For the first time serious yacht hunting. Ellen could manage a bit on her own now apart from opening bottles. Her right wrist still hurts, but her left wrist held quit good.
My first choice is an Amel Santorin. A proven yacht for ocean crossing. She is a bit old fashion, but a very nice comfortable boat to sail single handed.
On Yachtworld I saw a couple of them for sale in Southern Europe. Then I discovered that there where some overlaps. Owners present there boats via different yachtbrokers. So the list shrunk to 4 boats. I contacted them all, but only two responded. I made appointments and hoped others would make contact when I was underway.
The first one in S France was on the top of the price range, so I should expect a solid and complete yacht. This was certainly the case, but I was a bit worried about both masts. The corrosion was severe and must come from galvanic corrosion. But the corrosion was to the top of the mast, than it must also be an electric corrosion. To get that fixed will be a costly business.
The second was nearby but where not able to schedule a survey the same week, so I went on to Spain. The broker was a nice and modest man. Rarely find these guys these days. But the boat was not well been taken care of, so that was a short visit.
Than the third one made contact and was nearby. I scheduled an appointment, but the next day they cancelled the appointment, because the yacht was being sold.
The fourth yacht had almost the same story. Short after making an appointment they cancelled.
I became a bit worried. It looked like buying a decent yacht could become a long story.
After some search on the internet I came across a fifth one in Italy. After some emails we agreed to an appointment in March. I went home. It is always a bit troublesome to buy a yacht abroad. Taxes, registration, language, etc. This yacht claimed to have a Dutch registration. A bit odd for an Italian owner. Contacted the registration bureau, but they could not find the yacht in their database. Could be a stolen yacht, but an the other hand most likely did he not update the record when he bought the yacht. I asked the man to make a photo of his documentation. It should arrive before I leave for Italy and hopefully she will be the one.
