When we first met, Peter mentioned he was considering trading his 37′ sailboat for a trawler. I loved sailing and couldn’t imagine giving up the pleasure of raising a sail and the sensation of the wind propelling us through the water. We made a couple of outings on the sailboat and I was reminded of the physical effort it took to remove sail covers, raise sails, and work lines, not to mention the cabin limitations requiring crawling into a berth on my hands and knees. After all, it had been nearly 30 years since I owned a boat and I had passed several milestone birthdays since those days.
We spent much of the winter of 2019 in Ft. Lauderdale and the Bahamas where we began looking at trawlers. In the process, Peter mentioned the Great Loop. The more I read and heard, the more hooked I was. This would be a real adventure for us where we could share the process of setting a goal and overcoming the challenges to achieving it with an abundance of pleasure moments along the way.
First goal was to select a boat that would be ideal for us. We wanted something that would let us feel safe and comfortable. As one writer said, not one bit larger than we could handle and not one bit smaller than we could live in. We looked at boats from the Bahamas, throughout Florida, along the Gulf Coast, and hundreds of internet listings. We had narrowed down our preference to a DeFever 44 or a 44+5. We wrote down our wish list of features and put this out as broadly as we could on internet groups for owners and related forums. Along the way we discovered a social gathering of boaters who had completed or planned on doing the Great Loop (Loopers). We were grateful to have the opportunity to attend and network with this like-minded group. Sure enough, we met a couple who owned a boat like we wanted and knew someone else who owned one and might be interested in selling – and the boat was right in our backyard on Galveston Bay. We connected and made a deal. The ball was rolling.
We have a boat
On July 1, 2019, we purchased Beachcomber to be renamed Quite Nice. We will spend the next four months learning to handle her and her many systems like navigation electronics as well as how to keep her well maintained. Of course, there is outfitting to be done with supplies, equipment, furnishings and decor that will make her our home. Our goal is to depart Nov. 1 after hurricane season is over to begin our adventure on the Great Loop.
We have included pages that tell you more about our boat and the Great Loop.
If our adventure interests you, we hope you will follow this blog. We will keep you updated on our preparations and then on the journey itself.
“For the truth is that I already know as much about my fate as I need to know. The day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear, or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.”
― Richard Bode, First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living