coping with grief...

*sigh*

I sold my 4.3 - delivered it yesterday. I miss her terribly. I know, in my head, that a boat is a boat is a boat, and to become attached to a material object is just plain silly. I also know, in my head, that a new 4.3, ordered yesterday, will be shipped in two weeks and will arrive on my doorstep full of promise and unrealized potential... like a great grey stone perched atop a precipice... ready to bloom into the kenetic through a springtime of gravitational surrender...

ok, that was a bit much.

Help me cope with my loss! Tell your first-boat-sale story!

ps - thank you Catsailor classifieds!

John, how can you refer to a sailboat as a "material object"?

John,

I've got one worse for you.

My first boat, I let Trey cut the hulls up with a chainsaw!

he didn't understand when I told him that I didn't want to be there.

Perhaps a 12 step boat selling program would be helpful.

John, I've grieved for each boat I sold. I had always put so much work and money into them it was hard to let them go. Tad and Trey, That was just wrong! And as pennance you must send me any serviceable parts at no cost!

Who sells boats?? I have yet to sell one, putting me at six boats at a total of 109 ft.

Yeah, one of them is almost in too rough a shape to count and may suffer the chainsaw dismemberment. Yes, it's the first boat that I owned.

brian,

they were leaky and soft.

Treyline is currently selling the parts for me

My first was a 1975 Prindle 16, probably among the first batch of Prindle to ever arrive in the Netherlands.

From the beginning I had always said that I would either sail her to the bottom of the north sea myself or hang here off the wall above my bed as an ornament (retirement). I never thought that she would stand up to 7 more years of abuse in the North sea waters, but she did. And boy did I really try to wreck here ! There I was not enough room in my high rise appartment to hang her over my bed and she still going strong while my bank account was drained in completing my new boat. I was just about 600 Euro's short of finishing my F16 in early 2004. So I sold my dearest for 600 Euro's to be able to finish my F16. I kept the bright yellow colour for the hulls though.





She is now sailing on an inland lake about 30 km from where I live and like that she probably survive for many more years. I just hope that the current owner appreciates her as much as I did.

I still regret having to sell her.

Wouter

While I admit to still feeling a twang of loss some three years later....she looks happy enough in her new home.



New boats will quickly fill the vacuum in your heart.

"... ready to bloom into the kenetic through a springtime of gravitational surrender..."

WOW...Where can I get one?

I must admit I felt quite sad the day after I sold my 1976 Alcort Sunfish, colored Bondo... the first boat I'd ever sailed on.

I felt *especially* sad the first time I tried setting up my new Nacra 5.5u, which took nearly 3 hours before I finally got it right.

I didn't feel particularly sad when I was out sailing my new boat, though

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Long Live the "DLW"

I still miss her too!

stop it, I'm tearing up. Packed my favorite shirt yesterday, which is on its way to VA right now!
Go the DLW!!!!

Uhhh, Steve? Are you counting both hulls on the cats? I think you have more waterline in your fleet than you think, Commodore.

Remember this?

Good point, John. Technically my waterline length is 109 ft. But if I mounted the N5.8 hulls transom to transom and slapped an outrigger on there for a 38 ft proa.....

I just added up my total displacement. 6400 lbs. The 109 ft sounds more impressive.

John: If it makes you feel any better, a close friend of the guy to whom you sold your ex is very much looking forward to blooming some kinetics on her as well. On our local reservoir, the only thing better than sailing one's boat during a lake wind advisory is to sail someone else's boat during a lake wind advisory.

Jerome Vaughan
Clinton, Mississippi

I sold my H-21 because I (my wife) needed a new central air unit..... I have never recovered.

You want grief? I've got some grief for ya.

So it's a beautiful day at the lake and the sun is starting to set. The light is beautiful and we're all throwing poses for the camera when the wind starts to freshen a bit. It continues to get sportier until a massive blast of sand and water comes sweeping across the lake at 90 to 110 m.p.h. I'm trying to shuffle the kids, who are terrified, into the car and look nonchalant about the whole thing. In the mean time, I'm looking over my shoulder at my 1-year-old Hobie 20, (also shown in the first picture) which is screwed down to the beach, but starting to lift off the ground.

