When our youngest son left for college last summer, my wife Cindy and I decided to sell our San Francisco home and move to our weekend place at Stinson Beach, 45 minutes north of the city. As lifetime sailors, kiters and surfers, we couldn’t wait to wake up to the sound of the ocean every day and be able to get on the water for every lunch break. We both have flexible occupations, me working with technology start-ups, Cindy doing online maths coaching for kids, so all we needed was to be able to spend a couple of days a week in San Francisco. The idea was to get a small apartment in the city that we could use as our operations base but it soon became clear that, given the local property market, finding a place we would be excited about at a reasonable price was next to impossible.
We then had a crazy idea: what about replacing the small sailboat we keep at the San Francisco Yacht Harbour with a motor boat, and use that as our base? The SF Harbour is a stunning place, in a great neighbourhood with amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the Palace of Fine Arts. The marina doesn’t allow liveaboards, but they do allow you to sleep aboard three days per week, which was more than enough for us. The cost of such a set-up would be an order of magnitude lower than that of a comparable apartment!
To lifetime sailors like us, the thought of buying a motor boat was blasphemy. We’ve owned, sailed and raced yachts of all types and sizes, from dinghies, such as Lasers and Optimists, to a 65-foot performance cruiser. A motor boat had never held any appeal to us, yet it soon became crystal clear that this would be the perfect solution for our current circumstances.
Denne historien er fra December 2020-utgaven av Motor Boat & Yachting.
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Denne historien er fra December 2020-utgaven av Motor Boat & Yachting.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Lofoten or Bust- Part 4- Grandezza owner Per Harrtoft heads back to Sweden after an epic 3500nm adventure deep into the Arctic Circle to visit the mythical Lofoten islands
After ten memorable days in the Lofoten Islands in the far north of Norway, we are on our way back south towards Sweden. We have already made it as far as Trondheim, a charming place even if it was raining so hard we had to cycle round the city centre clutching umbrellas. But now we are back on board Deamare, our Grandezza 40 Fly, eating up the miles at a steady 31 knots.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YACHT TRANSPORT
As the name suggests it's a means of having your boat moved professionally from one location to another. It might be as simple as hiring someone to tow your RIB a few miles down the road or as complex as shipping a superyacht halfway around the world.
HANDLE A SINGLE SHAFTDRIVE BOAT PART 1
Single shaftdrive boats are relatively rare these days but the reduced costs of buying, servicing and fuelling such a simple but reliable drivetrain does mean they are making a bit of a comeback.
COCKWELLS MOTOR LAUNCH
There can be very few boats that have appeared three times at the Southampton Boat Show and been sold off the stand each time.
INSTALLING AN AUTOPILOT
Rick Channon makes solo boating simple with a Raymarine Evolution Autopilot
GOOD AS NEW
Why fit a brand new engine when Volvo Penta's remanufacturing service can rebuild you an old one to the same standard for a fraction of the price?
BENETEAU SWIFT TRAWLER 54
Alex Smith heads to France's Beneteau HQ for a UK exclusive on what might just be the best Swift Trawler yet
ΧΟ EXPLR 44
Can XO's all-new aluminium flagship really make it big in the Med?
BUYING OUR FIRST CLASSIC
Instead of whiling away their retirement playing bowls, Rob and Shona Adams decided to invest their time and money in a classic Silver gentleman's yacht. Would the gamble pay off?
PRINCESS S65
Torn between the V and F Class flagships? The new S65 might be the boat you've been waiting for...
