Across the world

OUR ADVENTURE TO CROSS THE WORLDS OCEANS STARTS HERE...

We travelled to the 2012 Southampton Boat Show during this last week. Our intention was to BUY the yacht that would start the adventure. So we covered old ground by once again, searching the second hand market. This entailed a visit to Swanwick Marina and Limington Marina. The first boat we viewed was a Najad 490. One of those beautifully made Swedish vessels with solid wood interior trim. She was in fact looking very nice for her age (2001 model). The second boat we looked at in Swanwick was a Moody 54, again a 2001 model. Good condition but potential expenses. Then across in Lymington we saw what was in our view the best looking Oyster 56 so far in our price range, and also a more recent Oyster 53 with the ideal interior layout (2003 model). Our contact person at the boat yard spent a good few hours with us showing and discussing the various yachts (we also had a look at a Discovery 55, Hylas 54, Trintella 47).

Next stop was the Southampton Boat show to see new yachts and equipment. Here we spoke to the Jeaneau people and had a look at a 50 foot model to get a feel of the interior furnishings. If we were to buy one of these it would have been the 57DS. Then we went over to the Southerly 47 to get excited about a yacht which we knew was outside our price range. Nevertheless we had fun discussing all the details with John the sales chief. We had a look at the Danish North 45 which has a nice cute interior layout, and a quick look at the Maramu 55 which was too special and expensive to waste time on.

THE DILEMMA

We had one more appointment at the show with our acquaintance from Gocek. He worked for Sunbird who were the biggest Beneteau dealer in UK. They had all the new yachts on their hard stand. So on Monday morning at 10.00 we went to the Red Funnel entrance of the show and called David. He came to the gate shortly afterwards and arranged our entrance. The first boat he showed us was the Sense 55. Very modern interior which in our view was simply not substantial enough for ocean sailing. Then he showed us the new Oceanis 48. This looked more sensible although at the same time had some more radical furnishing. The owners cabin at the front was striking. THEN David introduced us to the Director of Sunbird and they offered us the display boat at a reduced price. In essence we were faced with a new boat at 100k gbp less than a decent second hand boat. THIS WAS THE DILEMMA..

The decision time was upon us. This was our last day at the show and we had intended to conclude our purchase. The night before we had reviewed the financial situation and were clear on what we could afford. The Oyster 53 was in the running, and the Oyster 56 could have been considered if all the stops were pulled out. We went and sat down on the wooden steps of a Chalet vendor somewhere in the show and deliberated on the pros and cons. The whole scene had changed. The new boats had only occupied our curiosity until now, but the thrill of new boat and equipment was looking very attractive. There is a big downside to the Beneteau Oceanis, and that is the quality. Being a mass produced boat there was no finesse in the build. It was just a modern hull with machine made panels that formed the furnishing. Nevertheless all the equipment was provided by support vendors. The generator was from Onan, engine from Yanmar etc. The way things were going before our encounter with Beneteau, we had the Oyster 53 in mind. All it needed was for us to make an offer because we were not going to pay the asking price of 465k gbp. However the second hand boats were fraught with danger of financial uncertainty. Old boats need refurbishment and rigging changes. We had seen quite a few high priced Oysters which were very badly up kept, and all old boats have the same kind of problems.

The time came to eliminate boats form our choice list. The Oyster 53 and the Oceanis 48 were in the final running. We therefore drove back to Lymington to see the Oyster once again. Phone calls were made to ensure the boat and sales people were available before we set out. On arrival in Lymington there were no available sales staff so we looked around the yacht from the outside. It didnt look tidy at all. It just meant that WORK was needed to make the boat presentable. Not attractive. We rushed back to Beneteau and had another word with David. He again went over the features and equipment. The offer was good and included a full year of berthing at the Clyde marina and the promise that the boat would be fully refurbished after the show. (the fact that she was the show boat was worrying..). The geographical location of the Clyde Marina was coincidentally right in the area where we intended to start our sailing experience...On the West Coast of GB..