First day...

My mother offered to drive my wife, son, and I to Port Ludlow to pick up the boat on Saturday, April 9th.  We made good time driving early in morning and arrived at the Port Ludlow marina at 8:15.  The weather was very foggy on the way and by the time we arrived in Port Ludlow, the fog still hung heavy over the water.  We decided to eat breakfast at the Port Ludlow resort while waiting for the fog to lift.

After a great breakfast, we went down to the boat, still with the name "Dream Weaver" on her, and started to try and get oriented.  After a couple of hours of poking around, the fog had lifted enough that we decided it was time to get under way.

Although Trevor Brice from North Pacific Yachts had taken a lot of time to show me the NP43 systems during the survey, I had forgotten much.  It must have taken me 10 minutes to figure out that you have to push the Vetus Thruster power button twice for it to activate.  Eventually, we figured it out enough to attempt to leave.  Fortunately, the wind was calm and backing out into the fairway and turning to leave the marina was a non-event.  I only had the touch the thrusters a couple times since the boat spins to starboard nicely with just backing and filling.

We left Port Ludlow under clear skies and a bright sun.  Very odd for early April in the PNW.  There was a solid bank of fog East of us in Admiralty Inlet but it mostly dissipated as we approached.  We ran at 1400 rpm which gave a 2 gph fuel burn and about 7 knots of boat speed.  With all the currents we have, I found that I really did miss a boat speed indicator.  The GPS SOG is great, but only tells me part of the picture.

The day went by wonderfully.  The weather was great with little wind for the first half of the trip.  We started on the fly bridge but then moved to the pilothouse as we started to get cool. What a joy to be comfortable and warm while out on the Sound!

We were passed by a freighter just North of Seattle and discovered that a semi-displacement power boat handles large waves a bit differently than a sailboat.  I need to be more careful about how I take those.

As we approached Seattle, the wind was starting to pick up.  I am guess between 10-15 knots.  Another thing I miss is not having a wind indicator.  At one point we were being ever so slightly outpaced by a 50' sailboat on a close reach.  I found I didn't mind at all.

Given our late start, we decided not to stop for fuel.  I hated to pass up the good fuel prices in Des Moines, but with no starboard Nav light, I needed to get into the slip in Gig Harbor before dark.

Getting into the slip was a bit more of a challenge than getting out.  Our home slip is angled since the fairway behind us is extremely narrow.  The fairway is actually narrower than the length of our boat.  By this time the wind and current were playing tricks and I had a hard time telling how far forward I needed to be in the slip, and really didn't want to run into the piling at the forward end of the slip.  After messing around for a while, we finally called it night and drove home.

It was a great day.  All three of us kept commenting on how good a decision this was to move to power from sail, and to buy this particular North Pacific 43. 

We found a boat!

In looking at the move from sail to power, we knew that we had steep learning curve ahead of us.  We did have some strong ideas however as to the type of boat that we looking for, informed by our experience sailing the in the PNW.  We wanted a "trawler".  While boat owners love to argue over semantics, consider it simply a roomy vessel designed to go slowly and efficiently.

I was looking for a single engine, pilot house design without a fly bridge.  I didn't want to maintain a second engine or a second helm station.  I didn't want exposed wood on the exterior as I want to spend what little free time I have enjoying being out on the boat and not sanding.  We wanted good, secure side decks, a covered aft cockpit, and good visibility from the both the pilot house and saloon.  A bow thruster was a must and a stern thruster would be a plus.  Karen wanted two heads, two staterooms, and the boat needed to have a certain "cute" factor.  We wanted the saloon to be roomy and comfortable for family groups.

Very quickly we found that the Nordic Tug or American Tug designs checked off all the boxes.  Nicely laid out designs, attractive boats with all the features we were asking for.  The only downside, was that the American Tugs were way out of our price range, and the only Nordic Tugs within our range were much older than I wanted to go.  We were discouraged.

Eventually, I was pointed to the North Pacific 43.  Here was a single engine, pilot house design that was roomy and efficient.  North Pacific 43s are well equipped, have very nice interior layouts and a great covered cockpit.  The downside, is that they don't have side decks and have a fly bridge.  A fly bridge is seen by many as a "must have" but for me it was a negative.  Finally, it simply wasn't as "cute" as some of the other boats.

The more we researched, we came to the conclusion that needing side decks was a sailors way of thinking and I needed to get past that.  We started to view the fly bridge as a bonus feature that could be used if desired.  The fly bridge also has nice seating which our adult kids liked as they wanted good outdoor space, like the cockpit of a sailboat.  Finally, the North Pacific 43 is very well priced.

We started looking for a NP42/43 in the PNW and found a few.  We were fortunate to be able to negotiate a pice on a NP 43 in Port Ludlow.  After getting a survey and going through all the financial machinations necessary, we now own a 2010 North Pacific 43!  Tomorrow, we should be able to drive to Port Ludlow and then bring her back to her new home in Gig Harbor.  The trip should take about 8 hours depending on conditions and if we stop for fuel or not.  We are incredibly excited.

There is still a lot to do.  There is a bit of deferred maintenance that needs to be taken care of and a lot learning about the boat.  We have to take off the old name and give her the new one.

I have to mention how much help North Pacific Yachts has been in this process.  As I corresponded with North Pacific Yacht owners they were uniformly happy with their boats, and also extremely happy with Trevor Brice from North Pacific Yachts.  Trevor has been informative, patient, and helpful throughout the process.  He has worked hard to make the experience as smooth as possible and to ensure that we will be as happy with this boat as her original owners were.

I can't wait until tomorrow....

The story so far...

My parents taught me to sail a Minto 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.

After some years of being boatless, my folks got the urge again and bought a few boats finally owning a Cal-29. 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 Canadian Gulf Islands. All the grand kids learned to sail small boats while living on board "Revival" for a week or two each summer.

As the grand kids 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. 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. We found a nice boat in SoCal and had her trucked up to Tacoma. We named her "Legacy" in recognition of the love of time spent sailing with family that my folks passed on to us.

After 6 years of never enough time to get out on the boat, my many years of long distance running and age started to catch up to me. Spending time on a sailboat, with the constant climbing up and down and bending over was taking its toll on my knees and back. Despite the disappointment of our daughter, we decided to move to a trawler as old sailors are apt to do.

We started looking at power boats and found there is a lot to learn that is beyond our experience. We finally found a North Pacific 43 that seemed like a good fit.

Hence "Kinship. 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, or kinship, than anything else. This is the real legacy left to us by my parents, and one for which I'll be forever grateful.