The hunt for Das Boot

Let it begin, in earnest anyway! Ever since we sold Cirrus in May 2000 I've been obsessed with boats, some more than others. In 2006, we actually had an offer ready to go on a very affodable San Juan 28 in Seward, as a Prince William Sound escape -- but work had just changed. Subsequently, during the last 8 years my summers have been occupied by beating on rocks and helping to map Alaska's geology and mineral potential. The boat would have mouldered in the snow, glacial silt, and transient moorage in Valdez. In this case hindsight caught up just in time.

Now, however, retirement is looming; over the horizon we can see the beacon's flash, and the Pavlovian urge has grown stronger than ever. From 2012 until just a month ago, I was convinced that a Freedom 38 was the perfect boat for our cruising plans for the west coast of North America. 

In particular I had fixated on one particularly well maintained, well sailed, and very loved hull. It was said to have been the last hull of the model built by Tillotson-Pearson. The owners and I started communicating and we had a phone call or two and many email/blog chats. 

The owners ended up passing Das boot on to their son and his family; who can argue with that? Then the owner went out and bought a new smaller racier model...well, who could argue with that? All in all a very happy ending! Except we are boat less...

I am still a fan of the owner's blog posts and stories of coastal club racing in Southern California -- perhaps we'll have chance to meet face to face soon!

As a post script, Madame Commodore and M looked at another hull of the Freedom 38 model, there were some particular deficiencies to the particular hull, and in general we started to come to our senses that the North Pacific and the log and ice strewn waters of coastal Alaska might not be the best place for a high-aspect fin keel and spade rudder.