Just Let It All Go

That’s what the colonel told Elvis, right?  “Just let it all go…”  Well, a year ago I bought a 21′ Victory Sloop.  I called it a sailboat when I picked it up, but the owner corrected me, informing me that it was a sailing yacht.  Hoo hoooo!  I’m a yacht owner!  But there were a few problems.

First, I had never been ON a sailboat, much less sailed one!  My older brother, my younger brother, and my dad were all available to help me pick up the boat, sorry: yacht, but none of them had ever sailed either.  I borrowed a trailer for a few weeks, so we parked it at the National City launch, drove around to the Cays and got in.  Well, the previous owner had it parked in his back yard.  That means it was moored to the slip in the channel that was outside his back door.  All we had to do was mount the 7.5hp motor I got from Craig’s list, start it up, and buzz up the channel.  Easy!  Oh, and avoid hitting the million dollar beauties floating along both sides of this water-avenue.

Second, the motor would not start.  At all!  So we decided we could just sail it.  It’s a sailboat after all.  No experience.  No motor.  Narrow channel (comparitively,) and did I mention no experience?  So we put life jackets on, raised the sails, cast off, and prayed for a gentle breeze. 

Third, the tiller.  That’s the 3′ handle in the back of the boat that turns the rudder stearing the boat.  It was a pain!  When I wanted to go a bit left or right, it tried to whip out of my hands.  It felt like reverse power steering.  Even going straight was touchy.  Well, after 50 yards of that I finally realized that the tiller was backwards!  That meant the rudder was pointed against the direction we were headed rather than smoothly running behind the boat.  Der!  Turned that around and it was smoother.

Fourth, crossing the bay.  Are you kidding?  Motor boats that could go across our path ten times in just moments…thankfully there weren’t any skiers.  Great big boats expect little ones to get out of the way.  Nevermind if they don’t know nothin’ from nothin’, get out of the way!!

Thank God for a gently breezy day.  We had the thrill that comes with a sense of danger, but not that much danger.  We had the awe of sailing across the water using nothing but the power of air pushing canvas sheets tied to poles on the boat.  It was one of my favorite new experiences I’ve had.  Fun fun fun!!

Well, we got the yacht onto the trailer, a month or so later I bought my own trailer and so we floated the boat at Lake Elsinore to trade it from one trailer to the other.

That’s about all the exposure my 21′ yacht has had under my captainship.  It’s been sitting in my driveway all the time since then.

A couple weeks ago I finally decided to let it go.  I put a bright red sign on its bow with the dollar figure written big enough for people to see when they drive by, and a sleeve of flyers I printed with a little list of gear that I’d include — also throwing in that 7.5hp motor with an admission that I couldn’t make it work.  A man put a note on my door with his number so I called him.  He and his brother in law wanted to buy it. 

He gave me a deposit, and yesterday I got the rest of the money, gave them the pink slip, and let it all go. 

A little sorrow, because I really do want to sail from time to time.  A little excitement, because I have a third of my driveway back.  A little disappointment because I couldn’t get all the fun out of boat ownership.  A little excitement, because we have a little wad of cash and we really, really need a bit of vacation.  (That’s not entirely honest: we need a great vacation, but we’ll take what we can get — know what I mean?)

I don’t regret getting the boat.  I don’t regret selling it.  But I do regret that there wasn’t a better experience with it.  On the other hand I have a life-experience of sailing that thing across the bay with my brothers and my dad, and that’s worth the purchase price to me.

So I let it go.  It’s gone now.  Good-bye little yacht!  Thanks for the memories.