Of Archimedes And Mysteries
September 4, 2005
While considering a difficult problem, the great Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes upon discovering the answer ran naked through the streets of ancient Syracuse shouting "Eureka, I have found it!" After a 9 month search, we are both excited enough to shout Eureka, but running through the streets of our little rural town naked might cause trouble with our neighbors and the local law enforcement officials. So we will stay properly dressed and shout loudly “Eureka, we have found Makara” thank you!
However, we are jumping to the end of the story, kind of like starting a murder mystery with “It was a dark and stormy night, as the butler left the drawing room with the bloody knife”.
Beside a boat being “just right” (see the Goldilocks principal) we have been searching for a vessel with very specific characteristics as we have voyages in mind for the boat which could potentially stress lesser vessels to unsafe levels. Although we recognize that most people use their boats very infrequently, and rarely in bad conditions, we really need a vessel suitable for extremes in conditions. We also wanted a vessel that could quickly get out of harms way (i.e. could cover 200 nautical miles per day in moderate winds) and which we could “make dance”.
Coupled with our requirements for livability and our budget, all of our requirements reduced the number of possibilities to very few. Neither of us really wanted a project boat, although prior to our “Eureka” moment we were seriously considering buying a used boat and spending a year or more refitting her from the hull out. Recollections of the taste of fiberglass dust, accidentally drilling holes through the hull, and of hours searching chandleries for just the right part brought us to our senses. Makara would be a new boat and there would be no mysteries about what we were starting with.
Beyond an interior with specific characteristics, we were looking for a boat with a sail plan that could easily be single handed yet adapted to balance gracefully in a variety of wind conditions. The ground tackle system was required to be strong and flexible with regard to the number of anchors and anchoring conditions. At one point, we consider lifting keel vessels, but later decided we felt more comfortable with a fixed keel boat. The hull shape had to be sea kindly and we were looking for a design that reasonably protected the prop shaft and to some extent the prop from flotsam and jetsam. Many of the vessels we examined had one or more of these elements. Some, unfortunately, had none after close examination. We did however find a vessel that met virtually all these criteria reasonably well, and it was not on a dark and stormy night. In fact, it was a sunny, hot, humid day in Annapolis.
It is a magical thing when you step on a boat and suddenly know you are home – especially when you least expect it. We had all but resigned ourselves to a less than perfect choice and were making yet another 250 mile trip down to Annapolis to “make sure” fully expecting the boat we were to look at would be a bust like the previous half dozen.
From the dock she didn’t look like anything special, just a good sized euro-designed cruiser among the hundreds of other yachts docked across from the U.S. Naval academy. When we stepped on to her, there was a sense of surprise about how well her cockpit fit, and at first glance the rig seemed fine but nothing special. We then went down below, much to the shock of the yacht broker, we started tearing the boat apart with an almost manic energy. She was even more shocked, when after just twenty minutes, we looked at each other, then at her and said, “lets go where its cool and talk business”. Do keep in mind we did a lot of homework prior to driving to Annapolis, and it had taken far less time to decide certain boats just weren’t right at all. When you know what you are looking for, its not hard to recognize it when you find it.
So thus ends this part of our journey and another one begins. We will go into more detail about our choice in our next posting, but if you have to know how this part of the story ends check back in a couple of weeks - remember - it's a mystery.