Well its officially official! As of last night we are the new owners of a 1981 Skye 51. We are still trying to work out how to go down and get the boat. The ex owners were going to deliver it for us with me on board but now they have other obligations. We would like to fly down with the girls and kid proof the boat and deliver it ourselves but with the business and Carl’s dad it’s really hard to get away. Don’t really want to pay someone to deliver it because it will be oober expensive.
Booked flights to go down to Tampa this weekend but looks like Ed will be getting out of hospital today or tomorrow. Guess we’ll have to reschedule for another time. Just want our new toy home with us.

We are the proud new owners of a Skye 51! Now how do we get her here….. details.

I would have loved to have our Prili flagged Australian but dang! How much money do they want??? We would have to hire a surveyor to evaluate the boat on arrival then pay 5% import tax then 10% GST, I think we’ll stick to the yanky flag and pay our 7% sales tax thank you very much. I must say they were extremely helpful over the phone. If we arrive on a US flag we can stay for up to 3 years which is great because we’d love to put our girls into school for a least a year while we’re there. But that’s a long way off. Need to leave the states first.

Can I just say OMG I feel pretty special that a person from Germany looked at our blog. I’m feeling very worldly.

In the coming week I’m planning on purchasing a sewing machine to make our own canvas coverings and mend sails. Got a couple of books off amazon and am ready to make 101 mistakes. I’m not very crafty. I kill plants, burn toast and can’t mend a button.

We don’t waste anytime. With sore heads and blood shot eyes (due to alcohol and horrible hotel room) we drove our rental car to the west coast of Florida. Waiting for us was our broker and lovely Skye 51. We went from beastly Bruce to a face elegant fiberglass racer/cruiser.

It was Prili.

She was wonderful storage and a cockpit that’s to die for and in a few days she will be ours! If we were looking for a sailboat that was a complete opposite to Bruce we found her.

We first fell in love with this steel beauty a few months ago when we starting looking for a new home. She was wonderful and everything we were looking for. Strong, beamy and perfect for family living. We flew down to see her a few times before we put in an offer that of course got rejected but what first offer doesn’t!
We finally got her under contract and first thing was first. What was her name? She was just too stout to have a prissy girly name so we declared that she was the perfect Bruce.
We hired a rather expensive surveyor to check out her hull – we knew everything else didn’t work. Unfortunately we discovered Bruce was corroding from the inside out but the worst thing was it was where her concrete ballast was poured. We would have to cut the bottom off of Bruce and start again. Bruce wasn’t meant to be. Our love was lost. Destined for an owner with bottomless pockets.

There is nothing worse then trying to make a decision that will affect not only your life but everyone around you. Sometimes you just need to put you and your family first and look to the future. I am a purebred Australian and Carl is American. We have 2 little girls. Capri 2.5 years old and Cali 15 months old – they would be the Australian American muts. We don’t want to dictate on how to raise your kids or live your lives so whatever is posted on this page is what we feel is best for our family. The world today is governed by stress, technology and well …..fries. We plan to get back to our roots and cherish what means most to us. Life.