FAITHSAILING Lady Marguerite 01
It dawned on me that I could get sailing much sooner, if found a boat that was already in the water. This was my simple conclusion, on that day in September 2021. I had just spent my whole summer serving at my local neighborhood winery. An experience, that’s worth a whole complete blog/story of its own. Let’s just say that I was very ready to leave “society “ and go be on the water. One of my younger sisters happened to be visiting from Virginia, she was up for a run to RI, so off we went. Before we get into all that , here’s the back story. As a small child, I remember looking into this huge flooded parking lot of the church where my parents and whole family was attending, and telling my self that one day I would be looking at the moon reflecting from the ocean As I sailed over. This mud puddle epiphany or telltale sign, whatever you wanna call it, would serve an anecdotal story for me to recount, every time someone would ask how, or why I’m sailing. The first time dipped my toe into sailing was not so inviting though. Around 5 or 6 years ago, I responded to an ad online posted by a sailor looking for crew from Annapolis to FL, or a 30 foot Pearson. After meeting the “skipper” I quickly realized it was not the right situation for me, and moved on. Weeks later I heard from the same guy, he’s stopping in Cape May. A port visit, ok turned into the guy staying and in general causing mayhem, another story for another time. In the meantime, he found me a Catalina 22…1987, pop top, swing keel. Great, I commissioned him to bring the vessel from Eastport and a week later he was back with the boat. Several debacles later, I ended up finding out through the grapevine, that he was doing an Easter European tour, at night when he and all the other Eastern Europeans onboard mid drink fest. I showed up at the last min I. Time to hop on MY vessel , being manned by a drunk Captain Dan type character. The trip ended when he proved his seaworthiness by “guessing “ we can make it under the bridge, then oopsies! Mast down! After that night, I made the decision to take le bonne vie out of the water and work on all the details (plus mast obviously) Three years after that decision, we s when I finally realized, the rehab project is taking way too long. Get a boat that ready to go! That was my new mission. I had been enrolled in a captains course for a year online, and I needed sea time! This brings us up to September 2021, ready to sail. I located a 1982, Catalina 22 for sail, in the water, located in Warwick RI . Sister Maryanna and I set off for New England! The seller of this vessel, named Lady Margherite, seemed to be an upstanding person , although he kept saying how he was and ex cop so he would never lie
so after driving the 7 hours and showing up to the marina, this guy says he’s in a big hurry and has party to attend. He wants to know right away if I’m going to pull the trigger on the purchase. I look over (almost everything) and tell him I need to think about it. He’s pressuring me to make a decision (obviously not good to do) I offer him 4500 , but he’s stuck on 5k. I give him the cash and the boats mine. Immediately I begin to formulate what needs to change on the vessel, 1 the oversized ports john potty, which doesn’t fit in its “compartment “. 2 the “Walmart” special curtains, which he had fashioned out of this hideous patio material, plastic rods and a glue gun
3 the out of date “radio”, 4 the old Farmington I knew I was taking her down the whole coast, so definitely needed better instruments. 5 the wiring job to the battery, looked like a strange ai octopus with so much tape and wires , and big big mess. This was the off the top of my head list! So that night, we slept on the boat, where after Maryanna determined the sleeping on lady Marguerite , was not as romantic and comfy as she supposed.
so after driving the 7 hours and showing up to the marina, this guy says he’s in a big hurry and has party to attend. He wants to know right away if I’m going to pull the trigger on the purchase. I look over (almost everything) and tell him I need to think about it. He’s pressuring me to make a decision (obviously not good to do) I offer him 4500 , but he’s stuck on 5k. I give him the cash and the boats mine. Immediately I begin to formulate what needs to change on the vessel, 1 the oversized ports john potty, which doesn’t fit in its “compartment “. 2 the “Walmart” special curtains, which he had fashioned out of this hideous patio material, plastic rods and a glue gun 3 the out of date “radio”, 4 the old Farmington I knew I was taking her down the whole coast, so definitely needed better instruments. 5 the wiring job to the battery, looked like a strange ai octopus with so much tape and wires , and big big mess. This was the off the top of my head list! So that night, we slept on the boat, where after Maryanna determined the sleeping on lady Marguerite , was not as romantic and comfy as she supposed.
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