Just as I'm getting my son into the car, the boat capsizes, then lifts off the sand like a giant hand has tossed it into the air. It tumbles down the beach - first hulls over mast, then bow over stern - bouncing off motorhomes, breaking into pieces as it goes. It finally comes to rest about 70 yards away after lodging against a fifth-wheel trailer. The attached picture tells the rest of that story.

And now the rest of the tragedy. The good news is, I have insurance. The bad news is, it only covers depreciated value at the time of loss which is several thousand dollars less than a new boat. So I go to the dealer where I bought the boat (he's in Iowa) and tell him my sad story. Being the really good guy that he is, he offers to sell me is last H20 at a discounted price that is very close to the insurance settlement. Then, a guy in our fleet who helps sell boats for our local dealer in exchange for a commission gets wind of my arrangement and calls the Iowa dealer to complain that he's cutting into his territory. This local guy then tries to buy the boat out from under me so I'd be forced to purchase it from him at a premium. What's worse is this person came up to me after the accident, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "anything I can do to help, just let me know."

Yea, right. For the record, I went to our local dealer first, but he was unable to come close to the Iowa dealer's price.

To his credit, the Iowa dealer stood by our arrangement and I'll pick up the boat from him next week. So far I've only missed one race and I hope to make that up before nationals.

Good form from the Iowa dealer; what was his name?

I can't hang with that story. My worst grief story was getting caught (somewhat purposely) in a thunderstorm squal in Louisiana. I was sailing an Apollo 16 singlehanded through stumps in the water kind of trying to dodge them and couldn't pick my line. I ended up capsizing and the mast got caught in the mud. When my wife came out to rescue me on a jetski, the mast broke off at the spreaders as I tried to right it. I was able to get a brand new mast from a (at the time) local dealer in Austin for a really good deal. So it all worked out. It made for a really crappy weekend though. I forget the name of the shop, but it was the only one around for hundreds of miles.
I have to say... this was the beginning of the end of monohull sailing for me. It wasn't long until I experienced the stability of catamarans and sold the Apollo to buy a Nacra. Best decision I could have made.

-Rob V.
Panama City
Nacra 5.2

Steve,

I am sure that you are probably suffering from PTSS, it may be years before you are good again. Witnessing your boat being destroyed may cause loss of sex drive, appetite, inability to focus on simple tasks, hyper sensitivity and yes, increased beer consumption. However, there is no cure except frequent sex.

Dr. E.P.Arbogast BS, MS, PHD.

Ok, my harrowing tale...
When I was about 17, I decided that I was done "racing" sunfish, and that I needed a good cat to step up to. So I sold all 3 of my sunfish and my Hobie 16 and bought a 1993 Hobie 18SX. It was yellow and black, had a nearly new (2000) trailer, and a gorgeous set of sails (sunkissed). I bought the boat used in Indiana, and had a friend pick it up for me. A week after I got it, I packed up and headed to the Governor's Cup at Kerr Lake, VA. I was driving on I-40 just outside of Greensboro when a mattress blew off a truck and this old lady decided to park on top of it in the middle of I-40. I was following a big Isuzu "box" truck at the time, running about 65 mph. Suddenly, the box truck got over and there she was, right in front of me. I locked up the brakes, and held on for dear life. I jackknifed with the boat (which hit me in the side first) and then the boat rolled over with the trailer at about 65 mph. Total carnage...I had to use my righting line to right my new boat in the middle of I-40. Of course, since I was 17, it obviously was my fault. Oh well...still sold the boat for a profit
Trey
N20 314
Layline Rigging
www.velocitysailing.com

boats are like wives.....when they quit treating ya right, ya just trade her in for a newer (hopefully better) model

Terry, not sure if I want to know why you traded in your ex, because I just happened to pick her up!

Looking for a model with lower milage?

Rob V.
Panama City
Nacra 5.2

The Iowa dealer's name is Jim Sohn of Jim's Sailing Center. He's been in business for years and it's clear why he has such a loyal following.

I'm continuing to treat my grief with the method prescribed by Dr. Arbogast.

My first boat, Hobie 16 #4032... Bought it with so much weatherhelm the PO steered with a rope (NOT JOKING )Sold it 6 months later when it started to delaminate. It was a pretty boat, but I was HAPPY! to see it go. Bought my G-Cat 5.7M a few months later and have had it for many happy years.