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Sarah = Sadness

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  • Sarah = Sadness

    For years I’ve been hoping for a Sarah 2.0 thread. Or just any thread.

    Even this has taken me months to type a few words. According to the date on the computer, I last saved this document, which consisted of the first two sentences on August 7th. And that’s not when I started it. It’s when I saved it after letting it sit open on the desktop for weeks. Then I added a few paragraphs in October.

    There are hundreds of reasons, and I’ll try not to bother you with too many, but I am absolutely broken when it comes to Sarah. And it’s nothing new, it’s been going on for years. She sits in the boatyard going on at least ten years hauled out. She’s tarped and covered and in good hands, but I barely go down and check on her.

    For a while I attempted to do projects here and there, but I think the last major project was Awl-griping the cabin top. I redid all of the varnish that year too, but it must have been five years ago. With the boat being tarped and Awlgrip being what it is, that’s fine but now, if I had the energy, I’d need to sand and redo the mile of toe rail and cabin trim.

    I’ve just got to find someone new to love her. For years I couldn’t wait to get down to the yard and work on her. Even if it was just a couple of hours after work, I just couldn’t wait. There was genuine pleasure in every task. Everything I learned, everything we completed.

    Now when I think of Sarah my heart just hurts. It’s a physical hurt. Something twisting inside. And then, like now, the tears start. I’m just so broken, I don’t know what to do or where to start, so I do nothing. She is so beautiful, and she deserves better than I have given her these past few years. I promised her once that we’d grow old together. We’re both growing older, but separately.

    The yard bill comes in every month, and they have my credit card, so I just hit delete. I’m pretty sure it’s wrong, the price changes every couple of months, but I’m too broken to even call them and ask what they’re charging me for.

    There are still a lot of threads here, but the website is lost. I looked once and found most of the text in the way back time machine or something, but all of the pictures are gone. I let another owner have concordiayawl.com, and he was going to keep sailingwithsarah.com hosted, but that didn’t happen.

    I’ve had her listed with a broker, and I’ve run print and digital ads in Wooden Boat. The last print ad was a couple of hundred dollars (maybe more), and I got exactly one response, and he was looking to trade vessels or work. Not even remotely tangible.

    You all probably got it too, but a few months ago there was an email blast on a Concordia. One that sounded in better shape than Sarah for around 45k. I think the owner was ill or something. After weeks of letting that sit in my inbox, I reached out to the broker. I identified myself and said I didn’t want to waste his time, but if he could spare a few minutes to reply I was interested in whether or not he had many responses to the email campaign. Never heard back. Crickets.

    The broker who had Sarah listed was a friend, and I think doing it as a favor, and I don’t think he didn’t keep the ad active on Yacht World. The couple of times I checked didn’t come up on a search of Concordias for sale. And it wasn’t like I was checking every day; I’d go six months or a year without looking. I’d ask him and it would reappear but then be gone again. Then he got cancer and didn’t want to bother him. Finally, his sign got so sunburned it blew away or the zip ties broke. Anyway, we took down the remnants and put up a For Sale sign with my phone number, but the yard is gated and anyone driving through already has their own project LOL The broker recently got one inquiry, so it must be listed somewhere. He’s out of the country and I don’t think my gate card works anymore.

    The Art and Melinda saga was so sad. I watched Melinda deteriorate and the Seattle center where she was try to work with him, and I wondered how in the world that he could let something he loved so much and worked on so hard just sit there and rot, and now here I am.

    I reached out to Concordia +/- 5 years ago. Brodie’s response was brief and along the lines of ‘there’s a lot of them like that.’ As far as I know, IRYS won’t take a project without an endowment. I wouldn’t mind helping someone, but I can’t just give IYRS a blank check. I’m not and never will be in that league.

    But speaking of helping someone that was interested in her, it wasn’t listed in the ad, but I always planned to include the utility trailer, tools, materials, everything that I ever bought for her.

    While she’s sat in the boatyard all these years, everything that could come off of the boat has been stored in the garage. Sails, cushions, even the hatches are off and in the garage, all varnished and waiting to go back on. I just know there’s no use putting them on until she’s back in service. Otherwise, like so many other things, the varnish will ruin, and it’ll have to be redone. Again. The sails are new. Main, mizzen and a new roller furling jib. The cockpit cushions might have been used a dozen times. The interior cushions that I spent so much time sourcing material to match the original were paid for and put on the boat long enough to take photos for what was supposed to be the Yacht World listing. They’ve sat in protective bags in the garage ever since.

    There’s so much that just needs to be installed: the W&P ship’s bell, bronze cabin lights I paid a fortune to have Concordia cast, even a gimbled vase for the salon so she could have fresh flowers. There’s so much just sitting here.

    Dave and I started with nothing. No tools to speak of, no resources until we found the Forum. Nothing but a boat that had sat for years in the boatyard and that we bought at a sheriffs auction and paid the yard bill.

    It just seems like there must be someone out there to love her. I could give the right person so much. So many materials, the tools I’ll never use (like who needs two Fein shopvacs...), even the tool trailer and the cannon that was her launching gift from the Forum. I feel like the canon belongs to her. I just need someone to love her.

    A couple of times I was approached by someone wanting to partner and put her in charter. At the time I turned down the suggestion(s), but now that I see several nice boats earning their keep up in New England waters, I realize that might be a way to get her into service.

    I’m sorry to pour my heart out. I just don’t know what to do.

