The Voyage of Aurora, or God looks after children, and fools

[Daves911L]

Mentioned this adventure in the Maine vacation thread, and a couple of people said they were interested to hear more, so here goes…

Mrs Dave and i bought a sailboat . In Maine. And sailed it to Florida . Well, more correctly Georgia. But we did briefly touch Florida. And, i suppose i should mention, we were not sailors. I guess we are now🤣.

By way of background, we sailed, 35 odd years ago. On Hobies. A Nacra. A Catalina 25. On lakes, in Texas. When we were young newlyweds, without a pot to piss in, we loved spending evenings and weekends out on the water with cheap boats, no gas required, a bag of sandwiches, a few beers. We had great tans. I even took up windsurfing, and became pretty good at it. Then…we moved west, where there was no water. Had a kid. Got careers. Became respectable🤣.

Two years ago we started thinking about a boat again. It was time. We both missed the water. My career had become very flexible. Mrs Dave retired from hers. We started looking online. Reading. Found several good candidates. Modern and sleek. Not brand new, but not very old either. Big enough to live on, and have guests. We started talking about all the places we could go. A bit over a year ago we flew down to Florida to see a few in person.

Oh, they looked so beautiful sitting there at the Marina, gleaming in the sun. And we went aboard. It didnt feel right . All the charm of a McDonalds. We went to another. And another One of the brokers we were with was funny. I liked him. A southern boy, with a heavy drawl. He kept calling them Benetoads and Jeaun-Nos. After a while i started to realize it was more than his accent. He was showing us what we had asked, but there was derision in his tone. So finally i said, ok, smart guy, why dont you show us what you think is a good boat.

Her walked us over to a derelict looking old thing. Varnish peeling off the wood. Hull hairy with green fur. Lines running all over the place. We went below deck. Thick and musty. It smelled like a forest. Dark, and wood. Real wood, not veneer. Stuff everywhere. Underwear snd t-shirts piled on the berths. Big bags labelled with various names i guessed must be sails. It was….interesting. I had to admit there was something “real” about it. It had charm. The broker told me it had been around the world already. Had just come back from S America. I asked the price. It was less than 1/3 of what the sleek white things wed been looking at were . I asked him what it would take to make it seaworthy? He said it already was. That he wouldnt hesitate to take it across the Atlantic right then. He explained the hull, the keel, how it was built, the engine, the electronics. No showpiece. A workhorse. Built like a tank. Suddenly i knew why those shiny things had no charm. I didnt want one anymore.

Part 2 to follow.

[flatbutt]

This has the makings of a short story. Please do carry on.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I love a good sea story, please do continue.

[p911dad]

I'm in!

[DaveE]

I’ve always fantasized sailing around the world. Sturdy Westsail 28 or 32.
“Cause I’m hung up on dreams I’ll never see.”

[oldE]

I'm hooked!
Awaiting your next installment.

[Daves911L]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

This has the makings of a short story. Please do carry on.

Haha. My stories are never short. Mrs Dave is always telling me to hurry up and get to the point🤔. But I like to write. And if i can entertain a few of you, then part 2.

Instantly our search parameters changed. Our broker guy suddenly became a co-conspirator. Turned out he liked old boats. And didnt like old people who came to Florida, and bought expensive things that never left the marina. O pulled out my phone then and showed him a pic of my ‘57 daily driver, and said show us some boats you think i might like.

He did. For the next 2 days. In particular a Hinckley B-40, which was in rough shape but had a lot of influence later in what i was looking for. It had the feel of an old porsche. Form follows function. Simple. Quality. And we also wandered through boatyards with our new friend, as he explained hull types, keels, construction techniques, rudder mechanisms, and props. A different perspective, seeing boats out of the water. He fed us from the firehose, and we swallowed every drop.

After returning home, i resumed my online searches. Yacht World had an antique and classic category! I lookef at everything. By early summer i had list of 10 i was seriously interested in. Fortunately Mrs Dave and i share our tastes in a lot of things, and for the most part we were in agreement. I started calling. Mostly brokers but also a few owners. 6 of the boats were in Maine, or nearby. Mrs Dave and i had always wanted to see Maine ( just like Masraum) so she booked us a couple airline tickets.

By the time we got there, one boat, my top pick, had sold. Two were unavailable for inspection. But there were still 3, including my 2nd and 3rd favorites. We made an appointment for each, one per day. Our first day we drove to Camden, thoroughly loving the countryside. That evening we walked down to the harbor. The boats there just blew my mind. So many. And so many were stunning.

The next day we drove to Castine to see the first boat. A 46’ “cutter”. 57 years old, and wood hull. I was a littie uncertain about wood, but had talked a lot with Alec from Artisan Boatworks, and he had calmed my fears. Its worked for 1000’s of years. Required care and maintenance practices, but nothing tp be scared of . The boat was out the water, in the owners barn. Alec went with us to inspect it. I loved it. Fantastic. Simply beautiful. The history was amazing. It had been sone very serious places. It did need some work. A bottom job, which Alec was honest about what it would cost, but overall was a very sound boat. The owner had been doing his own “ brightwork” ( the varnished exterior teak”. He was a good guy, but i could tell he was not “handy”. Nothing that could not be put right with time. But Mrs Dave had reservations. And i could see her point. Below decks was beautiful, but also very tight. There was a lot of wasted space.

