
Sound the bells and ring the chimes! We have finally closed on our retirement boat. Now we are really getting our retirement plans into gear. We have been negotiating for the purchase of YOLO since it was first listed on YachtWorld way back in the beginning of September. The process to purchase Starjewel lasted about one week from selection through survey to ownership, so this purchase was a little surprising. I’m not quite sure if this is the standard but hopefully it’s somewhere in the middle of the two.
So about our new home, we now own a 2003 Antares 42. This boat was built in Canada before Antares moved to their current location in San Fernando, Argentina. We have always admired the Antares catamarans and they were at the top of our list. However, when we got closer to retiring we quickly realized that a million dollar boat was just a bit out of our budget. We started looking at a new Fountaine Pajot, or other used boats like Privlege. None of the other boats really had what we were looking for to accomplish our long-term sailing goals. Then YOLO came available on YachtWorld, and she was only one state away. It was as though it was meant to be.
We were already pre-approved for the loan from Intercoastal Financial Group, LLC and had an insurance quote from Strickland Marine Insurance Agency, Inc for YOLO. The last couple days before closing were still relatively hectic. We were unable to test a few systems on the boat during the survey so I headed up a couple days before closing to ensure they were in working order. After a quick demonstration I called the bank to release the funding, secured the Certificate of Insurance, and finalized our slip in Oriental Harbor Marina.
Lisa couldn’t get off work early so she flew up the first thing Friday morning to Richmond, VA. I turned in the rental car and we jumped in an Uber to Deltaville, VA. It was an exciting drive as we were on our way to set foot on OUR retirement boat for the first time. We had obviously been on YOLO before, but now she was officially ours. The first day aboard we got settled in and started snooping around to get ourselves familiar with how everything works. First thing the next morning we would be setting off for a two day off-shore passage filled with dolphins and night watches. However, that is a story for next time.
So about our new home, we now own a 2003 Antares 42. This boat was built in Canada before Antares moved to their current location in San Fernando, Argentina. We have always admired the Antares catamarans and they were at the top of our list. However, when we got closer to retiring we quickly realized that a million dollar boat was just a bit out of our budget. We started looking at a new Fountaine Pajot, or other used boats like Privlege. None of the other boats really had what we were looking for to accomplish our long-term sailing goals. Then YOLO came available on YachtWorld, and she was only one state away. It was as though it was meant to be.
We were already pre-approved for the loan from Intercoastal Financial Group, LLC and had an insurance quote from Strickland Marine Insurance Agency, Inc for YOLO. The last couple days before closing were still relatively hectic. We were unable to test a few systems on the boat during the survey so I headed up a couple days before closing to ensure they were in working order. After a quick demonstration I called the bank to release the funding, secured the Certificate of Insurance, and finalized our slip in Oriental Harbor Marina.
Lisa couldn’t get off work early so she flew up the first thing Friday morning to Richmond, VA. I turned in the rental car and we jumped in an Uber to Deltaville, VA. It was an exciting drive as we were on our way to set foot on OUR retirement boat for the first time. We had obviously been on YOLO before, but now she was officially ours. The first day aboard we got settled in and started snooping around to get ourselves familiar with how everything works. First thing the next morning we would be setting off for a two day off-shore passage filled with dolphins and night watches. However, that is a story for next time.