15:00, 24 October 2015, passing thru Grant's
Pass, on our away to Mexico
Well it had to come someday. This will be my
last few blog entries for Flights of the Gosling.
We have finally found a buyer who wanted her bad
enough to give us a decent amount so we are on our way, trailer in tow, back to
Gosling to remove our stuff and turn her over to the new owner.
A month ago we had our winter cruising plan
formulated, spares bought and packed and a few friends arranged to meet us
along the way to Zihuatanejo where we are going to attend Kirk and Charlene's (Freedom
Kirkland) wedding. Then the unexpected happened, we got an offer on Gosling and
since then we have been on an emotional roller coaster with the sale being on,
off and complicated by silly misunderstandings, that, thankfully, have now been
resolved.
It all began a few weeks ago when Fran and I
received a phone call for our broker, Marisa, while we were driving between
relatives in Ontario. Marisa announced that she had someone very interested in
Gosling, an American, raised in Scotland, who has been working in the US for
some time and looking for a "cheap”, quality, solid boat to bring back to
Scotland. Over the next few hours his lowball offer was rejected and our
counter-offer was tabled. We left it at that as the potential buyer wanted to
do extensive self-survey. We have to commend Marisa as she stayed with him the
entire time in a hot dusty boatyard while he did his thing. In the end his only
concern was that the rigging was more than 10 years old so he had to get
estimates on replacing it. Apparently his insurance company insisted on this
point, even though the existing rigging is fine. Our attitude was: Too bad, so
sad, get another insurance agent....
So, a few days of pins and needles passed
waiting for another offer. Finally, after further negotiation we arrived at a
compromise price that we were happy with. The next step was to be a sizeable
deposit and paperwork to be signed by a specific date. At that point we were in
“sold mood”, re-jigging plans, advising our cruising buddies of our altered
plans and making a list of all the stuff we had to do to complete the transfer
of ownership and how we were going to bring back what we weren't going to
include in the transaction, dinghy, anchor, spares, tools. The list is long!
The promised day came and passed with no communication
from Marisa. A few days later she called saying that she hadn't heard from him
but was still hopeful as he was travelling and hard to get hold of. She also
mentioned that he had intended on going to La Paz to look at boats but was
confident that she had talked him out of it insisting that Gosling was the best
boat he would ever find at that price and condition. Good on ya, Marisa! By then
we were now back in “cruising the winter” mode.
Well, the worry-warts that we are we contacted
our friends Erin and Damon (Nomad) at marina Palmira, La Paz, asking them to
keep an ear out for someone called Virgil purchasing a boat in La Paz. Almost
immediately we got a response saying that, indeed, a 'Virgil' had bought a boat
called Raven Wind.
Well, needless to say, we were ticked off but,
hey, sailing another season in Mexico would not be a bad thing. We called
Marisa with our findings and she immediately called Virgil asking “what gives?”
Virgil was dumbfounded and insisted that he was not 'that' Virgil and that he
had full intentions of buying Gosling and that she was the best boat he had
seen in his searches. (Back in sold mode). A date was reset for the funding and
paperwork and it just so happened to be the day we had planned to leave for
Mexico. Needless to say, we were apprehensive of leaving without that warm
fuzzy 'sold' feeling. It took an act of faith to leave the cruising extras in
the garage at home and add on some RV-ing extras. We were a few miles into
Washington state when we got the confirmation that the deposit was in the bank.
We breathed a sigh of relief and re-adjusted to the reality of an RV winter
adventure along the coast of Mexico watching our cruising friends pass by
offshore. It will be an emotional next few weeks!
Friday, 6 Nov, Marina San Carlos
Well, the deal is done and sealed. We are no
longer the owners of Gosling but we are camped beside her in the yard and have
been slaving over her for the past few days. Already we have seen friends leave
on their boats after getting them ready for another season. Rolande and Angus
(Saren Sea) splashed yesterday and are now across the bay at the Fonatur Marina
waiting out some weather before beginning their winter odyssey. Jennifer and
John (Spinnaker) are feverishly working on their boat so they can do the same.
This is the time of year when most boat owners arrive to get their boats ready
so there is a lot of activity around us.
No comment necessary
Done deal!
We have been busy clearing out our stuff from
Gosling. Fran had it spot on then other day when she said that
everything she touched brought back memories of happy times cruising. We had not realized how much we had onboard until we began taking
loads off and trying to find places to store it until we are ready to return to
Canada in April. Luckily we have friends with room in their storage lockers to
help us out. The trip home will be anything but comfortable with the cases and
bags of stuff filling both truck and trailer.
