The Beginning....

In December of 2009 I found myself spontaneously searching the on-line boat ads on Kijiji Winnipeg. My hope was to find a nice looking canoe to float on the backyard pond as a surprise for Robin this Christmas.

Having never searched Kijiji for anything other than pets I was quite surprised to see the number of boat related ads. Rather than follow the link to CANOES I was for some reason compelled to follow the link SAILBOATS. The first title to catch my eye was "32 ft Westail FOR SALE". I immediately clicked on the ad and scanned the details...

Westsail 32 bare hull 20 hp diesel installed, mast, brand new sails, standing rigging, 3 axle trailer, needs decks and int. this is a sailboat project $6000

The photo looked so much like Hamba Gahle (our 32 ft ferro cement gaff cutter) that I was completely taken aback. The price was too good to be true and the boat was located in Manitoba. Something had to be wrong as this was a dream come true!

Robin and I had struggled for 5 years trying to decided whether or not we should have Hamba Gahle trucked up to our home near Hadashville, Manitoba. Having sailed and lived aboard Hamba Gahle for 7 years prior to our move to Canada, our lives seemed empty without a sailboat. Quotes to have Hamba Gahle shipped from it's current location in Reidsville, GA ranged from $9000 to $12000. We simply could not justify the expense to bring Hamba Gahle North so she sat in the Georiga woods as neither of us could bring ourselves to put her up for sale.

When I called Robin over to look at the computer screen, he was as shocked as I was to see the Westsail ad. Surely something had to be wrong with this boat? There had to be a catch as this was too good to be true...

Within a few minutes of seeing the ad Robin called the owner and made arrangements to see the boat the very next day. It just so happens the boat was located at Peterson Boat Works in Anola, Manitoba, only 80 kms from Hadashville.

We spent the remainder of the evening analyzing the photograph and details of the ad and dreaming of sailboats.

The next day, we left for work at hour early to detour down Hwy #15 to look at the boat. Anola seemed an unlikely location for a boat-yard but Ryan, the owner, explained to us that most of his clients kept their boats in the Whiteshell and #15 is on the main route.

Ryan took us out to the boat-shed where we caught our first glimpse of the Westail. She looked very good up close and the trailer was much tougher than we expected. Ryan brought a ladder alongside and Robin climbed aboard to see inside. I wasn't quite as brave as the rotted deck looked rather sketchy so I peered in from the top of the ladder and watched Robin explore inside. When he emerged from the hull with a smile on his face there was no doubt that we had found our new sailboat.

We called Ryan the next day and made an offer of $4500 for the hull and trailer. We were not interested in the mast, sails, or rigging as we would rig the boat as a gaff cutter, not marconi rig. Ryan was pleased with the offer and happy to see the boat going to owners who might get her back in the water one day.

We returned to Peterson Boat works a few days later and offered Ryan a $1000 deposit to hold the sale. Ryan was kind enough to offer us a contact from a towing company who might help us tow the boat home at a reasonable price. On December 20th, we handed over the remaining $3500 to close the deal.

The towing company told us we would likely have to wait until after the holidays to have the boat transported to Hadasvhille, however we were treated to an early Christmas present on December 23rd. We received a phone call first thing in the morning from the driver offering to transport the boat in 1 hour if we were up for it. We jumped at the opportunity to have the boat home for Christmas and within an hour we were in Anola, where the boat was already hitched up to the tow truck.

The transport from Anola to Hadashville went very smoothly and we were both relieved and happy to see the boat and trailer safely parked in our yard by lunch time.

We have a great deal of work ahead of us and we couldn't be more excited!!!


I, Robin, couldn't agree more... A path to the sea has re-opened...