Sunday, February 19, 2012

Ship of the desert...

Boat with saguaro cactus and desert landscape in foreground. We didn't really notice, on the way back from California, but somehow something seems to have followed us home to the desert. Could it perhaps be some sort of "ship of the desert"?

Another view of a boat that should soon be receiving a new name.

Starboard aft view shortly after arrival in Mesa.

View from port forward of a rather sleek sailboat, with an overall length more than four times her beam and a very low profile on the trailer, enabled by the retractable lead keel.

The tower can be removed for buoy-racing regattas. When it remains on board, it is used to house the radar dome and GPS/chartplotter antenna. We've purchased an emergency beacon and will be installing a radio transceiver as part of preparing the boat for ocean racing requirements. No doubt there will be quite a lot of other equipment that will be wanted for the more ambitious sorts of voyages.

Now we just need to find a good mast-up storage location in some place like San Pedro, Long Beach, Marina del Rey, or perhaps in Orange County or San Diego. An ideal place would be moderately priced and equipped with a boat-launched crane or lift.

2 Comments:

At 7:16 PM, February 19, 2012, Blogger O Docker said...

A few years back, when the market was booming and space was tight, a lot of people found Oxnard was a pleasant place to be with reasonable rates.

Things have probably eased up a lot since then, though.

 
At 12:10 PM, February 20, 2012, Blogger Pat said...

That's of interest. What we think we're looking for is (1) cheap mast-up (2) with launching (3) near racing (4) accessible (5) near after-race relaxation and fun. Yacht clubs tend to be a little pricey for a non-resident to get good value from, but a boatyard might be an option. Too bad SoCal is so much more pricey than the Bay Area. Marina del Rey's mast-up seems to have a restrictive length limit and one place we know of in San Diego is $7 per foot per month... almost as much as a slip in the Bay Area.

 

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