It has been very hot during the daytime but
mercifully cool at night so we are sleeping well. It is very dry, dusty and
those little thorny seed pods, the goat heads, are ripe and get into everything
afoot. They can be very painful when stepped on, a regular occurrence, since
they are very hard to see on the ground.
Fran had
a mini-sale here on Wednesday and it was quite successful. We sold both
dinghies, the Engel freezer, we had obtained in Panama, and dozens of other
items we no longer need. Tomorrow is the big marine swap meet in San Carlos. We
should be able to really reduce our inventory there. This will be a momentous
event for me. I normally buy more than I sell but I don't need anything.... Well,
we will have to wait and see though. There must be something.......
The new owner has been delayed so we have full
reign of Gosling until he arrives. That will give us lots of time to get our
stuff cleared out, make her presentable and partially rigged. The summers here
play havoc on boats. The heat, wind, dust and rain all play their roles in
making a mess to the nice clean decks and surfaces we left behind in April.
Thankfully we have lots of water for wash-downs, power for the vacuum and rags
to spiffy her up.
20:00, Sunday, 8 Nov. Same, same....
It was a very good swap meet. We sold lots of
stuff and took advantage of Linda and Bill's offer of space in their storage
locker, which, just so happened to be just a few paces from where we laid out
our stuff. It sure made a big difference back at the trailer/boat. The space
between the two had begun to look like an Arab souk (bazaar) with all the stuff
lying about. We are in the final stages of organizing ourselves for this RV
holiday and the truck can just take so much. With Fran's kayak, the BBQ, our snorkeling
gear, Fran's sewing project stuff and the various bins of food, drink and dog
food, we will be filled to capacity.
We are really pleased to have contributed to the
possible and pending sale of Prairie Seashell. After Don passed away Lynn had
to get the boat ready for sale last year. We were here and gave her a hand with
the painful process of saying good-by, not only to the boat, but the boat that
Don had built in their Calgary back yard. It was assigned to a local broker but
there had been no activity at all, however, this past week we recommended her
to 2 different couples and it looks like one of them (from Toronto) is getting
very serious. We hope it goes through and relieves the heavy burden that Lynn
has had to endure for the past year.
Good news, Virgil, Gosling's new owner, or
should we say, the owner of Halcyon Daze, (yup name change coming up), will be
here mid-week and we should have just enough time to do a decent turnover
before we head off. We have Ariana's (the Fonatur Ariana) wedding to go to on
Saturday and we are away early Sunday. She will be ready. We have already
warned Virgil that the old girl does not like name changes so we have advised
him to look up the proper ceremony, otherwise the unpredicted can and will
happen. (Is that like a notwithstanding clause?)
20:00,10 Nov 2015, same place
We sold Prairie Seashell! Woohoo! The couple who
saw her fell in love and made the deal the same night. Since then I had a
chance to show Ian and Ellen's boat, Kasasa. The couple that saw her is
undecided, at present, but will decide in a week or so. Wouldn't it be a coup
if it sold too? Maybe I have a new vocation.... Not!
Today we had a look at our next choice of boat,
an Ericson 38-200. We first saw the model in Panama, owned by Harley and April,
now somewhere in the South Pacific. The one we saw today was a nice boat in its
time but now in need of TLC and lots of funds to bring her back to her former
glory. We are not seriously looking and the owner would have to reduce his
price considerably to make us interested.
On Sunday we took a road trip to Empalme for
shrimp and brought back two kilos of 'cowboys', the biggest ones. We repackaged
them so that we will be able to enjoy them throughout this winter season, well,
another 4 times, anyways.
Today Fran taught her second class on making
Ocean Plaits out of old halyards or sheets (ropes). Look out CFSA, she'll be
doing it again when we get home.
Our buyer, Virgil arrived in town this
afternoon. We should be seeing him tomorrow and doing our turnover over the
next few days.
It will be much more of an emotional event for
Lonnie, the owner of Pandora lll, a former grand dame of the sea that had been
laid up in the yard here for the past several years as Lonnie tried to bring
her back to her former glory. After years of combatting dry rot and the ravages
of the weather here he finally capitulated and had her crushed today. All that
is left tonight is a pile of rotted timbers next to those of the Arctic Ark
that suffered the same fate last year.
Pandora III - lost cause
Sad fate of wooden boats
Arctic Ark's last stand
