By Suzanna Leigh
“Hi! Is anyone aboard this boat?”
I put down my scrub brush and looked out over the stern to find the source of the words. Wait … is that woman standing on the water? The woman spoke again.
“Is this boat for sale? Can I come look at it?”
Nope, not standing on the water … well not directly. A slender woman about 50 years old was standing on a paddle board next to the boat.
“Yes,” I told her, “the boat is for sale. I’ve had a ‘For Sale’ sign in the window for over a month, but haven’t advertised it at all.”
I invited her aboard. She wedged her paddle board between Eli-Oh and the dock, and climbed into the cockpit. I think it was at that point she began to fall in love with the boat.
“Can we look inside?” Gaynor asked, after introducing herself.
“Of course!” I answered.
James straightened up from the circuit board he was working on and put the ladder back in place so that we could climb down into the cabin. Gaynor wanted to know all about the boat, its shortcomings, what might need repair, where things were located.
“Kate, come look at this boat!” she called out over the water. Moments later her daughter Kate, a young woman in her early 20s, was on board and falling in love with the boat too.
“I’ve always dreamed of living on a boat,” Kate confided.
“I bought it from someone who was living on it with his wife and four year-old daughter,” I told her. “the V berth was the little girl’s room.”
Gaynor really wanted to buy the boat, but needed to figure out where to keep it. After a bit, she and Kate got back on their paddle boards and continued their exploration of the harbor.
“What about a partnership?” James suggested.
James and I took Gaynor and Kate sailing the next day. We had a fantastic sail! Gaynor’s sailing skills came back as she told us about her experiences on her boat in Virginia, Yankee Mistress. She told us about going aground and staying with the boat as the boat laid over on her side when the tide went out. Kate got the hang of sailing very quickly. She loved it! It was clear they bonded with the boat. I think James and I bonded with them.
“But where would I keep Eli-Oh?” Gaynor asked. “I wouldn’t want it out on anchor over the winter.”
“Anchoring over winter isn’t a good idea,” I agreed. “Every once in awhile, a boat will break loose from its anchor. Maybe the line was a little rotted or the winter wind was just too strong, and it ended up on the beach at Portage or Burton. What about a partnership?”
Gaynor’s eyes lit up. What a perfect solution! Then the boat could stay in this slip. Gaynor would join the yacht club as a full member so that she could get on the waiting list for a slip and have full access to Eli-Oh in the meantime; James and I could sponsor her. Kate could join as a social member, like James is.
It was a magical moment. As we talked, a swallow landed on the aft rail; perhaps he was drawn by our energy. An omen? Certainly a good one! He stayed and preened while we discussed how a partnership might work.
Over the next few days, Gaynor and I worked out the details of responsibilities etc., with Jim Hauser’s partnership agreement for Sea Change as a template. Gaynor gave me a check, I wrote out a bill of sale, and we went together to the vehicle title office in West Seattle to change the title. Gaynor and I enjoyed an afternoon of sailing together
Now Eli-Oh has two owners – Gaynor and me – and two sub-owners who are not be on the title, James and Kate. And, instead of selling the boat to some stranger, I have a new sailing partner!
