"Legacy": Inspection and Sea Trial

Friday, August 13, 2010

Inspection and Sea Trial

We had some specific requirements when looking for a Catalina 400. We wanted a newer boat. After owning an older boat, I've found I'm more about using a boat, than working on a boat. While my Dad loved a project, I love a sail.

We also wanted in-mast furling. Yeah, I know about sail shape, lack of roach etc... I also know that if it takes 10 minutes to take off a sail cover and another 10 minutes to wrestle it back on later, that the sails won't go up for a 20 minute sail. I'm not that much of a purist.

We found a 2005 Catalina 400 in Marina Del Rey, CA and made an offer. I flew down for a sea trial, inspection and survey. All went well. Very few problems identified. Now it is just a matter of working out the logistics of getting the boat shipped up to Tacoma and put in the water again.

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Legacy

My parents taught me to sail at age 5 in Gig Harbor, WA. Much of my childhood was spent going to sailing regattas with my folks. We either were racing boats, or my Father was prepping Clark boats to sell. Selling boats allowed him to afford the sailing habit. Never the accomplished skipper my father was, or as good at sail trim as my mother, I do have a box of old trophies from racing in my childhood.

My folks moved to larger boats as the Clark Boat Co., based in Kent, WA. started to make larger boats. We had a San Juan 21, then raced and cruised on a San Juan 24.

My folks took a break from boat ownership for a while as life got busier and money got tighter. I was busy with school activities and didn't have the time, nor passion, for sailing at the time.

Eventually, my folks got the urge again and bought a few boats finally owning a Cal-29 for some years. They named the boat "Revival" in recognition of both their reawakening faith as well as their return to serious boating. They cruised on "Revival" all over Puget Sound and into the San Juan Islands and Canadian Gulf Islands. All the grandkids learned to sail small boats while living on board "Revival" for a week or two each summer.

As the grandkids grew, it got to be a tight fit to have all 5 of the kids, with them on the boat. My Dad found an older, poorly treated, Catalina 36 and bought it. It took my folks over a year of evening and weekend labor before the boat was fit to sail and cruise on. They named this boat "Vision", both because of what their vision was for how the boat could be used by the family, as well as a nod to my father's and my optometric practice.

My father died suddenly of a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage while my folks were cruising in the Canadian Gulf Islands in 2006.

As the kids left for college, and I got a little more time, we started to use "Vision" more and then started to yearn for a little more space and a rig that was a bit easier for the two of us to sail comfortably. We decided to sell "Vision" and look for a Catalina 400.

Hence "Legacy". My parents have passed on to me, my sister, our families, and our children a love of sailing and being on the water. For us, a boat is more about shared family experience, than anything else. This is the real legacy left to us by my parents, and one for which I'll be forever grateful.