It was always a dream of mine (since childhood and reading Swallows and Amazons) to own a sailboat. It was also always a "someday when..." kind of possibility. Perhaps when I retired, or when the kids were old enough, certainly after we bought a house. To my surprise, Steph seemed quite taken by the idea, and the next day e-mailed me a bunch of web listings for used boats. They were all over the place in terms of price and specifications, but our basic takeaway was that this hobby has a surprisingly low barrier to entry. It looked like we could get a decent 30 footer for about $15,000 more or less ready to sail. From a someday sometime possibility, it became a "once we have purchased our house" plan. I did some further research, and it looked like a smallish cruiser would have the capabilities we wanted: enough room for two + one child to sleep comfortably, with the possibility of accomodating a guest or two, decent seaworthiness and seakindliness, possible to single hand sail (even for Steph who has never sailed - given training), enough remaining on the water that parts and repairs would not be a problem. Shortly afterwards, I found a listing for an Alberg 30 selling in Ontario for under $6000 - but without a working engine.
I tried to put this listing out of my mind, and continue searching with an open mind. However, each time I searched, one particular model came up time and time again - the Alberg 30.
I further drilled down into the world of Alberg 30s, lurking on their websites and mailing lists, and reading their history. We discovered that there was another plus - an active community of people, most of whom seemed a lot like us.
Although I did not see us forking out even 6000 at the time, I took a plunge and contacted the owner and asked if we could take a look at her. We drove up. On the way I told my wife "I don't see how we can afford this, or make it work, but if we like it, I shall just explain our situation to the current owner and see what he says - perhaps we can work something out".
To cut a long story short, we drove up, loved the look of her (she was named Wanderlove - the only part we did not really like), and I told the lovely couple who owned her our situation. They seemed open to working something out - I said I could make a downpayment, and a monthly schedule. He later responded with an offer by e-mail. It turns out he was downsizing, and didn't need his replacement until spring. He created a schedule that would have us complete before his buy date in April, and we agreed to proceed.
So - suddenly and beyond all expectations, we are now the proud owners of an Alberg 30, presently sitting on the hard in Penetanguishene.
