Boat Shopping and A Decision

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We bought our next boat! 

We’ve been on a merry-go-round of indecision for our next boat for too long.  From our short list of potential boats, we weighed out the pros and cons of each; sailboat specs, berths, age of boat, projects needed, price vs. our budget, sailing grounds, galley layout, and on and on and around and around we went…we took a trip to Florida and more recently to Nova Scotia to look at boats.

So where do you think we ended up buying our boat? 

Close to home!  We purchased a Com-Pac 33’ in a familiar sailing ground – The Apostle Islands in Bayfield, WI! 

Com-Pac 33’

Tony just happened to check Hoopers Yachts, a local boat brokerage website, and noticed a new listing for a Com-Pac 33′.  We had looked at some Com-Pac 27’s in Florida soon after losing Terrapin so we were familiar with Com-Pac.  Last spring when we were pet-sitting in Antigua, Tony helped a new owner of a Com-Pac 35 and remembered how he liked many things about the boat. There aren’t many of the larger Com-Pac’s made, only 10 of the 33’, and here was one of them, Escapade, for sale in Bayfield.   

We scheduled a time to drive to Port Superior Marina and see Escapade.  Our initial impression was that with some clean-up, maintenance, and upgrades, she’d be a great boat for us.  But because of the amount of work and upgrades to get her in shape for cruising, we thought the asking price was too high.  There was another boat in Cornucopia so we headed there since we were in the area.  In the meantime, Bill Hooper shared our comments with the owner, and the price was reduced accordingly.  We decided to buy the Com-Pac! It all happened quite quickly; personal inspection, survey, purchase, boat projects, sailing with family, more projects, and last week we hauled out for the winter. 

Memories Of Bayfield and Cornucopia

Years ago, we sailed our Bristol 27.7 Sabea in the Apostle Islands.  Being back in this area brought many warm feelings of sailing trips with our teens, young adults, and grandchildren.  Running into friends in Corny and at Port Superior when we looked at Escapade added another plus mark to our list of reasons that we might want to buy a boat here.  The Apostle Islands are a familiar sailing ground, Bayfield is close for family to come for a sail, and we enjoyed reconnecting with our boating friends here. 

Back At It With Boat Projects!

It can be overwhelming getting to know a new boat and working through all the glitches, repairs, and maintenance to get her in shape.  Especially after just getting Terrapin ready for our big retirement trip, we feel a bit like “Here we go again!”  Taking things one item at a time and remembering that “you can’t always control the circumstances, but you can control your attitude and response” is helping us move forward.  Escapade has great potential, she’s a spacious and comfortable boat with room for visitors.  We’re especially happy with the head and that we’ll be able to take a shower down below instead of a sea bath. 

And as we work on projects, we imagine and dream of all the adventures our new boat will take us on.    

Our first priority was to make our boat livable.  It doesn’t take long for a boat to get dirty when sitting in the yard for a few years.  Fortunately, Escapade cleaned up pretty easily.

Next on our agenda was to go on some test sails.  Taking time out on the water helps our attitude and motivation to keep going on the boat projects.  The funny thing is that going out sailing often adds more projects to the list!

It’s surprising how much you can learn about a boat in a short few hours away from the dock.  Escapade responds quicker than Terrapin and maneuvers nicely.  She sails at a good clip, but not sure how fast since the knot meter doesn’t work.  The lines are stiff and hard to manage from not being used, they’ll loosen up in time.  This reefing system is different, let’s figure it out, it’s a windy day!

Back at the dock, one of many items on our list was locating and fixing any leaky ports and hatches.  A few stormy days and heavy rains helped us locate them.

A Name For Our Boat

While the current name of our boat is ‘Escapade’, we want to give her a new name.  We just can’t settle on what new name.  I guess we’re in a season of indecision, first about buying our next boat and now about the name. 

For sure we’ll put the artwork of a sea turtle up on our bow, but we’d like a different name than Terrapin.  We have all winter to decide.  Feel free to add your suggestions to the list!

Family Visits

One of the reasons we own a boat is to share it with others.  We love to give family & friends a glimpse into our sailing lifestyle.  And this boat is very spacious!

Family Day Sail

My mom, brother, and niece wasted no time getting a date on the calendar to come for a sail.  They were the first to go sailing with us on our new boat.

