hinterhoeller – Page 2 – Have Wind Will Travel

March 20, 2013 – Let’s Make a Deal! (in Miami)

May 2, 2013December 30, 2013anniedike

Unfortunately, finding a boat is different than buying a boat. Although we had a good feeling about the Hinterhoeller, we still had to strike a deal with Jack. And, there are about 800 other things you’ve got to start thinking about when you really get serious about buying a boat: financing, insurance, registering it, docking it, etc. It’s very stressful, I can assure you. To deal, Phillip and I, naturally, decided we needed a break in the form of a trip down south to Miami. (Okay, it was really a work conference, but far more play than work).

I recommend you let this play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9HUQT9HdPc) in another window to really set the mood and join us for a glimpse of the world’s finest silicone and tequila hard at work. I will say, first off, the good thing about Miami is that no matter what you wear (really, no matter), you will never look as skanky as any random girl you will pass on the street. Never. There were some scantily-clad ladies in Miami, my friends. Here are just a few I captured:

(I think these chicks were headed to the grocery store or to pick their kids up from soccer practice. Just another day in South Beach – nothing to see here.)

I also came across this broad curling her hair in the bathroom at the airport. It seems the high-waisted 70’s jeans are coming back (Get you a pair! http://www.polyvore.com/high_waisted_jeans/shop?query=high+waisted+jeans):

(Note the blonde in the mirror feigning a text while actually snapping her picture – brilliant!).

We encountered this high-waisted style everywhere, even the stone-washed, Wrangler cut-offs variety that pairs well with boots (or boot-like slippers – whatever those are):

We even came across Miami’s very own Jersey Shore couple:

We actually had some friends run across this couple independently and they (just as we did, being our friends, of course, and always prepared to do the classy thing) snapped a pic too! Here’s the backside:

(Perhaps she accidentally glued her hand to her head while applying her Lee press-ons. I don’t pretend to know these things.)

After we got used to the sight of skin and hair gel, we then suffered from sticker shock at the price of drinks. $20 a piece. I am not kidding. A congenial offer of “Let us get this round” translated to $182.00 one night. After that, it was “Sure, thanks. We’ll get the next one” with absolutely no intent to follow through. Shameful, I know, but we had a boat to think about! They’re expensive!

In all, we had a great time at a beautiful hotel (the Eden Roc: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/miasr-eden-roc-renaissance-miami-beach/).

Turns out, rum drinks pool-side was the perfect way to pass the time while we were waiting to hear back from Jack.

March 8-10, 2013 – Road Trip: Part Four (Last One!) – The Tayana

April 28, 2013December 30, 2013anniedike

The Tayana. The last of the road trip boats. Recall Tayanas are Taiwanese-built boats, hand-crafted, so each one is unique, with a reputation of being sturdy as hell, built to survive the Apocalypse. This one certainly met that mark.

Her size and stature were definitely impressive but the remainder I would have to describe only as interesting. Kind of like when your blind date is described to you not as a smoking hot number but, rather, as “really interesting.” (But I guess that’s better than “Well, her size and stature are definitely impressive.”). There were so many things on the boat that the seller had rigged just for him that we just couldn’t see ourselves on it. For example, the helm. My God. That thing had more instruments and gadgets on it than a NASA spacecraft. You couldn’t even really see beyond it to look out on the waves or water.

(Yes, that’s the helm, I promise, look closely).

Another was the nav station. There were panels upon panels of buttons, levers, toggles, etc. It looked like you could conduct nuclear fission right there on the boat.

And, the seller was left handed, but the nav station was starboard, so he had rigged a special pullout slat for his elbow so he could write left-handed. He had also installed a swivel stool for the nav station because it had no seat. And, the nav station was all the way forward almost to the V-berth. Definitely not ideal if you’re in the cockpit and need to get quickly to the radio or electronics or your charts. And, the couple had been cruising on it for about ten years, so the thing was bogged down with buckets, bottles, straps and jerry cans.

