She was a long time budding . . .
Issue 96 : May/Jun 2014
Eleven years is a long time to dedicate to a two-year refit. But there it is. This summer we will launch our project boat, purchased in February 2003. We are so excited we’ll be holding an open house for our subscribers in Superior, Wisconsin, June 29. If you’re close enough to make it, please join us. (More on that will be announced on our website in June.) It is really going to happen this time. Really and truly.
What began as a gleam in Jerry’s eyes in 1977, when C&C introduced the Mega 30, culminated in our purchase of a good old used Mega in 2003. Thrilled at the prospect of new cruising grounds, we started discussing possible destinations for our trailerable boat in the belief that we’d be traveling the country and sailing in new lakes and coastal areas in another year or so. I immediately rebuilt and re-covered the disintegrating seat cushions and added many other touches to the interior. They’ve been ready for nearly a decade. Just as quickly, Jerry bought anchors and electronic gear and tore into the project with a will. The anchors have not been wet yet. Some of that electronic gear is now outdated (but will go into service).
We knew the core on the foredeck was delaminated. We knew we’d be making a few cruising modifications to make our no-nonsense one-design racer more comfortable. We realized there was a lot of work to be done. We got that. But somehow — when it’s your project — you never really “get it.” Not entirely. Not when it comes to the investment in dollars that will be spent or the number of hours that will be required. Looking back at it from this perspective, it’s very clear that we didn’t get it. Not at all.
Over the years, Jerry emptied the hull of all furniture and rebuilt or re-designed and changed it completely. He dealt with the rotten core and had the deck repainted to cover the repair. He basically changed everything inside and out. During the deconstruction period he noted with disgust that he could have built a hull more easily, or perhaps started with an empty fiberglass shell and been farther along.
Throughout that time, we commiserated with our readers who get into boat refit projects that are bigger than they anticipate. We figured it was fitting and proper that Jerry should encounter a boat more demanding than Mystic (our C&C 30/Lake Superior boat) had been. When we got her, Mystic was ready to go. She made no demands. Jerry nevertheless made many modifications to her, but he did so at his own rate and as a result of sailing her and discovering changes that would improve our time aboard.
But he’d had it too easy. As a founder of Good Old Boat, he should feel our readers’ pain more compassionately, or so the theory goes. So the boat we would eventually name Sunflower came to teach us both a little about humility.
We have learned two very large lessons. Cruisers who set out to circumnavigate are forewarned not to say they are planning a circumnavigation, so that if they later scale the plan back to a smaller one, they won’t be thought of as having “failed.” In the same way, we should never have mentioned our high hopes of completing a refit and being out there on the highway within a couple of years. Jerry was soon dodging the inevitable questions about how much longer this project was going to take. The first lesson is not to predict when a big project will be done.
Second, Jerry’s advice to fellow sailors from the day we started the magazine was to sail your boat as you gradually modify it. Never should you tear it apart or put it out of commission for long. That’s very good advice, particularly if that is your only boat. You have to keep sailing in order to stay inspired. With Mystic, we did have another boat.
But the fact remains that Jerry has massively modified Sunflower without really knowing this boat. As I write this in the winter-of-2014-that-refuses-to-melt-into-spring, we have not yet sailed our Mega 30. We brought her home in a snowstorm in February 2003 and tore her apart completely.
This summer we will sail, test, tweak, and modify. We have waited 11 years to take our own advice. The second lesson is to do as we say, not as we do. We are so very ready to sail that boat and appreciate all the things Jerry has built over the years.
We would love to show you the results of our 11-year refit. Perhaps we’ll see you on the water where you sail. That has been our goal all along.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
