How's this for cool.
I've been doing a bit of window shopping for boats lately. Well, yesterday I decided to go check out a local boat for sale, a 1975 O'Day 25. Turns out the marina is only about 5 minutes from my house (by car) so it really wasn't out of my way. I showed up and met with the seller, A really nice older guy named Bob, who showed me around the boat and answered a bunch of questions for me. The boat is pretty solid shape from what I can tell (I went armed with SD's inspection tips). There's a few things that need work but it is a 1975 after all. The hull is great and I didn't see any soft spots. The main is practically brand new and it comes with 2 hank on jibs including a 150 genoa. there were several issues that the seller was going to address like the cable for the centerboard came loose and the fuelpump on the outboard died (another is on order). All in all a nice boat.
Well I told my wife about it and, even though we don't have the money to buy just yet, we decided to drop by unannounced and take a quick walk by and see it again. Well turns out Bob was there again. I introduced my wife to him and we walked over and started looking at it. We were just about to climb aboard when another guy and his daughter walked up. They were helping Bob so some work on some of the sailing club boats. He asked if we were taking the O'Day out and asked if they could come along. Well we hadn't planned on going out but Bob said "Sure would you mind taking them out for a short sail?" My wife and I looked at each other and said "Why not". So we hopped on and started preparing to make way. It was VERY light air and we had no motor but we managed to get the boat out and under way. We had a delightful little sail and my wife got a couple quick lessons on sailing fundamentals. We were out for about 45 minutes when it started getting dark and our wind died to almost nothing. We still managed to make it back to the slip.
And now for the best part. My wife loved it. Not sure if she loved it as much as me but she's definitely hip to the idea. She's even making noises about WHEN we get to trailer a boat to coast and cruise the ICW.
Gotta love those pleasant surprises
