The Next Chapter, cont- The Search Continues

During a long weekend in early October, we made arrangements with brokers to see 4 different Beneteau Center Cockpit sailboats that were listed for sale in Italy.  We had a packed agenda and had to stay on schedule.  Although we were very close to Pisa and Venice, sadly we didn’t have time to stop and visit.

We did get to make a quick stop in Pompeii, or Pompeo as it is called in Italy.  This ancient city was destroyed by an eruption from Mt. Vesuvius, the bodies of people and animals and buildings were covered in ash, preserving their position in their last moments.  This statue is one example.  Viewing this city from outside the gates, we knew this was a place we needed to return when we had more time.

On our agenda, a well-used Beneteau with a totally remodeled salon with a couch and no navigation desk or salon closet, a blue Beneteau owned by a broker who was looking to maximize his profits, a 44 foot Beneteau owned by a lonely old man, and a 42 foot Beneteau that had only been used 1 month a year, had no updates or modifications, was taken out of the water and stored 11 months a year, and had unmarked woodwork.

Having fallen in love with that first boat we saw (in last post), we really loved the 44 Beneteau owned by the older gentleman.  He spoke no English, we spoke no Italian, but as soon as we got to his boat, it was obvious he was taking us for a ride.  We had barely made it out of the marina when he gestured for Gary to take the helm and just like that, he disappeared into the galley.  We could hear him banging around. Soon he came back upstairs with a plate of freshly slice prouchetto, cheese, crackers, and wine.  He talked the whole time with us not understanding a word.  It was a beautiful day.  He walked on the back deck and threw out a couple of fishing lines.  An hour later, he reeled them in and we headed back.  The whole experience made me think this guy was recently widowed and was very lonely.  I don't really remember the tour of his boat, but I am sure we looked it over very well because this was the boat we decided to make an offer on.  My suspicions were confirmed when the broker called back to tell us that he wasn't ready to sell until he found a new boat to buy!

Our trip included some beautiful sites along the way that we would return to at a later date.

We drove a lot, stopping when we got tired. One time, we stopped in a small town a ways off the main route and got a hotel room.  Most Italians outside of Rome do not learn much English.  We've been told it has to do with their contentious history with the Brits.  Anyway, the hotel was quite empty, though it had a large garden for outdoor weddings and a fancy dining room where we enjoyed a full European-style buffet breakfast (meaning, mostly carbs!  Breads and sweets of many varieties, cheese, and thinly sliced meats. No eggs, pancakes, cereal, etc). Only one other person was in this whole dining area, but our American English caught his ear.  We learned that he and his sister, both Americans, had flown back to settle their parents estate.  It was such a small, out of the way town, he wondered how, and why we had decided to stay there for the night.  He was quite shocked that we were there.  We were equally shocked to find that the only other person in the whole dining room was also American!

When we got to the farthest southern spot, we reached the only boat we would tour that was "on the hard".  The broker here, at D'addario Yacht Sales, spoke in broken English.  She got a ladder and we climbed aboard this 2003 Beneteau Oceanic Center Cockpit clipper sailboat.  The wood shined.  The stove and oven appeared to have never been used.  The downside was that this boat would need so many things to make it into a cruising boat...new canvas for starters, solar, a solar arch, new batteries, updated electronics...the list went on.  

But, as it turned out, this was the boat for us.

Michaela, our broker, was young and new to selling boats.  She took a long time to return emails- until we learned that she took all the emails to a friend to translate them into Italian,then to help her write a reply in English.  We started using Google translate to send her emails in Italian.  The replies came much quicker.

Buying a boat in Italy wasn't exactly straight forward and easy. We got lucky in many ways. The surveyor we had hired in Trieste we learned was one of the best in Italy. He had done us such a favor on the first boat, charging us only a very small fee, that we decided to fly him down to survey this boat.  It passed with flying colors!  He also told us he was very impressed with our broker. He told us she was new and seemed to be wanting to do her best for us. He felt she was very honest and a hard-worker.  And, she did work hard for us. She gave us rides to various government buildings, translated for us, figured out how we could get the Italian documents translated into English so we could register our boat with the US Coast Guard, helped us to get copies of the VAT paid documents (European taxes paid proof), etc, etc.  

Did we save any money by buying our boat in Italy?  It's hard to say, but probably not.  

The next step was to figure out how to purchase things for the boat- but I will leave that for another post.

Here we are, celebrating being boat owners with a Leffe...

           

                   Thanks for reading! Would love to hear your questions and comments!

