Stage 2...complete

It feels slightly weird to refer to a boat as "her" seeing that she's really an "it", but I'll stick with tradition, no matter how politically insensitive, because it makes me feel manly.

We found our boat last month in Everett, WA and we closed yesterday! She's a 1983 Beneteau First 38, built in France and in excellent shape. She's currently in Everett but in two weeks we'll be sailing her down the Washington coast and up the Columbia to Hayden Island.

The buying process was similar to purchasing a house except that we had to put 10% down before we were even allowed to take her out. Didn't matter; the instant we saw her we were in love and we backed up our emotions with the knowledge that multiple First 38s have circumnavigated the world and at least one did it with a family of five. Beneteau is also one of the highest volume yacht-builders in the world which is extremely helpful when having repairs done and locating parts abroad.

Her previous owners named her Coqui, which we're keeping for now, and more pics are here. I'll post details of our 4-day trip from Everett in a couple of weeks.

XOXOX