I know there are a few sailors here and I thought you all might be interested in seeing this boat. I should start with the fact that this site has got me to make a new years resolution to camp out at least once a month, this was the last weekend in January, and rain was predicted and I was thinking I might miss the first month. Then I received an email asking if I would help with a boat delivery. Yeah, I thought to myself I’ll be sleeping in my bag, that’s camping!
Some friends of mine recently put together a boat partnership and bought Taxi Dancer a 68’ Reichel/Pugh ULDB and a group of us brought it back to Santa Barbara on Friday night. I say back to SB because the boat was here during the late 1990’s and I raced with the previous owners a couple of times.
Here is a link to the for sale website. (Their pictures are a lot better than mine.)
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1418069/0
When I saw the delivery list I was surprised to see how many people where coming on the trip. The new owners decided to make a party out of this. They rented a big van to drive us down to New Port Beach, invited wives and girl friends etc. one of the dates had never been sailing before….
We picked up the boat at 4:30 on Friday bought fuel and then docked the boat at Woody’s BBQ for dinner. The plan was to leave New Port at 8:00 PM power through the night and arrive in SB early in the morning. At 8:00 PM the group was still drinking Captain and coke’s at the bar, I went back the to boat set up some way points in the GPS hooked up the auto pilot etc. pretty much I was just stoked be seeing the boat again. It is simply an amazing sailing machine and the people who had her last pretty much did a frame up rebuild on her, the boat is flawless. Also how often do you get to sit in a carbon fiber chair and play with the same navigation equipment used on the Volvo race…I was dreaming of the southern ocean baby! GRIN!
At 9:00 I was getting nervous, we should be leaving… at 10:00 the group shows up with some additions “what happens on the boat stay’s on the boat…”
Finally we are leaving, not yet! The decision is made to stop at the New Port Harbor Yacht Club for one more round. We lost some of the additions; some people don’t remember leaving the yacht club etc.
We cleared the harbor some time after 11:00 I went straight to my bunk to try and get some sleep before my watch, (I was so thankful some one brought extra ear plugs)
We had enough people that we each had to stand a one hour watch. We drew the watch times from a hat I drew 3:00-4:00AM I awoke for my watch at 2:30 got suited up and was on deck and ready for some quality time on the water, what a beautiful night. The last of the partiers were asleep and quiet, finally! With a following breeze and clear sky’s, the lights of Malibu on the coast. It was just what I was hoping for, at 4:00 I was warm and alert so I decided to keep going. Finally at 6:00AM it started to rain and I called the next guy up to release me from my turn. I caught another few hours of sleep and pulled into SB harbor by 10:00AM on Saturday morning. What a great way to start my new years camping resolution, Thanks Expedition Portal!
Best,
Matt W
PS please dont laugh at my double chin... GRIN
Some friends of mine recently put together a boat partnership and bought Taxi Dancer a 68’ Reichel/Pugh ULDB and a group of us brought it back to Santa Barbara on Friday night. I say back to SB because the boat was here during the late 1990’s and I raced with the previous owners a couple of times.
Here is a link to the for sale website. (Their pictures are a lot better than mine.)
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1418069/0
When I saw the delivery list I was surprised to see how many people where coming on the trip. The new owners decided to make a party out of this. They rented a big van to drive us down to New Port Beach, invited wives and girl friends etc. one of the dates had never been sailing before….
We picked up the boat at 4:30 on Friday bought fuel and then docked the boat at Woody’s BBQ for dinner. The plan was to leave New Port at 8:00 PM power through the night and arrive in SB early in the morning. At 8:00 PM the group was still drinking Captain and coke’s at the bar, I went back the to boat set up some way points in the GPS hooked up the auto pilot etc. pretty much I was just stoked be seeing the boat again. It is simply an amazing sailing machine and the people who had her last pretty much did a frame up rebuild on her, the boat is flawless. Also how often do you get to sit in a carbon fiber chair and play with the same navigation equipment used on the Volvo race…I was dreaming of the southern ocean baby! GRIN!
At 9:00 I was getting nervous, we should be leaving… at 10:00 the group shows up with some additions “what happens on the boat stay’s on the boat…”
Finally we are leaving, not yet! The decision is made to stop at the New Port Harbor Yacht Club for one more round. We lost some of the additions; some people don’t remember leaving the yacht club etc.
We cleared the harbor some time after 11:00 I went straight to my bunk to try and get some sleep before my watch, (I was so thankful some one brought extra ear plugs)
We had enough people that we each had to stand a one hour watch. We drew the watch times from a hat I drew 3:00-4:00AM I awoke for my watch at 2:30 got suited up and was on deck and ready for some quality time on the water, what a beautiful night. The last of the partiers were asleep and quiet, finally! With a following breeze and clear sky’s, the lights of Malibu on the coast. It was just what I was hoping for, at 4:00 I was warm and alert so I decided to keep going. Finally at 6:00AM it started to rain and I called the next guy up to release me from my turn. I caught another few hours of sleep and pulled into SB harbor by 10:00AM on Saturday morning. What a great way to start my new years camping resolution, Thanks Expedition Portal!
Best,
Matt W
PS please dont laugh at my double chin... GRIN