  • #2
    Re: Sarah = Sadness

    Damn. I don't have much advice for you as it is not my style or make of boat and I do not really know your part of the world and hence have no suggestons.

    Only that I hear you and sincerely hope you find a solution for her.

    All the best,

    Martin.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Sarah = Sadness

      All my sympathy goes out to you. As you know there are a number of Sarah's class on the market and have been for a while. The list changes every year but there are (sadly) always too many for the market to bear.

      They are such a fine pedigree. When I was a child on Cape Cod in the sixties there were four of them on moorings in our small harbor. I thought ALL cruising sail boats were Concordias. I only got to sail on one once from Nantucket Sound to Massachusetts' North Shore in a stiff breeze before the Marblehead-Halifax race. It was like riding a thoroughbred racehorse and I'll never forget it.
      For the most part experience is making the same mistakes over and over again, only with greater confidence.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Sarah = Sadness

        I always thought these boats were highly sought after.
        I sure hope you find a buyer.
        What has the Florida heat been doing to the planking?
        I was born on a wooden boat that I built myself.
        Skiing is the next best thing to having wings.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Sarah = Sadness

          Thank you for sharing. You can certainly pour your heart out here (of all places) about a wooden boat in which you have invested so much! Many of us followed along on your rebuild.

          She is still listed on line. I hope she finds her next owner soon.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Sarah = Sadness

            Originally posted by Rich Jones
            I always thought these boats were highly sought after.
            I sure hope you find a buyer.
            What has the Florida heat been doing to the planking?
            Florida? The vessel is ten years stored dry in FLORIDA!!!???
            that is not good

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Sarah = Sadness

              Originally posted by wizbang 13
              Florida? The vessel is ten years stored dry in FLORIDA!!!???
              that is not good
              She'd been out 7+ years when we launched her. It's more the sun on the decks and bright work. Tarps cover that to the greatest degree possible, but it all needs to be redone. Again.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Sarah = Sadness

                You could put an ad on craigslist. You'll get some tire-kickers and people without the means to actually launch her, but you also might get lucky.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Sarah = Sadness

                  I'm so sorry to hear this Margo - but I understand how it can happen.

                  I think one of the big issues is selling a wood sailboat in Florida - they just aren't in demand there. I think she'd do much better in New England - but 1) how to get her there & 2) you'd still have yard bills.

                  My Concordia story: As a 13 YO, my folks had a 26 ft. wood sloop - kinda funky. In the yacht club, the queen of the fleet was a Concordia & to top it off, the family that owned her had an absolutely gorgeous 15YO blond daughter who would deign to notice me every 3 weeks or so - perfectly timed to get my fantasies going & then dash them.
                  "If it ain't broke, you're not trying." - Red Green

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Sarah = Sadness

                    I have bought and sold many boats over the years, some of them wood. I have had boats listed for sale for years without a single nibble.

                    www.sailingtexas.com has a pretty good free listing site, and I did get some bites on the glass Dragon there. Facebook marketplace is also pretty easy to fool with.

                    I never thought I’d be Dragonless again, but it comes to a point where you keep spending 10-20 thousand dollars and you wind up right back where you started. And when you count up the hours spent actually on the water, well….

                    I wish I knew a way to help.

                    Mickey Lake
                    'A disciple of the Norse god of aesthetically pleasing boats, Johan Anker'

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Sarah = Sadness

                      Sorry to hear that. I've been involved with giving and taking free or cheap boats, and helped friends try to save them. We all love these boats, but like people, we can't save them all. No boat lives forever, don't let yours destroy you.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Sarah = Sadness

                        very sorry to hear your struggle with this margo
                        i hope as always for the best for you and for sarah
                        know this, no matter what ultimately happens sarah was a part of your life that brought you much happiness,
                        she helped to create and strengthen many relationships
                        i would have never met you had it not been for your concordia
                        my life and many others have been much enriched by you and dave and sarah
                        i know that i am not alone in that
                        Simpler is better, except when complicated looks really cool.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Sarah = Sadness

                          Very well said, Paul.
                          "Visionary" is he who in every egg sees a carbonara.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Sarah = Sadness

                            Life is change and change is life. It is good, that you have identified, that it is time for you to move on. And it is good as well, that you are trying to find a new home for your boat. All the very best!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Sarah = Sadness

                              Wooden boats are more ethereal than we want to realize. Our relationships with them are much like love affairs. Those around these lover affairs wax and wane,
                              come and go. It is part of the journey of these seabirds. even those with great skills, the burden of such things is about act of true love and respect. Sarah may or may not find that next lover. It will have to be despite the pain you feel. it is part of the beautiful sorrow with such an old boat or one who holds a broken heart.

                              Margo, you are not alone. The wonderful friendships made these many years is out of your shared love.

                              I am also in a similar crossroads, I have a great historical race sailboat that I have tried to sell for years. In fact I did sell her but she returned last year and I took her back. I am at a loss now as she has sits waiting for the next caretaker taking resources and cash better spent on quality of life. I too poured hundreds of hours this year to get her ready again to go out. No body has stepped up despite her seaworthiness and speed. She is out of vogue despite being glorious. I would give her away but more fear a free wooden boat regardless of the shape she is in. It will pain me in the next month to do something I would have thought unthinkable just three years ago.

                              Saying goodbye to an old love is right. No body will fault you for what ever descision you make. The short term pain and loss that is coming will result in a reflective, happier and healthier era to come.
                              Without friends none of this is possible.

                              Comment

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