Closed Borders

You know that halting sound a car makes when someone suddenly slams on breaks? That’s kind of what happened the last week of March 2020, which just so happened to be the week our buyer (the second one, now) was scheduled to travel and have Snowflake surveyed. 

We had been following Covid-19 news for a couple of weeks, grimly noticing that it appeared to be slowly spinning out of control. When Grenada confirmed their first case, they locked the island down like Fort Knox. Who was in stayed in, and who was out stayed out. 

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And We Thought We Were Minimalists…

Once we had our new to us Tayana 37 in the same bay as our catamaran, it was time to get to work. We had only a few days to move our belongings from Snowflake (our catamaran) onto Soltara (our monohull) and to prepare Snowflake for what sounded like a very keen buyer. We weren’t too concerned, after all, we didn’t have very many things to move over. Right? 

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First Sail on Our Tayana 37

After taking ownership of our new old boat, a 1981 Tayana 37, we prepared her to sail from the island of Trinidad to Grenada. Grenada is around 90 nautical miles north of Trindad and would require an overnight passage. But until we could make a few upgrades to Soltara, our insurance company was holding us hostage. Ah, marine insurance — how I loathe thee. 

We replaced the old glass in the portlights (some of the double panes had small cracks), replaced the rigging, made a small repair to the bowsprit, upgraded all of the electronics (details about this will come in a later post), and a few other items were repaired/upgraded in Trinidad. Once we had completed the repairs, we were itching to get back to Grenada to meet with a potential buyer for Snowflake, our catamaran. 

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Once you go cat, you don’t go back… ?

“Once you go cat, you don’t go back!” 

It’s a frequent phrase you hear amongst cruisers. Suffice it to say, it’s not unusual to see people “upgrade” from a monohull to a catamaran. 

What’s the attraction of catamarans?

  • More living space.
  • More stable, no heeling.
  • Big cockpit for entertaining.
  • Shallow draft, can anchor closer to shore.

These are just some of the things that attract people to catamarans, and it is generally rare that someone would change from catamaran to monohull. 

But, as you know by now, that is exactly what we have done. 

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A New Old Boat

“Man, she’s a beaut. A real classic.”

“Yeah, she sure is. Look at those lines…the bronze fittings and ports.”

“And the teak… Don’t forget about that beautiful Taiwanese teak.”

“And those round port lights. Looks like a pair of eyeballs!”

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