Day 2 took us to Mt Desert Island, and Southwest Harbor to see a Hinckley. It was a nice boat, also “on the hard” in Hinckleys yard . It was much better laid out inside, very spacious and comfortable. Mrs Dave liked it. I was less impressed though than expected. Also, it was completely original, effectively as built. Which was cool, but also sobering. Well cared for. Well maintained. Everything in good eorking order. But I sensed a lot would soon be needing replacement simply from age, wear, and that more modern upgrades would be desirable. The Hinckley broker took us out in the harbor to see several more boats in the water, all very nice, including a beautiful B-40. I still really liked those, but a littie smaller inside than either Mrs Dave or myseif was comfortable with.

[Daves911L]

Day 3. The punchline. Aurora. To be honest, we did not really expect to buy a boat on thus trip. We were getting closer, but thought there would be more trips, more inspections. But within minutes of meeting Aurora , we knew she was the right boat.

She was in storage in Rockland. We had trouble finding the right building. The broker was late. We wandered around and finally found her draped in plastic inside a caverpus and nearly empty warehouse. Nobody around to object, so i pulled the plastic back, found a ladder, and we climbed on board. I suppose its time for pictures.


Our first look. Mrs Dave checking her out.

Aurora is a 47’ center cockpit ketch. Designed by Alden in 1972, a one-off for a special customer who knew excatly what he wanted. She was built by the Poul Molich yard in Hundestad, Denmark and launched in 1973. 13.3’ beam.

She has had 3 previous owners. We have researched them all. Its a bit like finding an old race car, and tracking down clues, paperwork in files, logbooks and notes, making random calls to likely long dead numbers and asking questions if anyone answers the phone. Lots of fun.

[Daves911L]

When the broker finally arrived. We spent several hours crawling on, over, under, in, and through the boat. We had already decided we were going to buy her. She was truly magnificent. But also we needed to be objective about costs, and what we would have to put into her. And also there was the logistics. She was in a warehouse, in Maine. We knew there was a limited window of time if she were going to leave, or be stuck there until next summer. She had been out of the water nearly two full years, so lots of questions to be answered.

And also there was this nagging question of could we actually sail this thing? In the ocean?

An offer was made, and we left for the Portland airport, wondering what the hell we had just gotten ourselves into. Happy, excited, and terrified 🤣. Within a few days our offer was accepted. Gulp😳.

[greglepore]

Man, that's jumping in with both feet. An Alden is a treasure.

[oldE]

Dave, the first words out of my mouth when I saw the image of Aurora were,"My God, that's beautiful!". I studied the lines and fittings for half a minute before I noticed someone on the foredeck. (Sorry, Mrs. Dave)

[Daves911L]

Originally Posted by greglepore

Man, that's jumping in with both feet. An Alden is a treasure.

You’re telling me��. On both counts. I knew she was special when i saw her, but only later did I understand just how special. And i knew it was going to be a serious undertaking, but so much yet to come i had no idea of . Hence my thread title. The Lord looks after little children and fools. Well, i am no longer young, so there is no doubt which one i am.

[Daves911L]

Too many words and not enough pics . Here are a few to keep the interest. I did not take these. They were from the sellers brochure.

[A930Rocket]

Great story and beautiful!

[Daves911L]

So next, a survey was arranged. I flew back to Portland in August for this, and got another full day crawling in, around, over, under, through, etc every nook and cranny of Aurora. The surveyor was great. He taught me so many things. And he pointed out a few problems, as well as many exceptional features. Overall, He could not find much to fault with her, outside of some older electronics, and the rudder. I had wondered about the rudder also on the first visit. It appeared to me to have been damaged and repaired, and he confirmed this.

Also on this trip (Mrs Dave did not go with me this time) I drove to Castine to meet the owner. It was just a coincidence, but she happened to live just down the road from the first boat I had gone to look at. There were reported to be a large collection of spares, parts, sails, etc that she had there. She was a delightful woman. She and her husband had loved Aurora, sailing her extensively the past 20 years. He had passed away a year earlier, and she knew it was time for the boat to find a new home. She was quite emotional about it. They had spent their entire life together with boats, and old cars (so there was common ground for us). It was important to her that Aurora would be well cared for. I felt pretty awkward telling her how little experience I had. But in the end I think she was satisfied. As she was showing me around the basement where her the boat and car parts were, and all her husbands tools, I was able to start picking up stuff and telling her what it was, whether for Aurora, a jaguar, or a Packard. She was a wealth of knowledge about the boat, and its history.

After returning home, following receipt of the survey, and a few more discussions with the broker, things progressed. Money changed hands. Things were signed. And i began figuring out how to get Aurora out of the barn. With our old Catalina, I pushed it off the trailer, raised the mast, clipped a few stays in place, and in minutes we were on the water hoisting a sail.I had seen Auroras masts. They were huge! I had no idea how all this worked, but obviously I was not stepping them by hand. So more phone calls. The Boatyard. A "rigger". More questions, back and forth. When to do it? When did we plan to leave Rockland? What happened if they rigged her and we couldnt leave? It was going to be after Labor day and they were putting boats in storage, not pulling them out. A lot of logistical challenges.

[Daves911L]

Originally Posted by oldE

Dave, the first words out of my mouth when I saw the image of Aurora were,"My God, that's beautiful!". I studied the lines and fittings for half a minute before I noticed someone on the foredeck. (Sorry, Mrs. Dave)

Thank you. And i think Mrs Dave will forgive you.

[onewhippedpuppy]

That is a stunning boat. And a great story thus far.

[oldE]

Dave, in the first image in post 13, is the staysail clewed to the mizzen boom? I realize that pic is from before you took over her care, but I couldn't see anything else aft to serve as a sheeting point.

[vash]

I dont know jack squat about sailboats, but that is like hard to stop staring at!!!

[3rd_gear_Ted]

The Danes know how to make boats. The sight lines of the design says world cruiser.