History: WanderLust I

I sailed my very first time with a Balboa 26 on a trailer. My Uncle Jess bought her new in 1976, sailed her twice in Newport Beach Harbor and put her in storage.

In June 2000, My Aunt called to see if I wanted her husbands 'old' sailboat. They had moved to Alaska and didn't want to pay storage for another 33 years. I took my truck down to Newport and hauled the sailboat back to Marina del Rey, near where I live in Manhattan Beach.

I took the Honda 10 hp off the back and into a dealer for service and then started to work on putting the mast up. I had NO idea how it should go. I looked over at other boats and tried to copy what I saw.

After more than 2 hours, I thought I had it up right. Two younger guys drove up next to me with another sailboat, a McGreager, with their mast down. They looked up at me and studied a while before asking "Hey Mister, do you need some help?" I proudly answered "No, I think I got it." They yelled, "We think you don't, the mast is on backwards!"

They helped get everything rigged properly and then the guy brought the outboard back to say she runs great after he changed the impeller and cleaned the carburetor. I launched the boat. 'She Floats!' then started the outboard. I cruised around inside MDR harbor for half an hour then started looking for sails. There were 4 bags under the seats with different markings.

I pulled out the one marked 'Main' and opened it up. I figured, by looking at other boats, that the small pointy end went into the mast track and the leftover end went on the end of the boom. Within an hour I had her sailing. It had similarities with rigging a hang glider and I figured out how to trim her as a hang glider and sailed out the harbor entrance. The plan was to sail out in front of the Manhattan Beach pier and call my renters to say, "Look out front, that's me on my new sailboat." I called 4 MB friends on the Strand and all came out and waved.

I got her sailing pretty fast. The wind was straight out of the West and Palos Verdes Peninsula was straight South so she sailed well. When I got out to the Point I could see Catalina in the distance. I didn't know how to turn her around yet so I just kept sailing. Late afternoon I came into the Avalon Bay and a guy came out in a launch to ask if I wanted a "mooring". I didn't know exactly what he ment but because I couldn't find an anchor on my boat, I asked him to help me, that I was a "First Timer."

The next morning I again raised my 'Main' sail and sailed her back to Marina del Rey. That was a truly GREAT feeling sailing a boat to an 'exotic' island and back again. WOW! I was hooked.

The next weekend I launched her again except going out the harbor channel I noticed the winds were from the South, up from Mexico. I put the nose into the wind, just like setting up a hang glider, then turned the boat NorthEast. I figured this time out I would sail up to malibu and call a couple of other friends to say, "Look out the window, that' ME sailing by."

I was really sailing well I thought so I didn't want to mess it up by trying to turn around. I kept going up the coast to an inlet I knew from surfing. Oxnard Bay. They have a nice shopping and restuarant pier and I hoped to find a place to tie up at the end of someone's dock. I bought an anchor package from West Marine but didn't know how or where to anchor.

Nearing sunset, I found a nice dock and a space right out on the end. I walked into a resturant, had an nice meal in an 'exotic' port and went to sleep back on the boat. I slept well. Then I heard a loud knock on the outside of the hull. "What are you doing here, this is a private dock!?"

I crawled out and had a look around. The dock had a lot of 'For Sale' signs on the boats and a big sign, "Voyager Marine Sales" and "Hunter Dealer" at the building. I answered, "I'm looking to buy a new boat." "Well, come right up to my office and have some coffee."

I figured I would listen to him, have some free coffee then head out back to Marina del Rey. Then he showed me a 1998 Hunter 34. She was 2 years old but had only 18 hours on the engine. She looked brand new, all shiny and clean. I asked how much. $110,000. I told him that I couldn't get that much together. John asked, "How much can you get?" "Maybe $80,000, how much could he give me in trade on my old boat?"

The next weekend he picked me up in Manhattan Beach and drove early in the morning up to Oxnard and sailed with me on my new to me Hunter 34 back down to a transient slip in Marina del Rey. When John rolled out the second sail up front and we sailed more than twice as fast as I had previously sailed back down the coast, I knew I had made the right decision.

The boat also had a name painted on the side, "Wanderlust."