And I'm not liking it a bit. Selling
Das Boot. At a huge discount. Hurts. All those memories of 22 years sold out for a song and a dance. Trophy Wife and I arguably still have a lot of sailing in us. How much more is uncertain. But the writing is on the wall. We both are becoming frail with slow-moving but incurable diseases. My Most Valuable Player (in the crew) and best friend has bought his own boat. In these dark days of winter I feel the wind chill of change.
So I have to endure the idiocies of arrogant diesel 'specialists' who want to measure my fuel oil in their laboratories. Not to mention a buyer who doesn't like that
Das Boot doesn't sport seat pads or dodgers, or that her 150 feet of chain plus rode is in my back yard. And what's this? No roller-reefing?
I'm clearly paying the price for abusing a cruising boat by racing her. It's cruisers who are in my market. What a fool I have been.
Das Boot is irreplaceable. 22+ years of memories, good & bad, cannot be replaced or adequately compensated. Every time I step aboard these days, my topsiders are treading on hallowed decks and floor boards. I am in a cathedral. That's what it feels like it as I run her engine. Check her bilge. Empty her dehumidifier. Stroke the foot of her incredible mast. And whisper a blessing before disembarking.
May your new owner love & trust you as we have.
And I'm not liking it a bit. Selling Das Boot. At a huge discount. Hurts. All those memories of 22 years sold out for a song and a dance. Trophy Wife and I arguably still have a lot of sailing in us. How much more is uncertain. But the writing is on the wall. We both are becoming frail with slow-moving but incurable diseases. My Most Valuable Player (in the crew) and best friend has bought his own boat. In these dark days of winter I feel the wind chill of change.
So I have to endure the idiocies of arrogant diesel 'specialists' who want to measure my fuel oil in their laboratories. Not to mention a buyer who doesn't like that Das Boot doesn't sport seat pads or dodgers, or that her 150 feet of chain plus rode is in my back yard. And what's this? No roller-reefing?
I'm clearly paying the price for abusing a cruising boat by racing her. It's cruisers who are in my market. What a fool I have been.
Das Boot is irreplaceable. 22+ years of memories, good & bad, cannot be replaced or adequately compensated. Every time I step aboard these days, my topsiders are treading on hallowed decks and floor boards. I am in a cathedral. That's what it feels like it as I run her engine. Check her bilge. Empty her dehumidifier. Stroke the foot of her incredible mast. And whisper a blessing before disembarking.
May your new owner love & trust you as we have.
I don't even want to think about it!
ReplyDeleteI'n very sorry to hear this... all those things in which our lives are represented hold little for those who acquire later... not easy to accept, but I do hope your beloved Das Boot finds safe harbor wherever she goes.
ReplyDeleteAlas the end of an era, an old friend had a saying that we do things for 10 summers before we move on, sounds like you had spring summer and autumn together - that's the kind of boat I'd like to buy
ReplyDeleteAs a very wise man once said...
ReplyDelete"But listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not leaving, it is not leaving."
Beatles, Tomorrow Never Knows
DeleteBut listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not leaving, it is not leaving
Turn off your mind relax and float down stream
It is not dying, it is not dying
Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void,
It is shining, it is shining.
Yet you may see the meaning of within
It is being, it is being
Love is all and love is everyone
It is knowing, it is knowing
And ignorance and hate mourn the dead
It is believing, it is believing
But listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not leaving, it is not leaving
So play the game "Existence" to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning
Thx. Musically, I am an illiterate.
DeleteNot too late, Doc
DeleteHang on to the wonderful memories, let go of the disappointing end of your relationship with Das Boot. I went through a similar process with an airplane some years ago. Now I have only happy memories of my beautiful song bird and the places she took us.
ReplyDeleteHaul & Hang Day
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a warm & beautiful day for a hanging. At high noon they plan the hanging of Das Boot. She will hang just long enough so that the prospective buyer and his surveyor can check the condition of the hull. Then after that, if she passes muster, they'll take her out for a sea trial. Have the trial after the hanging. Appropriate.
It'll be a bitch. I'll be in the small crowd of witnesses. I'll bring my camera along with my stifled tears. Maybe I should bring along the worse memories I can recall? Like the time in the first year we were at the islands and her drive shaft's gland spurted water into the engine compartment every time we put her in gear? Or the night we were returning from the King Harbor race when she lost all electricity in a moonless, windless shipping lane? Or the time I T-boned .... (what was her name?) No that wasn't Das Boot's fault, was it? That was her owner's fault: trying to make a heavy cruising boat compete with racers on a zero-wind day. Also the day I broke our spinnaker pole on the back stay of a boat that had no business being ahead of us. Again, skipper error. Those are the worse memories.
Two boat failures in 22-plus years doesn't merit a hanging. Surely.
Don't sell. Sail.
DeleteSorry for your loss, Doc. But this too will pass and you will find a new dream aboard a different vessel. Still, it's hard to close chapters in our lives.
ReplyDelete"Ships are the nearest thing to dreams that hands have ever made." -Robert N. Rose
Take care,
Sorry to hear about having to say goodbye to Das Boot, but remember all those good times sailing her and the days on the water ahead.
ReplyDeleteI've been too slow to make an offer...alas.
ReplyDeleteGood news for both of us, M.A.! The prospective buyer backed out. Speaking up for my good fortune, I still get to have Das Boot a little bit longer!
DeleteI've sent an email via your profile page. Would the proper course be to contact the broker?
ReplyDeleteAn intriguing idea, Melt.
Delete