 

The Next Chapter - Life Aboard a 42 foot sailboat

 April 26, 2021 

In June of 2019, my job in Egypt was complete. This blog so far 

has been a testament to just how much we learned in just 3 years of living abroad. As first-time expats, everything was a learning opportunity.   We grew and changed quickly.  While living in and learning about another culture, we also learned much more about our own country and culture.  Because we lived in a commune-type situation, living with many of the same people we worked with, often even in the same building as our classroom, we grew personally and socially.  These new diverse set of friends, from all regions of the US as well as several different countries, taught us to see things from a variety of perspectives. As we were afforded many opportunities to travel, we were constantly improving our understanding of geography, history, culture, not to mention we got really good at knowing how to plan and book affordable and interesting vacations in a hurry. 

So, in June, we said our goodbyes to friends in Egypt and moved aboard S/V UPBound in Italy. S/V stands for “Sailing Vessel”.  That was just one of the thousands of things I would learn within the first few months. As newbie sailors, we had a very, very steep learning curve.  

One of our first tasks was to come up with a new name for our boat because, after all, we had no idea how to pronounce her old name “Orifiamma”.

Why has it taken me nearly 2 years to write a blog about sailing?  I am not sure.  I have come up with a lot of “excuses”, each with a grain of truth, but honestly, I am not sure.

I do know that sailing and living on a boat requires a LOT of time-consuming work.  Before we sailed, we regularly watched a few sailing videos on YouTube.  Honestly, I don’t know where these You-Tubers find the time to sail, keep their boat in good working order and presentable, film, and edit.  There is always something that needs to be worked on, and, because tools are generally stored in your main living space, the whole boat gets torn apart every few days.   It’s not like we have space for organized tool boxes- nope- everything from screwdrivers to spare parts for the engine, the toilets, the cupboards, etc is loose in boxes under the seats, and you dig for everything because invariably, what you need is closest to the bottom and back of the storage area.  So, everything takes twice as long to fix on a boat as it might in a house.   No, I am not the mechanic in the boat- but I often have to help find something or another.  So, is lack of time why I haven’t written?  Probably not. 

This part of the boat is called the salon.  The table and seating is on the left, along with the television set, and the navigation station to the right.  The engine compartment is accessed under those steps. This area is also where all the tool are stored.  If you go up the steps, you are in the cockpit, where we spend most of our time when sailing.

This is our galley area.  The stove is on a gimble so the stove stays level, even if the boats is leaning.

 

Swabbing the deck

Jobs continue on land.  The bottom needs anti-foul paint every few years to prevent barnacles from growing on the bottom.

When on land, everything has to be hand carried to the boat.

  

The original mattress needed replacing

 

Before we actually sailed, I dreamed it might be all about enjoying beautiful sunsets, swimming, watching wildlife, relaxing, reading, and exploring new places and meeting new people. Plenty of topics to write about, right?  Well, sailing DOES include all of that, maybe I will eventually write up some of those stories.

The battery on my laptop died before we set sail, so all writing is now being done on my IPad.  I switched phones before we crossed the Atlantic, so early photos are saved on a hard drive with only a few put on Facebook. Newer photos are on an Android, which makes getting them on this Ipad, then onto this blog challenging for my (lack of) techy skills.  Definitely that is a contributing factor.

Other big reasons for not writing- FEAR, VULNERABILITY, and UNCERTAINTY.  Working overseas, living an expat lifestyle, traveling by plane to exotic locations was MY dream.  This much more physically demanding, one-with-nature lifestyle of sailing the world, definitely Gary’s dream.  I was quite certain we would DIE before we got to the Caribbean. The Med was NOT an easy place to learn to sail.  The wind was generally either too much, or too little.  It swirled and changed directions quickly.  I will probably write a post about wind ( but don’t hold your breath.).  

 The other challenge in the Med was finding any sense of community.  In the Med, most people are on charter boats, with friends and family, and no interest in meeting new people.  Cassandra and Blake were with us until late June. After they left, I didn’t find another English-speaking woman until mid-August. It was a very lonely time.  I love my husband, but let’s be real- a woman needs to talk to other women.  

Early on, we didn’t know how to use our instruments, we didn’t know how to determine distances, just how fast is a “knot”, what is a nautical mile, and how far could our boat sail in an hour. There was so much uncertainty about literally everything!  We had to meet our son and his wife in Barcelona September 1.  We had planned a month in Croatia to gain us some time out of the Schengen- just how long would it take us to get there?  Were we in this way over our head?  How do you write about all of these things?  

We have been back in the USA for a year now.  It has taken me a long time to process all we have experienced and learned.  We spent last summer on land. We have been living on anchor all winter.  We are currently motor-sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of Florida.  It is my first sail since last June.  It is a beautiful day, 12-15 knots of wind.  I can honestly say I was really looking forward to sailing today and am ready to start writing about some of our adventures, the good and bad.

If you’re reading this, leave me a comment.  I’d like to know what kinds of information you are looking for and what kinds of questions you might have. Shorter, more frequent blogs, or more photos?  A blog about the worst experience we had?  Places and people or the nitty-gritty of everyday life aboard?  Looking forward to hearing from you.