From a recent post she made here, some of you know that my wife has grown fearful of sailing on True Blue - since she fears heeling. This is mostly due to the relatively high height off the water of the aft deck (sailing cockpit deck is 5'-10" from the waterline), which increases the arc moment.
The boat is absolutely beautiful to me and I am totally obsessed by her. But, it was intended as, and designed to be a couple's cruising boat, not a solo-weekender - otherwise I'd consider taking her out singlehanded. Our relationship however, is more important than my obsession.
I originally thought it might be best to wait another season before listing it. Call me irresponsible, but I see this downturn economy as a prime opportunity to buy another boat at a great price . . . I'm really serious. I've checked out yachtworld.com and found some very attractive listings on boats that my 1st mate would fully approve of.
I
think I can swing two boat loans, because - being a buyer's market, I'm probably not going to
sell in a hurry - but you never know. We do have a unique boat which is holding it's value very well (advertised asking prices have actually gone up for the same year and model) due to a strong cult following.
Many Europeans have actually been looking overseas for pre-owned, then-optional tall rig Nauticats, due to the high Euro-to-US dollar exchange rate and well-known, improved sailing performance over the standard shoal-draft models. Perhaps this is one reason for the rarity of tall-rig NC33s in excellent condition - a shallow keel model has been on the market for a while, at a lower price.
Forget about retirement security (I'm much too young to think about that anyway)
. I've got plenty of professional jobs going and the outlook "seems" promising for future contract opportunities. At this point, I'm not revealing the boats I'm currently considering . . . that's a subject for another topic.
Hence, my dilemma. It is probably totally, incredibly stupid, to have two boat loans in this economy and I would be smart to heave-to and wait out the storm. But, some good buys are out there and the relationship is getting edgy. What would you do, given these criteria?