I sold my boat today: Merry Christmas!

As you know, I fell into this crazy pursuit of sailing about 5 years ago, totally tricked into it originally by evil Evan Burkosky.

I joined TSPS in order to get licensed to sail Japanese waters and met many of you there. And I learned enormously from this affiliation … and still do.

All my other pastimes… the wonderful saunas, the smokey-cigars, working on old cars, those insane detoxes, my weekly briefings on Japanese politics… all thrown to the wayside as I tumbled headlong down this unending, swirling, tubelike tunnel.

Santana, a 26′ Yamaha sailing yacht, was berthed next to Evan’s boat, Watari (since gone, replaced by a 33′ Perkins of 45 years vintage, “Garuda”). 

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Apparently, the long-time owner of Santana had become ill and so Santana just sat there forlornly for almost two years. The family wanted to find a good home for her, but knew nothing of boating or sailing or selling a boat. So she just sat there.

Santana before:

Santana was a bit bedraggled and ignored and also suffered some damage due to the typhoon & tornados that hit the port two years earlier (and virtually destroyed the hamlet of Katsuyama).

Upon my first visit to Watari to ‘go sailing’ (translated into Evan-speak of “help me work on my boat”), Evan convinced me to take over Santana, ever-so soothingly cooing, “I’ll help you out…”.

Since then, we have, both together & solo, sailed Santana all over Tokyo and Sagami Bays and out to the farthest island in the Izu Island chain, to Atami, Shimoda… all over! Almost weekly, it seems like now. Evan taught me the ins-and-outs, and Santana taught me the rest. We constantly worked on Santana and upgraded her to make her safer and more reliable. Wow, we sailed the heck out of her, too!

Santana after:

About three years later, Evan stumbled upon abandoned Garuda (click for the amazing story of her restoration). For 9 months, he and others (“let’s go sailing!”) helped liar-Evan restore Garuda to sublime sailing grace. We sailed her 8 solid days over Golden Week, in fact. Now Garuda is gorgeous, responsive: a head-turner whether in-port or out.

But my desire for a larger-than-Santana more capable boat continued un-satiated. I was actually looking for a boat where I could spend cigar-chomping Ernest Hemmingway-like time writing stories, maybe even a book! Evan and Tony were looking on my behalf, too!

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Back to the story…

Three months ago, Anthony Hardie (whose yacht is berthed near Garuda & Santana) telephoned me with some urgency: an older fellow needed to unload his 44′ Swan, and this rumor Tony had just heard through his extensive sailing grapevine.

As the most recent owner (2 years earlier paid ¥15 million?), he had poured money into the boat to sell it and get a pretty penny. The mainsail, jib and storm sails were all brand-new. But this poor Owner was now spiritually defeated, economically empty, dejected from the fate he was handed, incapable of the manual labor immediately required. “I just need someone to take her off my hands!” he confided to his First Mate.

“No matter what you have to do,” Tony yelled into the iPhone, “call this First Mate right away and tell him you will take it, sight-unseen!”.  Tony ended the call with that famous refrain: “Don’t worry, I’ll help you…”. Then, immediately the phone went dead and there I was… standing-there… deer-in-headlights.

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And down the rabbit hole I again tumbled, dragging Tony and Evan with me. In retrospect, though, I have to admit that these two nut-jobs were not reluctant but in fact gleefully egging-on co-conspirators! My sails filled with air and off the ground I was carried!

In 5 weeks we got the vessel’s engine running, another 4 weeks of clean-up and refurbishment, then changing the Registration. We took her for sea-trials twice and, whoa!… how she performed! Honestly, all three of us were smitten!

While this downtown Tokyo marina is 8 hours from the true place where a boat like this belongs (the unfathomably deep and treacherous blue waters of the open Pacific), Gryms’s new berth is but a brief push-off the quay for a 15 minute sail into the deep blue.

She is now where she belongs: not destined to sail inside the confines of Tokyo Bay and dodging tankers, but further outside where tuna leap and the powerful Kuroshio Current swirls.

Gryms’ new berth is where Santana, Garuda and Tony’s magnificently restored pirate-looking yacht are all berthed. A small fishing hamlet near Hota.

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But in my case, Santana didn’t really cost anything except for repairing her and bringing here up-to-snuff. It didn’t cost money, except for the beers I plied Evan and Tony with as we three poured ourselves into the task of resurrecting this unbelievable gift from the gods. And this is exactly the same scenario with the new Sway, though separated by 4+ years. But I had to sell Santana in order to have the berth for Gryms.

But these two ‘happiest-of-days’ happened in such unbelievable close-proximity.

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I am bittersweet happy/sad to announce the sale of Santana as of today, Christmas Day! It is unwise and dangerous to have two lovers, I have been long told. And, I guess I need to avoid that though I really don’t want to.

In any event, leaping from a 26′ sailboat into a 44′ sailing yacht is not just a step-up, it is skipping a couple of steps in-between and a huge challenge: massive, in fact.

I must, for example, grow into a different kind of sea-captain, comfortable with crew rather than, as is my usual course, going solo. Santana is very comfortable, quick and responsive, easily solo-sailed… but this Finnish boat, built to cross oceans, is a different matter. Much of the rigging and winches are located on the mast, or forward of the cockpit, a good 4 meters away from the helm!

And not just that, but preparing to gybe or tack, or reef, requires coordination between the helmsman and those pulling-or-releasing the sheets than a mere pair of hands can safely and smoothly execute. So, farewell to that precious solitude that Santana gave to me as a solo-sailor. On the other hand, what Gryms takes away, she repays in spades: speed, power, agility in plowing through waves at 11 tons of weight! THAT is pretty spectacular!

I am definitely up for that and so grateful to be surrounded by friends like you guys. In particular, it goes without saying how indebted I am to Tony and Evan for placing me in this predicament.

I never envisioned such a thing happening so quickly but, in fact, it went smoothly and somewhat flawlessly. So I owe a lot to everyone for helping me on this tremendous journey. 

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Anyway, I just wanted to give you a personal update and a ‘thank you’ for whatever role you had in this pretty significant achievement over a brief 5-year-span.

Forgive me if this seems like a brag but…. well, I just can’t help myself: I am like a kid at Christmas!

THANKS for all your encouragement (less for the torments, but yeah, for those, too). Thanks for reading this far, and for celebrating with me this uncanny stroke of luck and friendship contained within this story. Not something that happens to everyone…. I am beyond words grateful to you guys for your support. Merry Christmas!