The Story of our Boat

Our yearning for the “salt life” started about 3 years ago while looking at waterfront property in Homosassa. We were so excited to buy a vacation home and enjoy the old Florida lifestyle of the river, scalloping and lazy afternoons on a pontoon. We were diverted by a text we received from my brother Alan in Oklahoma, who buys/sells/repairs/restores all kinds of marine craft.

He had found an amazing boat that we just had to have. It was a 1982 10-meter Trojan International yacht named the Sea Note. It was super cool and vintage. We were in love! Mark flew to Oklahoma that very week and bought it for the staggering price of $8,000 and started the process of having it transported to Florida.

It was an ordeal for sure, but we got our boat to Florida and dropped her in the Alafia River at the IBM marina. Of course, things would start to break. The impellers needed replaced (which we did together in the hot July sun) and the layout was chopped up. The master bed in the bow of the boat was not enough room for Mark and I and Charlie (old dog) to sleep, since we are used to a king, so I would sleep on the couch in the salon. Still, she was a great vessel, sounded like a damn Corvette and went really fast. We had lots of fun. We moved to Little Harbor Marina in Ruskin in the fall of 2020 to be closer to the Gulf and enjoy the amenities of this lovely resort.

Mark, always researching boats, started reading about catamarans. They were super interesting and spacious. I loved how wide they were. We were limited to keeping Charlie on the back deck of the Sea Note because the passage to the bow was so narrow. The bow also has a slight curved surface. In contrast, a catamaran has wide walkways to the front and very large deck space.

One weekend, we went to Jacksonville to visit Mark’s daughter Caitlyn, who is very good at getting us tickets to see the Jags play when we are in town. We took the water taxi across the river to get to the stadium and to our amazement, there was a large catamaran at the dock. We slowly walked by and lusted after her size and smooth lines. A very nice gentleman came out and started talking. He soon invited us aboard to look around and we jumped at the opportunity to check her out. She was a 2012 48ft Aquila in pristine shape. There were 4 staterooms and tons of space. It was gorgeous and bright, so many windows! It made our boat seem dark and cramped. Long story short, we fell in love and a new fire was lit! We needed a catamaran!

We really liked the Aquila brand and started feverishly watching videos, joining groups and soaking up all the knowledge we could. In November 2020 we went to a private mini boat show (since COVID shutdowns put a damper on large events) in St. Petersburg for the Aquila. WOW! These are amazing vessels, truly gorgeous. We knew this was the boat for us! We decided to play the “lets build our own and see how much it costs” game, so we custom ordered a vessel to the specifications we desired. I have to say, I thought it was going to be a lot more. We were offered the opportunity to order the vessel with only $10,000 down with a year build out. We could always get our deposit back if we decided to pass, so WE DID IT! We were so excited!!!! We had ordered a brand new 44ft Aquila Power Catamaran! Life was good!

We continued to enjoy the Sea Note while we waited. There is nothing like a sunset on the bow of a boat. It’s truly the best way to end the day. Mark and I would drive over to the marina sometimes just to do that: have a beer, sit on a bean bag and watch the day come to an end. Simple pleasures.

But that would come to an end when my son Michael started to work at the marina and needed a place to live. We reluctantly gave him the option to live on the boat so he would (a) have a place to live and (b) move out of our retirement nest. Of course he accepted, so now we would wait on the Aquila to arrive.

COVID of course caused shipping delays and longer wait times, we didn’t care because we had hope and the delay gave us time to save our money. We sold our historic home and put the equity toward the purchase. We drew dividends from our business as well. We had our 20% down payment and we were ready! The 1 year wait turned into 18 months, but finally, she was on her way! She was on a ship in a shipping container coming from China (FYI, I’m an America First kinda girl but did you know, most hulls are made in Taiwan and China, who knew?) and would arrive in approximately 3 weeks.

We decided it was time to visit with the financing department to get our ducks in a row. Typically you have to wait until the vessel is near the states to start this as there is a narrow window for paperwork to be filed. We anxiously sat at the desk of the finance manager and discussed details of naming the vessel, insurance, hailing port, etc. When we started discussing the details of financing, we were informed that there would be a requirement of 30% as a down payment. Ummmmmmm, what????!!!! Lucy, let me ‘splain, on a boat like this, 10% more is a lotta dough. We didn’t have that readily available, we were prepared for the 20%. Mark and I played cool, took the paperwork and left.

We were in shock. We went to lunch to discuss everything and neither of us had an appetite. Although we had the money in our business and could technically use it, it was not a smart move to utilize that much of our working business capital. We discussed bringing investors into the mix, we had offers. The market for boats had skyrocketed and we now had more equity in the boat than our down payment. It was crazy! In my heart, however, I did not want to bring in investors. This was our dream and I didn’t want to share. Wahhhhhh (me whining)

We decided to take a break for a few days and pray, marinate, research, look at boat trader, all of the above. We found some reallllllly great yachts, but now I was determined to find another catamaran, not a monohull vessel. I literally whined one night to Mark about how it was attractive. A couple of days later, Mark sent me a link to look at a 44ft Endeavour Trawler Cat. The boat was located in Tennessee. I liked it, but really felt like we needed to see it in person. Wellllll, who doesn’t love a good road trip? So on a lazy Sunday afternoon I start looking for AirBNBs in the area. I was picking up my phone to text Mark confirming the location when my phone rang. It was Mark and he was really excited! He had been at the spa (yes, on a Sunday, small business owners are never really off) and he took a moment to look online for Endeavours and what do you know? A boat came up that we hadn’t seen. Crazy thing is, this boat was literally 45 minutes away at the St. Pete Boat Show and was listed by a broker that we knew well.

Mark sent me the link and called Robert at Fillingham Yachts to inquire. I really loved the look and feel of the boat and I was equally excited to go see it. The only thing was, it was the last day of the show and we only had about 2 hours, so we got in the car and sped over. Of course when you get to the boat show, you have to get a Bloody Mary, which we did. We walked along the docks, looking at all the boats until we came to the Slainte. She was a 2005 38ft Endeavour Trawler Cat, a big white box, but I liked her. We took off our shoes and walked aboard (insert sharp inhale! I fell in love). The helm was so open and spacious, the main salon was bright and roomy with neutral interior and there was so much storage! It took about 25 minutes for us to decide that this was meant to be, we wanted her. The great part was that this boat was 20% of the cost of the Aquila. We knew that this was a much better decision and we placed an offer that was immediately accepted by the owner.

We have a lot of story yet to tell, which is why I have decided to blog. I like to write, now that I’m far removed from grad school (no more APA papers, thank you very much). Writing is fun for me and I believe we have a story of hope and adventure that may inspire others to work hard for their dreams. Thank you so much for joining us on this new path :)