Sailing Sans Souci

Uncategorized · March 26, 2021 0

Rhode Island Trip, December 2020

By the beginning of last winter, I felt I was getting close to being able to seriously look and to buy the boat, should I find her. One consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic for me was that we were eating in a lot more and I wasn’t traveling at all, therefore saving lots of money. I had been putting every dollar I could aside for the project and my savings was growing. The horror of the situation, of course, was the accelerating loss of life caused by the virus and the fact that the hospitality and retail industries were suffering immensely and many were losing their jobs. I have to acknowledge that it’s a bit grotesque to mention I was able to save for this move while so many around me were and continue to struggle. I have been very lucky to be able to mostly avoid the most terrible effects of the pandemic.

With the decision to move east already made, I had been focusing my yacht search there. At the same time, I had been researching marinas on the Atlantic coast. I centered the marina search in the Connecticut, Rhode Island, south coast Massachusetts vicinity. I wanted to be close enough to Portsmouth, RI to be able to see my parents easily and still have good access to cruising. My broker, George McCreary and I had picked some boats to see and I chose a few marinas to visit on a trip to RI in December. My dad and I toured marinas in New London, CT (pictured above), Portsmouth, RI, Noank, CT, and New Bedford, MA. More to come later on the marina subject.

The boats we arranged to visit were a Pacific Seacraft 37, a Pacific Seacraft 40, a Catalina 400, an Island Packet 380, and a Caliber 40 LRC . I had already sent my parents to see the Caliber as it was stored up out of the water- on the hard, as they say- in a marina 10 minutes from their place in Portsmouth. Actually, all of the boats I was to visit were on the hard in winter storage. The Caliber was a promising candidate, she was well set up and equipped, affordable and, as previously mentioned, satisfied many of the design aspects for which I sought. My parents returned from their initial visit with nothing but positive things to say about her but I didn’t want to fall in love yet; there were still many steps in the path if she was to be the one. I also needed to get aboard different designs to see what really appealed to me. 

We set off like Little Red Riding Hood, this time with permission, to get a feel for these boats. Our first visit was to the Pacific Seacraft 37. The PS37 is a very highly regarded design with a canoe stern, modified fin keel with skeg hung rudder, a cutter rig, and a reputation of being seaworthy and stiff. Alas, the PS37 below decks felt cramped for my purposes and I couldn’t picture having extended time aboard with more folks than just me alone being tolerable in the long term.

Next was the Island Packet 380, a very nice design with a full keel, cutter rig, and reputation as perhaps being a bit slower than her similarly sized blue-water competitors. I liked the feel of her below decks, this was definitely a possibility, despite my slight misgivings surrounding how they glassed in the chain plates and occasional reports of water, fuel, and black water tank problems.

The Catalina 400 is a sloop rigged, fin keel with spade rudder design. She’s built heavier than other boats in this category, although much lighter built than the others I was seeing but I thought she merited a visit to see the unique layout below. The Catalina 400 has a master stateroom aft with a queen-sized island berth and I like the idea of being able to get out of both sides of the bed. Since she’s an aft cockpit design, the headroom was low and it felt a little claustrophobic in the master. Not withstanding her reputation as a fast sailor, the underwater profile and rig were not what I was looking for. This was not going to be the boat for me.

The difference in apparent size between the PS37 and PS40 is pretty astounding. Juxtaposed, it’s hard to believe there are only 3 feet of length separating them. The PS40 is another highly capable design with cutter rig and the underbody I was looking for. A drawback to the PS40 is how expensive they are, a benefit if you already own one, I suppose. They are commodious, beautifully appointed below and have a practical layout but I was going to have to look at much older examples if I was to be able to buy one. I filed the PS40 as a contender.

Coming in at just right is the caliber 40 LRC. When I went aboard, it felt like home. Roomy enough, well thought out configuration below, and just in my affordable range. I spent considerable time crawling through her tight spaces and looking in compartments. This was the one, if I could get her for the right price. I will follow on with a post detailing all of my reasons and considerations in selecting the Caliber 40 LRC soon. For now, it was time to spend some time with my parents and brother who made the trip up from New Jersey to visit.

Always a bag of chips in a lunch photo with this clan

A rarity, just the original four of us

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