The Purchase ~

I've been scanning the internet for cruising sailboats for quite a while now. Not everyday, but from time to time every few months or so I'd browse through yachtworld and see what was out there. Some days I'd be a minimalist looking for the most stripped down version of this yacht I could find. Super basic, but with the design aspects I know and love, heavy duty offshore blue water cruising quality. Other days, I'd max it out! Browsing boats that were way out of my price range, just to see what boats were going for. And every once in a while, there is a steal out there waiting to be had.... But they don't last long. And I'm sure there are a few others out there like myself ready to live the dream, buy a boat and sail off to find their own little piece of paradise.

I had pretty much narrowed my search down and knew pretty much was I was looking for. Another factor that came into play was location. It didn't really make sense to buy a boat that was in California or Mexico, simply because cost of travel to inspect and survey it.  So that also helped narrow down the search to more local waters. I found my boat sitting in St. Pete at a little marina, where she'd been sitting quietly for about 5 years, waiting for her previous owner to fix her up and sail her away.... this never happened. Somehow the previous owner became "disenchanted" with the boat and was ready to sell her and get on with his life of not sailing. Lucky for us!

My good friend and broker Randall Hinely was going to be in the Tampa area doing business and said he'd find the boat and have a look. I spoke with him while he and his niece were checking out the boat and he had this to say   "Ben.... you have found your boat."   We made an offer which was accepted to hold the boat until I could get a look at it also.  About a month or so later, Randall joined me to bring my bosses boat back stateside for the hurricane season. We delivered the Annie Lee from Marsh Harbour, Abaco to Niceville, FL where we'd spend a few months doing maintenance and stuff. Along the way making a stop in St. Pete to spend the day surveying this old boat.

Randall, my friend and broker

We spent the better part of the day and into the evening going through every nook and cranny of this vessel. Of course there were issues that I was concerned about, but the boat had alot going for it. 1st, it was in the right price range. 2nd, it had the right interior layout. 3rd, it was an awesome cruising machine I could see making my own! 4th, I had a friend representing me as broker, who could help negotiate this deal. Which he did, getting the price down to where it needed to be.

I was in love! With the boat, and with the idea of actually owning my own cruising vessel.
 
We renegotiated and lowered the offer. Randy called the owner personally and got him to accept the deal. I was well on my way to being a boat owner!





A few weeks past before we returned to the boat to finish the survey with a haul-out to inspect the bottom. For this I brought along friend and shipwright Dennis Mayhew.  I also got Dennis to go over a few other areas of concern we had, nothing scared him.

Dennis, Cy and Randy surveying her bottom

The previous owner had named her     "WANDERLUST"

Other than the name, we liked pretty much everything we saw.

It was September 15th.

I wanted to take her home.

Stroked a check, shook a few hands, and she was all mine!







We spent the afternoon cleaning, prepping, fixing, storing old gear, buying new gear and finally grocery shopping for a delivery trip back to the panhandle.  We bought a couple hundred dollars of food and a few beers, loaded it all aboard and headed out towards the beach.  We made one stop at a marina to take on some extra diesel fuel, not really knowing how much we had or needed. After all its a sailboat, I knew we could get home somehow!  So just before dark, Cy Greathouse, Randy Hinely and myself sailed offshore on the first leg of our journey home. ON MY NEW OLD BOAT!!!!  I'd been owner for less than 6 hours and we were already offshore ready to cross the Gulf of Mexico heading for Panama City.

Crossing the Gulf in ideal conditions! First trip on the new boat!!

We spent 3 day sailing and motoring her home. Experiencing all sorts of conditions, everything from total slick calm to 20+ kts reaching boat speeds of 8 and 9 knots. Truly amazing sailing for her first voyage in well over 5 years. And we only broke a couple things!













Arriving home to Niceville and gliding into the Bluewater Bay Marina for the first time aboard my new vessel felt extraordinary! I had done it, I had found and bought my boat, and got her home safely.... time to get to work!

This is how it all started ~

Hello ~

My names Benjamin and I'm a yacht captain.