You never know if the weather will cooperate with our calendar, but in this case, it did.  We had a beautiful sunny day with just the right amount of wind.  Before they came, we installed an inclinometer so my mom could decide on a comfortable amount of healing.  “I’m OK at 10 degrees, 9 would be better”. Taylor and Tom are used to boating and easily joined in as crew to help with lines and everyone took a turn at the helm. 

The afternoon flew by and soon it was time to head back to dock.  Too bad the engine wouldn’t start.  After a little bit of troubleshooting, we concluded it might be fuel-related.  Not that we didn’t have fuel, we had plenty, but maybe contaminated fuel or something in the fuel line.  Now what?  We considered sailing her to dock, started in that direction, and quickly realized the wind died once we passed a point of land.  That idea won’t work.  My mom suggested we row the dinghy and tow Escapade.  Maybe she thinks we’re stronger than we are? 

Good thing we kept our Boat U.S. membership with towing benefits! 

We kept enjoying our afternoon sail near the marina entrance until the towboat came.  He explained how he’d bring us to our slip and all went smoothly.  Mom, Tom, & Taylor thought it was all very interesting and enjoyed the bonus experience of being towed.

Help With The Fuel

The marina mechanics have been very helpful as we work to get all the systems of our new boat working. After our tow back to our slip, we got our fuel tank cleaned out.

Overnight with Family

Our son Luke and a couple of his kids were excited to come for a sail on our new boat.  The weather for their overnight was super windy, which Luke loves.  Tony carefully thought through how to leave the dock in the high winds.  All went well with our departure, whew!  Once on our way, it was a swift ride downwind to Oak Island with just the jib out. 

For meal planning, I did some quick thinking to provision for a dinner without a galley stove.  We had taken out the CNG (compressed natural gas) stove and tanks that were on Escapade.  It is hard to get CNG while cruising so we’ll be putting in a propane stove.  Good thing we had our Jet Boil camp stove with us!  For dinner, I found some backpacking meals at a nearby camping store.  Good-to-Go Chicken Pho was delicious! 

We all enjoyed sleeping at anchor even though we had rollers rocking us side to side throughout the night.  Luke slept in the cockpit or tried to sleep in the cockpit.  The sound of the waves rolling on the shore was relaxing, but trying to stay on the cockpit bench with its slant and a gap in the seat (by the wheel) proved a bit challenging.  (a cockpit seat filler is on our project list). Morning coffee in the cockpit helped energize our tired crew.

This was our first time anchoring out on Escapade.  It was convenient to have willing helpers to pull up the anchor in the morning.  (Adding a windlass is on our list).

The next day the wind had died down a bit for our sail back to the marina, but it was in the same direction.  We were one of many boats tacking back and forth between the mainland and the islands.  We kept checking our position with the other boats  – it’s always a race when two sailboats are heading in the same direction!    

As is usually the case when Luke comes aboard, Tony & I rarely had the wheel.   And on this trip, Lee also was at the helm quite a bit.  Travis loves the cruising lifestyle whether he’s at the wheel or not. 

When Travis was younger, he spent a lot of time sailing with us in the Apostle Islands so we have no shortage of stories from those trips.  Being anchored at Oak Island reminded us of the time he and Jordan were with us anchored there on a particularly hot summer day.  You might think of Lake Superior as being too cold for swimming, but on that day, everyone anchored at Oak Island was taking a swim or lounging in the water to stay cool.  Travis was a toddler at the time.  We wanted to make sure our grandson was staying hydrated in this heat so kept giving him juice boxes.  What we didn’t think of was the sugar content of the apple juice, it was a late-night party for grandma and toddler! 

Is It Spring Yet? 

Escapade is hauled out and ready for winter storage. 

This fall, we’re off for a fall adventure to Grenada. Not sure what our winter has in store for us, maybe we’ll try snowshoeing since we’ll be in MN and not down south.  When spring arrives, we’ll be ready to get back at it with our growing list of boat projects and eager to do more sailing in the Apostle Islands.  This is a gorgeous sailing ground for us to take more shake-down trips on our new boat and to share our love of sailing with our family and friends.  Let us know if you want to come!

After some more time in the Apostle Islands, we’re thinking of heading to Isle Royale, and then to Marquette to see Jeff, Mel, Ava (friends we met in the Bahamas).  From there, it’s through the Sault Sainte Marie to the North Channel and Georgian Bay.  Those areas have been high on our list of places we hope to go sailing someday.

Whether we’re in the Great Lakes or the Caribbean, we love the cruising lifestyle! It’s nice to have a boat again to take on our adventures!

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