Just a lot of little things that made her not quite right. Plus, I feel sorry for the Tayana, anyway, having to follow the Hinterhoeller. She just didn’t stand a chance.

Phillip and I had our minds made up. We clamored back in the car to make the drive home, only to find we had stumbled onto Daytona Beach during the famed Biker Week. We saw more leather and chaps in that one drive than I’ve seen in a lifetime (and I grew up a cowgirl), but the leather hydes were more human than bovine. These women were weathered!

But we finally made it out of the Biker debacle and back onto the interstate and got our broker on the horn to put in an offer on the Hinterhoeller. It was a long haul home but we were about as giddy as kids on Christmas morning. We had found our boat!

March 8-10, 2013 – Road Trip: Part Three – The Hinterhoeller

April 27, 2013December 30, 2013anniedike

Feeling refreshed from the coconut drinks in St. Pete, we headed down to Punta Gorda to check out the Hinterhoeller.

Hinterhoellers are Canadian-built with a reputation as solid, sea-worthy vessels. We were looking at a 1985 Niagara that was primarily a one-owner. The seller, Jack, had owned it since 1989 and you could just tell he loved that boat. It was extremely well-cared for. Polished and clean, organized and tidy. She was most definitely Jack’s baby. And, for good reason. Jack had sailed the boat several times in the Mackinac race (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Huron_to_Mackinac_Boat_Race) from Lake Huron to Mackinac Island, MI (a 290-mile freshwater course) single-handedly. As a result, just about every system on the boat was streamlined and rigged for quick, easy, single-handed use. He and his wife were now retired and and, as tough as it was for them, after decades of wonderful sails on the boat (from quick weekend trips to month-long voyages) they were ready to retire from the cruising as well. Jack greeted us with a bright smile and big paw handshakes and jumped right on the boat with us to tinker around.

The Hinterhoeller had a spacious cockpit with plenty of room to kickback and stretch out at the helm. To use the old cockpit/living room analogy – where the others had felt like the stuffy, formal “sitting” room you keep at the front of the house for show, this one felt like the comfy den in the back with the old, grungy couches where everyone piles in on Saturdays to watch the game. It was just so damn comfortable.

We felt the same about the galley and saloon down below.

(And, a fun little boat fact for those useless knowledge junkies out there – much to my surprise, turns out the word saloon originates not from the old swinging doors, whiskey-busting joints you see in old westerns, but from boats!! It’s true – it has to be – it’s on the internet: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saloon).

It also came with a hard bottom dinghy and a 15 horse-power, 2 stroke outboard. A rare find, and a bonus that had our broker salivating like a kid in a candy store.

Phillip and I felt the same (minus the salivating). We were like teenagers with a crush, secretly doodling pictures of the boat in our Five Star spiral notebooks with little squiggles and hearts all around it. It was all we could think about. It was all we could talk about. Looking back on it, it’s probably a good thing no one else made that trip with us, because they probably would have jumped right out of the Prius and hitchhiked home. Phillip and I were enamored. Images of the two of us with our hands on the wheel while the boat glided through crystal green waters filled our heads all the way to Daytona.

We still had one more boat to check out on this trip, the Tayana – a beast of a boat, but we both had a sneaking feeling we had already found ours.

March 8-10, 2013 – Road Trip: Part Deux – The Pacific Seacraft

April 21, 2013December 30, 2013anniedike

Let’s see … where was I? (With all the yard-selling, hog-tying and other Naan-sailing events I’ve been throwing in here, it’s easier than you think to forget). Ahh, yes. Day two of the Road Trip. It was Saturday morning and we woke refreshed in St. Pete, ready to look at two old boats. The 1990 Pacific Seacraft in St. Pete and the Hinterhoeller in Punta Gorda (another hour and a half haul).

