 |
| The Honcho at the shipyard, ready to be hauled out and packed up for the road trip to Anacortes. |
Last Friday we finished up the paperwork and handed the keys to the Honcho over to her new owners, who will have her hauled out and trucked to Anacortes where shell be relaunched. From there shell sail to her new home in Sidney, BC, Canada.
It was bittersweet to see the boat go because we had such an enjoyable four years with her. But all things must end, and with the Honcho off to her new home we are ready to begin to search in earnest for our next boat, which is the first step toward new sailing adventures. We were very fortunate to have found the Honcho, a boat that had been lightly used by her previous owners. Wed like to find another boat that has had no modifications or upgrades so we can start with a clean slate and set it up for offshore cruising with top quality equipment.
Over the last few months weve looked at quite a few boats in person and online. We really liked a Delphia 40GT that we found in San Diego, but it was sold a few weeks before we could make an offer on it. Ive reviewed several boats in previous posts here that caught my eye, but so far we have not settled on a particular make or model. At this point I would say the Beneteau 423 comes closest to what were looking for. It seems to embody that balance of design, construction, performance, comfort and budget that were looking for, and is the benchmark that weve been sort of measuring other boats by. If we werent constrained by a budget Id say the Hallberg Rassy 412 would fit the bill nicely, but of course our budget cant handle that much boat. But a boat of that ilk is what were looking for. Ill keep you posted as we wander around the country searching for the perfect, or almost perfect boat.
