Whenever I see a boat for sale, I always wonder why. Well, here you go.

A few years back, a close friend passed away at the age of 30. It made me realize how important family is, and, together with my wife, the decision was made to take our kids out of school and go for a cruise at some point in the future. I was the only one who had sailed in our family, so we came up with a multi-step program. We set a date of June of 2009 for the start of our cruise, and we realized we had a lot of work ahead of us to be ready for that date.

Anticipation

Step number one was to buy a boat so that I could teach the family the basics of sailing - my wife, my son (now 11) and my daughter (now 7). In January of 2006, we bought "Anticipation", a 2006 Precision 23. A Jim Taylor design - the same person who designs Sabre's - Anticipation served us well. Spritely, she accelerated quickly in a small breeze, her size allowing us to hone our skills and forcing us to react quickly to changing conditions. While her interior was impressive for a twenty-three foot boat, fitting four people into a small cabin took some skill.

Pelican

Step two in our plan was to buy a boat with "systems". We wanted to learn about diesel engines, refrigeration, electrical systems, plumbing and other areas that we'd find ourselves needing to repair on our cruise. We wanted to learn about docking a larger boat, managing sails on a larger boat and other expertises that we just couldn't learn about on Anticipation. We knew that we would end up with a fifty foot plus boat as our final boat, but we didn't want to jump right to it from a twenty three boat with an outboard.

In October of 2006 we headed down to an event we always enjoy - the Annapolis Sailboat Show. We spent one day looking around the show, and dedicated a day to looking at brokerage boats. We viewed everything from Catalina's to Mariner's to Tayana's, and then we saw Pelican. I don't know what it is about Bob Perry designs, but walking up to her made my heart skip a beat. The gentle sheer, the profile of the cabin, the shape of the bow and the transom - they all are in perfect harmony. Add the teak caprail and rubrail, the stainless ports and other design elements and it's easy to fall in love.

Thinking back, we probably shouldn't have bought her. Pelican evokes emotional responses in most who see her. She should not be an interim boat. She should be a boat you adopt for life. I thought it would be a simple matter to sell her in a year as we moved to our final boat, but I teared up a little as we pulled her into her slip the day before we hauled her this season. The wind was blowing 15-20 knots as we came screaming down Willsboro Bay on Lake Champlain, dipping the rail into the water at times. "That was probably my last sail ever on Pelican," I quietly told myself. Then I remembered that we would hopefully have the chance to bring her out on a sea trial with a prospective buyer, and I cheered up a bit.

We've spent over $30,000 on updating various systems on her since early 2007. Why did we spend so much? Well, I'm a perfectionist and various things needed fixing or weren't to my liking, so we spent the money. We're very fortunate and we count our blessings as to our ability to do this every day.

Long Story Short

Alright, I ramble sometimes. As much as we love Pelican and will be sad to see her go, she's better designed for a cruising couple doing a circumnavigation or a family of four that weekends on her. With two cabins, our kids were sleeping head to toe. They were comfortable, but we can't see having them do that every night for years. It might be somewhat traumatic for our son who will be just entering his teenage years. We have recently found another boat - a Hallberg-Rassy 53 - that we believe will work well for us for our voyage, so we are putting Pelican up for sale. I know she will make someone else as happy as we have been with her.