After we left the lake I got to listen to Cindy struggle with Sirri on her iphone trying to find a winery on the way to Terre Haute. Cindy finally found a winery close to our route but then struggled again trying to get Sirri to give her directions. It got quite comical listening to Cindy annunciate directions every way possible trying to get her phone to understand the address to Owen Valley winery. After a good laugh I finally asked my faithful Droid for directions and in no time we were on course to the winery. It was not long before we got off the main road and followed the signs and my phone's GPS down winding back roads. At one point I really thought either my phone or the road signs should have suggested four wheel drive is recomended to go any further. The road went from new pavement to old pavement, to gravel, to rutted dirt. We kept going and finally arrived at the winery. We sampled all the sweet wines and decided on getting a bottle of Cayuga then we were back on the road eager to get to Terre Haute to check out the boat. As we drove out of the winery I had to stop to take a pic of a sign they had on a post. It was a hoot!!! In case it is too small to read it says WINNO XING!
It was not long before we arrived at the location of the sailboat in Terre Haute. As we drove up the owner's drive Cindy saw a pretty two tone blue boat and got all excited, as blue is her favorite color. I had to remind her that the blue boat was not the one we came to look at. Our boat was sitting behind the blue sailboat. It looked really nice from the drive and the owner had the mast stepped up already. We got out and met the owners, Dave and Susan, then checked out the boat. The boat we were there to look at was a 1984 Hunter 20. While it was a foot shorter than the San Juan 21's we had been looking at but it had a much bigger feel with a much more usable cabin area. It also had a pop top on the cabin which gave me almost enough head room to stand up in that area. It also has a table that Cindy was really wanting. The table dropped down to make a bed as well. So Cindy can have her table to eat on and I can have a full size bed to, well you know what on ;-). A win win in my eyes! There are storage compartments under every seat, a place for the battery with an electrical panel, interior lights, port a potty, and a pump sink. The v birth was a little bit shorter than the other boats we had been looking at. While I think I could sleep in it I think it would tight. I am thinking the bed over the table will be out preferred nesting area. One really nice feature is that the forward portholes open up to let in more air. So between the front hatch, the port holes, and the companion way with a screen in it, airflow on warm summer nights should not be a problem. Funny thing about sailboats openings. I guess the manufactures all assume that everyone is going to be sailing these boats in the ocean far away from flies and mosquitos as none of them make provisions for screens in the front hatch or the port holes. I am pretty sure I can make screens for them without too much trouble. I was a bit bummed to learn that Dave and Susan did not have the interior cushions for the boat so we will have to make new ones for it. Can we say winter project for Cindy??? Outside the cabin the boat is really pretty nice. There are storage areas under both cockpit seats, a detachable swim ladder on the back with a bow and stern pulpits. The pulpit is the rail on the front and rear of the boat. Kate Winslet leans forward on the bow pulpit of the Titantic. Our pulpit is a bit shorter so Cindy will have to be on her knees if she tries that or she will probably flip over the rail and come bobbing up somewhere behind the boat LOL! The stern pulpit is nice as they make gas grill mounts that attach to the stern pulpit. We will have to have one! The grill goes on the stern because when at anchor the boat will always point into the wind. Put the grill on the back and the smoke will blow away from the boat. Like the opening portholes and rear rail, this boat has features not normally found on boats this size. Dave showed us the sails and how easy it was to get the sails rigged and ready to sail. It looked so easy we were both thinking we could actually do it. We helped Dave drop the mast and prepared the boat to go down the road. Again, easy enough we think we can pull it off. I could tell by the gleam in Cindy's eye that she really liked the boat but I had to ask just to make sure. She wanted the boat! So after brief negotiations we arrived at a price, shook hands, and retreated inside to do the paperwork and warm up. Before we left we asked Dave if he could take a pic of us with our very first boat. Her we are with our Memory Maker!
Dave and Susan gave us some good info about possibly keeping our boat the Lake Monroe Sailing club in case we did not get a buoy. We thought it was only for club members but they told us anyone can keep the boat there. Club membership allows you to take part in the club activities like races and lobster boils. Susan told Cindy how nice the facilities are with porcelain toilets and hot showers that you can use if you keep your boat there. The power flushing toilets and hot showers has over a female. I checked it out online and it looks like it might be just the ticket for us. Our boat would be feet from the water sitting on the trailer in a fenced in area with the mast up ready to launch. The bottom of the boat would stay cleaner and we could sleep easy when we were home that it would not take on water and sink in the middle of the night. That is one call you never want to get in the middle of the night, "Sir, you boat has sunk and you need to come get it off the bottom of the lake". I even think we could drive Juicy the Jeep over and use her to launch and retrieve the boat. I am pretty sure she could manage to pull the boat that far without too much problem. It looks like it might take an extra 15 mins to get to the sailing club area but it might be worth it. We are going to have run over and check it out when we get a free minute.
Last night as we wound down for the day sitting on the couch, we talked, sailing of course. Dave gave me a tip that when something goes wrong and you can't do anything else just yell at your wife. Because if it can go wrong it will go wrong out THERE! I promised Cindy I would never yell at her like Dave told me to do when something went wrong. It was then that she informed me of a interesting little trait she has. I have known for some time now that Cindy struggles with remembering her left from right. Several times I have had to tell her the other right when she would be helping me on the house. Well last night she told me that if I was ever telling her what to do on the boat that involved left or right and my life depended on her getting it right the first time to make sure we were pointing east as she knew left and right when facing east. So much is wrong with that statement but I promised to try my best to always keep the boat pointing east. But at some point we are either going to hit the causeway or want to turn around and come back. Then what do we do???
