# First time boat owner - beginning the journey



## jdege (Sep 19, 2020)

Decades ago I was wandering through the PX in William O. Darby Kaserne, Fürth, Bayerne, looking for something to read.

I picked up a copy of Cruising World magazine - all about living on a cruising sailboat. It was a new idea that I found very intriguing. There was an ad, in the back, for a 60' cruising catamaran that was available for $200,000 off, and this was in 1985, when $200,000 was real money.

I figured that if I bought the boat I could live for years on the money I'd save...

I took a week-long sailing class on Lake Chiemsee, through the Armed Forces Recreation Center.

Then I got transferred to Kansas, and sailing just wasn't something I thought about.

Until a few years ago, when I started thinking about where I would want to be, and what I wanted to do, when I retired.

And I started thinking about living on a boat, again.

But I'm still in the Midwest, thousands of miles from the nearest ocean. On the other hand, I'm in Minneapolis, and as places that are thousands of miles from the ocean go, with respect to sailing this is one of the best.

So I signed up for classes, and over the last few years have completed ASA 101 and 103 on local lakes (Lake Minnetonka and Lake St. Croix), and ASA 104 on Lake a Superior. Joined a local sailing club and did a fair bit of day sailing. I did 105 at a local sail loft, figuring I'd do 106 up on Superior this year. (The school does a three-corner crossing from Bayfield to Grand Marais to Isle Royale that looked like it could be a lot of fun). But COVID put paid to that.

Meanwhile, I've been watching the ads for boats. Saw a number that looked interesting, a couple that were worth a trip to walk through, but nothing that kept me from continuing to look.

Until a couple of weeks ago, when I found a Meadowlark listed.

L. Francis Herreshoff published the original design in 1948, as a 33' wooden shoal draft cruiser. Not exactly a sharpie, but clearly inspired by them. It was a very popular design, built by professionals and amateurs around the world.

Allan Vaitses took the design, stretched it to 37', and built a number in fiberglass. I've heard that something like 20 were made, but I have no real information.

Still, it's an intriguing boat. 37' long, only 8' beam, 20" draft. Masts are on turnbuckles, and can be raised and lowered by a single person without extra equipment.

I don't think I'd try to cross the North Atlantic in her, but she's got more keel than her dimensions would suggest: 4200 pounds in a 12,000 pound boat, and the leeboards apparently work well.

This boat has sailed from Maine to the Bahamas and back, several times, and an owner of another Vaitses Meadowlarks has said that they do very well on the open ocean. (They handle like pigs, though, at low speed under power. He always poled in and out of his slips. The single prop is offset, alongside the keel, so there is no propwalk to speak of.)

It's wonderful in skinny water, can go places that even a lot of catamarans can't. It can beach. And it's trailerable without permits - just about the largest boat that is - which makes moving it from one lake to another much less hassle.

So, it's sitting in a boat yard while I get it ready to splash in the spring. Most likely Lake Pepin, this season, but who knows, maybe Michigan or Superior, next. Being able to trailer without permits gives me plenty of options.

I don't have plans, only vague intentions, but Mobile Bay, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, or the islands south all seem possible.

Lots of work to do, first. We'll see what happens.


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## p1l0t (Jul 22, 2020)

jdege said:


> Decades ago I was wandering through the PX in William O. Darby Kaserne, Fürth, Bayerne, looking for something to read.
> 
> I picked up a copy of Cruising World magazine - all about living on a cruising sailboat. It was a new idea that I found very intriguing. There was an ad, in the back, for a 60' cruising catamaran that was available for $200,000 off, and this was in 1985, when $200,000 was real money.
> 
> ...


Two masts are better than one!

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

Welcome aboard, Great story and very interesting boat.

I want to see more about the boat, any interior photos? Do you have a vehicle to tow it?


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## jdege (Sep 19, 2020)

jephotog said:


> Welcome aboard, Great story and very interesting boat.
> 
> I want to see more about the boat, any interior photos? Do you have a vehicle to tow it?


The interior is a mess, full of sails, assorted uninstalled parts, etc.

As I said, this was the prior owner's project boat.

I don't have a tow vehicle, but Enterprise Truck will rent 1-ton pickups equipped and approved for towing.

This isn't the sort of boat you tow up to the lake every weekend, it's the sort of boat you tow between marinas once a season. I'm not going to buy a truck just for that.

The original design was published in Herreshoff's "Sensible Cruising Designs" in 1948.


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

I hope you enjoy the heck out of her. You don't see leeboards on a live aboard monohull cruiser very often these days. I suspect her care is going to keep you very busy. Keep us posted. When's the first sail targeted?


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## Skipper Jer (Aug 26, 2008)

Congrats and welcome aboard.


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## jdege (Sep 19, 2020)

Minnewaska said:


> I hope you enjoy the heck out of her. You don't see leeboards on a live aboard monohull cruiser very often these days. I suspect her care is going to keep you very busy. Keep us posted. When's the first sail targeted?


May or June.

The season starts late, up here.


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