We soon found a Hallberg-Rassy Mistral 33 in St. Petersburg and based on the reputation of these world-renowned Swedish boats, we scheduled a viewing. A slick little boat with a sturdy fiberglass hull shaped much like the Contessa, and boxy yet low-profile wooden cabintop, she had sweet lines, a beautiful butterfly hatch, and was covered in elegant teak. The Mistral 33 had been expertly maintained, was clean, practically turn-key, and had been recently sailed to the states from Scotland, obviously capable of crossing oceans.

We also found a Dutch built Contest 35. In comparison to the Hallberg-Rassy, the Contest was a cruise ship, despite being only 2 feet longer, her higher freeboard and wider beam provided a drastically increased interior volume. The broker admitted the Contest had obviously been in a hard collision with a channel marker, and she would require some serious fiberglass repair we didn’t wish to undertake. The next day we made an offer on the Hallberg-Rassy, but after some haggling, we decided the owner wanted too much for such a small boat. 

Note: A year after we made our offer, we checked back on the listing and were surprised the owner had gone down in price to what we originally offered. He had paid a full year’s worth of private marina dockage and still hadn’t sold his boat.

I stayed in England for the winter earning my Yachtmaster in the Solent and made another delivery aboard an Outremer from France to the Canaries before returning to Florida. While I was away Vivian met and befriended Tadji Kretschmer, John’s wife, and I had the good fortune of meeting them and sharing my experience with Gigi upon my return.

We spent the holidays with the Kretschmers and became fast friends. Vivian, drained physically and mentally from her job as First Mate on a 108’ Westport, needed a break from the superyacht industry so our boat hunt commenced again with renewed vigor. Days were spent pouring over Kretschmer’s lists in his Used Boat Notebook, Sailing a Serious Ocean, and article, 9 Great Used Sailboats (for less than $100,000). From these helpful lists and what was affordable nearby, our search narrowed.

We found a Corbin 39 in Fort Pierce which was one of the cleanest and well-maintained boats that we had looked at yet. It was obvious that her Canadian owners cared for her greatly and had sailed her far and wide. The Corbin 39 is a steadfast boat with a rich history and a devoted following of passionate owners, while the interiors not factory built can vary greatly in quality and craftmanship, this one was immaculate. The only downside seemed to be that there was only one real private cabin. Before we could make a solid decision, Vivian enrolled for a Yacht Cookery course in Spain and wanted to return to Switzerland to film drone footage for a documentary she had been working on. So, we headed off to Europe for the Spring.

After we captured all the footage we could in the Swiss Alps, we sailed back to the States from La Rochelle, France aboard a brand new 44’ Fountaine Pajot and our search recommenced. We went back to see the Corbin 39 again and in the spirit of keeping our options open, we also viewed a Moody 376 and a stunning Alajuela 48 Ketch. The Moody’s production boat feel was unappealing to us. The Alajuela was well maintained, impressively spacious with a unique layout, but seemed like too much boat, for us to continue updating. The Corbin was still our favorite, but we weren’t quite ready to make an offer. We headed up to Titusville to view a Bob Perry designed Panda 40, a gorgeous classic boat that has become quite popular. Usually selling for a reasonable price and rarely on the market for long, the Panda 40 has a full keel with a cutaway forefoot, a fair compromise on the fin keel. The boat was in good condition with a much preferable layout to the Corbin. As I was drafting an offer letter for the Panda, we received a job offer on a motor yacht in San Diego and an opportunity to interview for positions at a charter company in the Caribbean. We took the freelance job in San Diego, once again making the familiar decision to make money rather than spend it on a boat. We worked for a month in sunny Southern California, then packed and moved to a little island in the Caribbean to gear up for a busy charter season. I took on a job as the head engineer for the fleet of monos and cats, while Vivian was in the office, managing everything from sales to marketing.

Of course, we had to say yes, but that yes meant saying no to the Nimbus. Suddenly our criteria for a boat changed dramatically. We now needed a capable bluewater passagemaker big enough to sleep at least 6 with a pedigree that crew on their first ocean passages could trust and feel safe aboard.

The Nimbus, a very capable boat, was suddenly not big enough. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning the next two nights scouring the internet for boats that could be put to work sharing the beauty of the deep ocean with new adventurers. The two most likely candidates were a Stevens 47 built by Queen Long, and a Compass 47, a boat that I knew next to nothing about but she had sweet lines, a great hull shape, and the price was reasonable.

We drove up to Mobile, Alabama to look at the Stevens. It was a beautiful boat but in fairly rough shape, with the original 1981 engine. The price tag, while out of our budget was below any other listing for a Stevens 47 and I considered trying to haggle them down. I had my doubts about any low offers on the Stevens being accepted and I desperately wanted to see the Compass 47.

I emailed the broker while I searched everywhere online for any more information about the Compass 47. The search yielded limited results, a few pictures of another couple who had refit one 10 years ago and some questionable stats.

Kretschmer told me what he knew about the Compass, built in Cape Town, South Africa, designed by Angelo Lavranos, who worked for S&S in the late 70s and designed some of the most noteworthy Swans.

I then emailed Lavranos himself, and received a very lovely reply with design drawings and original brochures. Weeks went by with no response from the broker until he finally got back to us with an updated listing, and pictures. We scheduled a viewing and set out for Maryland as soon as we could.

From the moment we saw the Compass it felt right, we spent several hours going through the boat. It had a brand-new engine flawlessly installed and the interior was reasonably clean, any problems seemed to be mostly aesthetic.

I made an offer immediately.

Sitting on the hard for the last 3 years almost untouched had left much of the boat in rough shape so we offered half the asking price.

After some brief haggling we agreed on a price dependent on the survey. During the initial survey on the hard it was determined that the boat was nowhere near ready for a sea trial and we made an “as-is where-is” offer knocking thousands off the price.

The owner accepted and suddenly we were owners of a 47’ boat capable of sleeping 10, with a fine entry, a deep fin keel, a skeg hung rudder, and a brand new Yanmar engine.

Patience and perseverance paid off, despite having a long refit list of jobs and upgrades, we now have the boat of our dreams. The practice of negotiation, even making offers of half the asking price just to have them refused, was worth it when an offer was finally accepted on the perfect boat for us. Looking back, I can be thankful that our offers on small boats were turned down and the same amount of money got us a boat that we won’t outgrow, can use for business as well as a home that we can take anywhere in the world. My advice to someone looking to purchase their own cruising boat would be to take your time.

Finding the right boat at the right price is one of those things that shouldn’t be rushed.