Ever since I've been able to hoist sail and harness the power of wind, I've desired to own my own boat.  From the early days in high school sailing the bay with my friend Matt on his sunfish, then racing with the yacht club on Wednesday nights for beer can trophies, to the later days delivering yachts to foreign ports of call, this has remained a serious endeavor of mine. Well friends, my glorious hour has arrived!

Sailing Wanderlust  from St. Pete to Niceville.

But first... a little history to get you caught up.

My first "real job" after school was working for Bluewater Bay Yachts, in Niceville, FL. at the Bluewater Bay Marina.  Back then it was called Cove Marine Yacht Sales, and it was my first experience with an actual sailboat dealership. My friend Randall had a dealership for a very fine pedigree of sailing yacht called Pacific Seacraft. There were a couple others: Nauticat,  Cabo Rico, but the first offshore sailing trip I had the pleasure of experiencing was on board a 40' Pacific Seacraft Voyagemaker. I was 21 years old.

Pacific Seacraft 40' (sister ship photo)

Since then I've made dozens of deliveries, basically as a hired captain or crew to simply get a boat from point A to point B... by any means necessary! The longest trip I've ever made was on a 43' catamaran from St. Augustine, FL. to Marina Del Ray, CA. by way of the Panama canal. The whole trip was about 5000 nautical miles and took over 100 days, we stopped in 12 different countries. That was by far the most crazy, hair raising, difficult near disaster around every turn, kinda trip! We sailed through two tropical storms in the Caribbean in the first month. It was fall/winter of 2005, the most active storm season in the past 10 years or so.

Flying Fish in Jamaica

The following year I linked back up with Randall from Bluewater Bay. He enlisted me to join himself and his father Raymond on an amazing adventure. One of Randy's clients had recently bought a 42' Cabo Rico Pilothouse world cruising sailboat. This gentleman had sailed his yacht across the Atlantic in 2005, needing to get the boat back to our local waters, he hired his friend and broker Randy to sail it back for him. I was one of the lucky few who made the trip. In mid-late March of 2006 we departed Portimão, Portugal en route for Antigua, Leeward Islands. That trip took us roughly one month with a brief stop in Lanzarote, Canary Islands. We arrived in Antigua on Easter. What an amazing trip! 

Shearwater III in Little Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas

Our encounter while crossing the Atlantic

Soon after this adventure I found myself in a very unique position, I was offered a job to run the Shearwater III as full time captain!  I immediately accepted the job and began sailing her with the owner (Milton) and his family. We sailed the boat through the Bahamas and then up to New England where she spent her next three summers in the mid-coast of Maine. 

Sunset sailing on Penobscot Bay with my friend Meg~

Life was good, spending summers in Maine and fall/winter in Abaco. Milton and his wife Alice had also purchased another boat that would suit their needs a little better, a 42' Sabre Express motoryacht.  Shearwater III had been on the market and finally found a new home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but thats another story (see A Whale of a Shark Tale).   As bummed as I was to no longer be spending summers in Maine with a beautiful sailing craft, things were pretty great being based in Abaco for the majority of the year captaining the "Annie Lee" and caretaking the "Door Prize".

Annie Lee in Little Harbour

The "Door Prize"

And just when I thought....


 life could not get any better....


I ran into Alicia Marie Liphard!

Alicia and I at L.J. Schooners

We both happened to be home for the holidays and arranged to meet up at one of the local watering holes. She mentioned L.J. Schooners and I thought.... Great!  ( Schooners is located in Bluewater Bay Marina, basically where I grew up )  SO, after exchanging a few  "how you doins?"  "what are you up to these days?"   we decided to join some friends for a little midnight cruise around the Choctawatchee Bay. It was the most beautiful night, besides being freezing cold.... everyone had an amazing time!

Our first boat ride together... All Smiles!

Now this is where life starts to get more interesting....

We began dating long distance between Atlanta and Abaco. It was difficult with such a distance between us ( 500 miles of ocean and earth ) yet somehow we managed to make it work.

After a year of that I decided it was time for a change! I proposed marriage and she accepted!!!

Next order of business.....  I've gotta find us a boat and then get us married!!

The desire to own and live aboard a cruising sailboat was now the ultimate goal in life. 

And so the inspiration for Lindita was born.  ~