Felicity Ain't Happy No More

 Felicity Ain't Happy No More

Felicity: the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss:

The Listing broker wrote this description on Yachtworld:
Pride of ownership shows in this 2002 Catalina 36 that has been well maintained and kept in excellent condition throughout the vessel inside and out. She is a capable cruiser and well equipped with Diesel Heat, Dodger and Bimini cover on cockpit with full navigation package and seating at helm station with plenty of room for crew.  She is very clean and her cabin is spacious with a large fold down table in the salon and plenty of seating for quests, full galley,nav station and plenty of storage. There is a large double cabin aft and a forward owners cabin with separate entrance to a spacious head. She is priced to sell and like new condition and if your looking to start cruising now come take a look you will not be disappointed.

Tuesday we drove down to Tacoma to go on the Sea Trial and Survey. We met the Broker, the Owner, and the Surveyor at Tyee Marina on a fine October Morning 

Tyee Marina was described to us as the Marina Time forgot. An old school place where the moorage was cheap.

 Felicity, a 2002 Catalina 36. We were cautiously excited as this sailboat appeared to be in perfect shape and had very little to do to make her our own.

 We motored down the channel early that morning to have the boat hauled out at Hybelos Marina and boat yard. We had to slow down and wait for a tug pulling a log boom.

We squeaked by the log boom, amazing that they have been transporting logs like this for nearly 200 years.

While I was in the cockpit with the brokers and owner, The Admiral was down below with the surveyor. They called me down to see some Cracked fiberglass laminate in forward keel sump (starboard side to).

Along with unexplained weeping abaft the mast step potentially caused by owner reported grounding.

Just as we approached the haul out channel I said "Stop the boat and turn around, we are done". The soft groundings the owner told us about were obviously not so soft. An undetermined amount of work would be required to do this and most likely the keel would have to be removed. A job that cost $20,000- $30,000 or more. John the Surveyor told us that every vessel system on a boat is guilty until proven innocent!

The owner apologized and began to process his own misfortune. We discussed his making a claim with his insurance company and I was very glad it would be a very short motor trip back to the marina. The bridge we had to clear opened immediately and we were soon docked. The Admiral and I wasted no time collecting our stuff and exiting the drama.

On the way home the Admiral mentioned that Felicity is not so happy anymore. I guess that sort of stuck with me. Countless hours spent researching this vessel on the internet, trying to make sure we had all of our questions answered, notepads full of notes, lots of emails, text and calls, scheduling the surveyor and making arrangements with the haul our yard. We were numb to say the least as our third attempt to buy a boat had failed.

About two in the morning my mind would not let me sleep, I decided to turn my stress into a Blues Song. I went into the living room, turned on a light and wrote the following lyrics.

Felicity Ain't Happy No More

Felicity ain't happy

Felicity Ain't happy no more
Felicity Ain't happy

Cause on four dark sailings

Her captain sailed her to close to shore
Sailed her on the rocks once more.

Felicity ain't happy
She's gone away from me
Felicity Ain't happy no more
The thrill is gone away from me
Although, I will still sail on
For I will never
Take Felicity to Sea

Felicity aint happy no more
The Broker aint happy no more
Her captain aint happy no more
Felicity, the Admiral
and I shall sail no more
The thrill is gone

You know I'm free, free now Felicity
I'm free from your spell
Oh free, free, free now baby
I'm Free from your spell
And now that it's over
All we can do is wish you well

Felicity ain't happy

Felicity Ain't happy no more
Felicity Ain't happy no more

Cause on four dark sailings

Her captain sailed her to close to shore
and sailed her on the rocks once more

The lyrics are sung to B.B. King's The Thrill is Gone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPlsqo2bk2M

Felicity was our third time to make an offer on a vessel here in the Pacific Northwest, and the third vessel to fail. We are certainly learning a lot about all this, one thing is for sure, a lot of people run their boats into the Rocks!

This pic shows a couple of spiral notebooks and couple of small note pads each full of notes from researching the three vessels. Several yacht listings from various brokerages, and other miscellaneous stuff we put together to try hard as we may to learn the history of the vessels as well as all other data including scheduling surveyors and boat yards for haul outs requiring hundreds of emails and text messages. Fortunately in each case we were able to reveal the structural problems just before hauling the boat out. This saved us the expense of hauling the boat out and who knows what all drama that would have brought?

We will take a mental break before getting all worked up to the point of making another offer. But the hunt continues for the "Most Perfect" Pacific Northwest boat.

There is a 38' Ericson in Anacortes, a 37' Jeaneau on Lake Union and a Mainship also on Lake Union. These are our next targets.