So, the 1990 Pacific Seacraft. We were looking at this one to compare it to the 2000 model we had taken out for my first sail a few weeks back. It must be true what they say – you always hold a bit of a soft spot for your first (that or a blissfully-skewed image at least) – because if the 2000 Seacraft was akin to my hot, high school boyfriend, the 1990 was the pot-bellied, balding version of him at the 20-year reunion. Just not the same spark. The 1990 also had not been well-maintained (think hair loss and weight gain for a boat), and it was all wood below so it felt very dark and constricted.

We were interested but certainly not enamored. Thankfully, we had a couple more to look at. We also had a few hours to kill before we had to meet the broker in Punta Gorda, so we wandered around St. Pete a bit and stumbled onto a quaint little Farmer’s Market (http://www.saturdaymorningmarket.com/). You’ll be thrilled to know I found it a complete happenstance that they called it the ‘Saturday Morning Market’ and we were there on a Saturday morning. “Phillip, can you believe that? What a coincidence!” Phillip winced a bit from my wicked intelligence. It is scary sometimes how smart I am. Just scary.

But, we had a fantastic time toodling around that appropriately-named little place. There was great art:

Great food (we split a mouth-watering Margherita pizza):

And great drink (cocunut water right out of a coconut!):

(Yes, that’s Phillip and I. We look that good. It’s the coconut water.)

But, we had to pack it up and get back on the road. The Hinterhoeller had certainly wooed our broker, and we were eager to lay eyes on her. So, it was off to Punta Gorda for round two of the road trip boats.

March 8-10, 2013 – Road Trip: Part One – The Drive!

April 15, 2013December 30, 2013anniedike

A lot of people have asked me: “A sailboat? Really? Nights and days on end, stuck together on a tiny, little boat? Annie, are you sure?” And, I can tell you, the best way to find out if you can spend hours cramped in a tiny space with someone without beginning to plot their slow, painful death, is to jump in the car and cover 1,200 miles in one weekend. That will tell you real quick. And tell us it did. Phillip and I, despite all odds, had a fantastic time. Road trip!!

We had three boats to look at in three days:

1. A 1990 Pacific Seacraft (same model as the “Mercedes” we had previously considered but ten years older and about half the price): St. Petersburg, FL.

2. A 1985 Hinterhoeller Niagra (Canadian built, a new one for us, but one our broker repeatedly said he had a “really good feeling about”): Punta Gorda, FL.

3. A 1989 Tayana 37 (recall this is the “tank with sails” builder and this boat reportedly had “all the bells and whistles”): Daytona Beach, FL.

It was going to be quite the haul (know that I debated saying “quite the hull” to really capitalize on a cheesy joke, but I decided to forego it):

http://goo.gl/maps/YTSrB

We left on a Friday afternoon, right after my first visit to the knee doctor. Good news it was not a torn ACL like I thought (I had been down that road before with a gymnastic’s injury to the left knee in high school and knew what an ordeal that would be – not to mention, an appalling hindrance to my sailing endeavors!) but I did sprain just about every ligament in there, particularly my MCL.

My knee was filled with fluid and had a range of only about zero to thirty degrees. Yeah, exactly … not much. But, he drained that puppy and it felt like he sucked the spawn of Satan out of my knee. (Yes, through a syringe. Spawn are small. But, word to the wise, don’t ever Google “spawn of Satan” looking for an image … just don’t). Then he slapped a brace on me and sent me packing. So, Phillip and I, and the newly-engaged torture rack on my leg, hit the road.

We made it down to Ocala, Florida around 9:00 p.m. and stopped at Amrit Palace, a tucked-away little gem of an Indian restaurant (http://amritpalace.com/), to gorge on some incredible chicken tiki masala (recipe for the foodies out there: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-tikka-masala) and piles of soft, warm Naan bread. We finally made it to the hotel in St. Pete around 11:00 p.m. that night, exhausted from the trip but eager to get up the next day and poke around on some beautiful boats! The morning would begin with a visit to the 1990 Pacific Seacraft in St. Pete, with the Hinterhoeller in Punta Gorda slated for the afternoon. We crashed hard, without any meds, while visions of sailboats danced in our heads …