should be fine but, it's a Merc and they can be fussy. Still more than a fair offer because of it. I decided it would certainly hold it together long enough for me to use for the year, we wrote out the agreement, I gave him money down, and lo and behold, I now own a boat again.

Matt left, so I took the time to jump back aboard and just take a look around more. Not to be a jerk or anything, but sometimes it's harder to see a bigger picture when you have someone talking to you. It isn't that he was trying to be distracting, or anything like that. But he was excited about the prospects of someone ELSE being excited about the boat too.

I won't get into the details so much here, but I'll give you my thoughts.

I could keep this boat more than a year. That's what I found myself thinking after I looked around. Sure, there are things that I would change around a little, there are things I'd fix or do better (wiring, for example), and things I might repaint. I might find a way to repower it with either a replacement A4 or who knows, maybe go electric? But whereas my thoughts going in, were bare bones - Handheld VHF, cheap depth sounder, use my phone for charts, and call it good - I suddenly found myself picturing the actual potential of this boat as something to be used and enjoyed for a few years instead. Add a few more batteries, a bimini with solar panels to power, some other creature comforts, and I could see a lot of enjoyment on this boat. 

So onward we go, seeing what fun we can have with this one!