What Are The Odds?

Seventeen years ago I bought my first power catamaran. Little did I know it was to be the trading stock that propelled me towards hundreds of future multihull deals. I was living on Bainbridge Island and working in Seattle’s SoDo district down near the Duwamish River. The cattle-call of the ferry commute was breaking my spirit. Get up early. Cue up. Don’t be late. Don’t be early. Don’t miss the boat. Endure a forty-five minute crossing with 2000 other commuters and then a bus ride or bike ride through the morning and late evening industrial gloom of South Seattle. Return. Rinse. Repeat. That was the daily grind. I had owned two sailing cats before and I knew I loved being my own skipper. I was confident on the water. I wanted to commute on my own terms. They wouldn’t let me drive the ferry.

I happened to spot an ad in BoatTrader for a Glacier Bay 22’ on Mercer Island. I reviewed my savings, calculated my likely expenses, and then set an appointment with the owner. The boat was a catamaran produced by Glacier Bay in Monroe, WA. She was a prototype really. One of only three ever built before Glacier Bay moved on to bigger and better things, but she had everything I wanted for year-round commuting across Puget Sound – stability, a soft ride, an enclosed heated helm, twin outboard reliability, catamaran economy, a good turn of speed, trailerability, a chartplotter, and RADAR. What could be better? The Seller was older (or so it seemed to me then). He was wise and kind too. He was very concerned that I was doing myself a disservice buying his boat. He tried to talk me out of the purchase several times but I was resolute.

I got a slip at the Harbor Pub Marina on Bainbridge and another at the Port of Seattle’s Harbor Island Marina on the Duwamish. For two years I made the 6+ mile crossing morning and night. I was one of a half-dozen wingnuts commuting from Bainbridge on private boats. We got to recognize each other as we zipped back and forth. One hardy guy did the trip in an open skiff. Another had a beautiful aluminum Armstrong catamaran that I secretly coveted. The Glacier Bay was compact and seaworthy though and a good craft for the commute. I got adept at dodging Washington State Ferries, cruise ships, tour boats, the various Victoria Clippers, and, most daunting of all, tugs and tows streaming down the Duwamish. Sometimes I would fish on the way home. Sometimes I would linger in Eagle Harbor or Blakely Harbor to wait out the fog and then across I would go. I loved it.

 

Fifteen years ago, up in Port Townsend, I glanced at a bulletin board at Boat Haven and saw a hand-written advertisement for a 54’ ply-epoxy project catamaran that I recognized from prior trips to Sequim Bay. I had rowed around her. I knew her potential. I had to have her. So I traded my little commuter away for a major project catamaran that had been floating on a mooring behind John Wayne Marina for 15 years. She was extremely well-built but incomplete, in need of paint, and never rigged. I sentenced myself (and a very good friend) to 3 years of hard labor and more than a hundred thousand dollars of expense completing what would become Boondock; the cat that would lead me into the world of multihull brokerage. Boondock’s seller promptly sold the Glacier Bay to someone in the San Juans. I never thought I’d see her again.

Last year, after years of living aboard various catamarans and houseboats, Jamie and I swallowed half an anchor and bought an actual house on a little garden island South of Tacoma. Our new-to-us house has a drying dock unsuitable for Awesome. We needed a commuter for the back yard and the South Sound. I told Jamie of my once-upon-a-time Glacier Bay and had been sweeping the market for something similar ever since.

When we stepped ashore in Wrangell last week, Jamie’s first objective was a visit to the local market to get something bubbly. I like to get the pulse of a new harbor by scanning the community bulletin boards and so stood out front eyeballing the bills, ads, and notices. And there she was. Just a photo printed on a piece of paper with hand-written names and phone numbers. No make. No model. No specifications. No explanation; sporting a pirate name but the same little Glacier Bay! Really, what are the odds? The ad had just been posted and the marketing was scant to be generous. I had never been to Wrangell before. We came up on Awesome for the trip of a lifetime and were a thousand miles from home. . . I guess lightening strikes. I didn’t expect to buy (another) catamaran this trip, but I did. She’s soon to be a passenger on the Alaska Marine Lines weekly barge back to Seattle and I’m looking forward to scooting around the Sound on her again!

. . . Oh, and if anyone needs a much loved Ketch-rigged Northwest Interpretation of a Polynesian Voyaging Double-Canoe for the trip of a lifetime, Boondock is for sale and ready to take you: https://multihullcompany.com/boat-details/?catid=5966829. I really don’t need to be an admiral.