A "B" for Bank...
In March 2018, we began visiting the boats and became aware of the scope of the subject. Although we target ads in the Mediterranean, those that interest us are widely disseminated: a Dufour 455 in Toulon, a Bavaria 44 in Barcelona, a GibSea 442 in Sicily, a Bavaria 44 in Port Saint-Louis a Dufour 45 Classic in Sète, a Bénéteau 50 in Agde, another in Perpignan, a Dufour 44 in Hyères... All this will take us a little time and energy. And it undermines our overall budget, in which we had not integrated prospecting expenses. It is the learning of the intensive use of the Blue Card. Boat, it starts with a "B", as a bank; one does not go without the other.
Brokers: not all equal
We also learn to talk to brokers. Most of those we spoke with were very professional and helpful. One of them, for example, listened patiently to us to fully understand our project, when he had no boat to sell that matched our needs. He gave us advice in our steps, explained how the second-hand market works, the right buying periods, the details to which we had to pay attention. His advice was invaluable to us afterwards. The one by which (later in the year) we will buy our boat was also exemplary in its reactivity and clarity.
Beware of unpleasant surprises
On the other hand, as every herd has its black sheep, the profession has its black sheep and we have experienced this: by regularly leafing through the classified ads, we end up familiarizing ourselves with some of them. A Bénéteau 50 has been watching us from the beginning, but the price indicated on the ad is a little high for us. After three months, we think that the seller might give a small discount on the initial price. We call the broker and he has no words tender enough to describe the condition of the boat, its plethora of equipment (including a new hydrogen generator, which has never been used), the care of its owners who unfortunately have to leave it because of illness. To top it all off, he thinks he can get a significant discount on the price displayed. The dream! I suggest he come and see this rare gem. No luck, the boat is in fairing, it would be better to come back in a month when it is in the water. I insist, but no, there are insurance problems and the boat is covered anyway. In a month, I tell you! I still pass over the fairing area in question and see the object of the desire. This one is more like the broken mouth of the Great War than the racehorse: the keel half smashed, the hull delaminated, a poor resin make-up on the most damaged points. The purchase price would not even cover the cost of the work. I'm glad I went to see it. As for my opinion on the broker in question, I let you guess..
The expert's eye
We continue our visits. I am usually the one who travels (or Lionel as a scout, when it is near his home), because Léopoldine lacks expertise in this field. Regularly, on weekends, I take a TGV ticket to reach the shores of Mare Nostrum.
Then by train, ferry or plane, I move away from the city of Sens and explore the ports of the Mediterranean with Lionel, whose technical knowledge is considerable. It detects problems almost immediately. One day, we visit a Dufour 45 Classic and he notices that the monitors do not exactly have their usual profile. He discreetly told me that the boat hit the ground even though it was probably very well repaired. We ask the seller if he is aware of an accident and he answers us in the negative with aplomb. When we point out to him that the stratification at the keel level is not the original one, he explains a little embarrassed that he did, he made a slight heel and that he made a preventive repair. Obviously we lose all confidence in this seller and we move on. This event finished convincing me of the need for an expert.
My boat? It's the most beautiful in the world!
What is great when you call a salesman is that his boat is always in perfect condition, it is always the ideal boat for my program. " Any work? It's not necessary, trust me, I've been in the business for thirty years From that moment on, a long administrative battle began. Several news comes to me while I am at sea, on a ferry or on a charter. "The boat will be destroyed" or "It is not possible to save it". So many messages that try to make me give up, but that was without counting my tenacity and the love I have for this sailboat. Looking back, I now know that a bunch of predators were orbiting my beautiful girl. I put my boat up for sale, but if I don't sell it at the right price, I will keep it. I'm so attached to it! ". Why then put it up for sale? The syllogism of this argument, although heard ten times, has always amused us.
It is only when you visit the sailboat that you become aware of its real state. It soon becomes clear that boats, whatever they are, always require work. Not all of them are equipped for offshore navigation and when they are, it is necessary to upgrade the solar panels, the wind turbine, the gantry or the batteries... The set of sails must be revised or changed, just like the engine... Not to mention everything that we do not see.
The power of photos
It is difficult to travel all over Europe, so I try to find competent emissaries to take over from me on the spot. And I ask for pictures, a lot of pictures, a lot of details. I ask questions in writing, many questions, many details. Detailed photos, closed questions. Don't let the salesperson show off his or her sales skills too much. This makes it possible to filter out the boats that justify a trip.
Finally the rare pearl?
We search, we visit, but we don't find. Until we came across two ads, for two Gib'Sea boats: a 472, based in Corsica and a 442, based in Sicily. We quickly eliminate the second one, because the seventy photos sent show us a boat in average condition, while the overall photos of the ad were much more promising. On the other hand, we are very interested in the 472!
The telephone and electronic exchanges we have with the broker tell us more about the boat. Built in 1994, it has never been damaged. It has belonged for twelve years to a group of professional skippers associated and owners of three boats, who sell one-week trips to Corsica and Sardinia, to the cabin (customers rent a cabin for the week, without knowing who the other passengers will be), or to the week (customers, in groups, rent the entire boat). The service includes the skipper, so that the boat is always operated by a skipper who knows his boat perfectly and who maintains it regularly (a breakdown would represent a significant loss of income for the structure). We don't know much about the previous owners. The mainsail and genoa are mounted on furlers, a new symmetrical spinnaker has never been used. It has a gantry on which two 90W solar panels are mounted, a 420Ah battery park. Electronics is not the latest generation. The original engine, an 80hp Perkins, has been replaced by a 100hp Yanmar with 3900 hours. The old-fashioned annex is powered by a relatively new Torqeedo electric motor. The standing rigging is seven years old and the last survival review is valid until 2021.
The owners intend to use the boat until the end of the summer. It will therefore only be available from September 2018. The posted selling price is in line with the quotation and the owners, convinced of its fair value, do not wish to sell it for an amount lower than the posted price.
Tacum enters our lives
For once, it is Leopoldine who will visit him in Ajaccio in May 2018 with Lionel. We are on holiday with my parents in Hyères the week before, but professional constraints force me to go back to Sens with the children. She therefore took a ferry from Toulon with Lionel and both arrived on the quay of the port Charles Ornano, at the Gib'Sea called Tacum IV. There they meet Pierre (the broker) and the current owner of the boat. On board, they examined the slightest details, lifted the floors, inspected the hull and deck, listened to the hum of the big diesel, unrolled the sails that slammed in the breeze as it rose, and checked the francisation act. Between two photos for the report I asked them to do, Lionel gives Leopoldine confident and positive winks, while the broker and the salesman talk about the weather in the cockpit.
Sound with points of detail to review
Admittedly, the boat deserves a big clean shot, the electronics date from the era of sailing, the gooseneck is to be changed, the electrical circuit seems to have been attacked by an unscrupulous handyman, but it gives an impression of robustness and safety. He is healthy. Lionel owned two of the forty-nine GibSea 472s built, so it's a boat he knows well. And this one, despite being twenty-four years old, is in good condition and will not require colossal preparation to be ready to go on the high seas.
After two hours of meticulous and detailed analysis, Lionel and Léopoldine set foot ashore, in the company of the broker. The first raindrops, heralding the coming storm, pushed them into a bistro where an outdated jukebox was playing Tino Rossi's choruses. Hidden from Pierre's gaze, Léopoldine tapped a message on her phone for me I think it's okay, it's him ". Why then put it up for sale? The syllogism of this argument, although heard ten times, has always amused us.
A few hours later, the uncle and niece boarded the ferry that was to take them back to Toulon at night. But Zeus or one of his own (unless it was Lucifer himself?), offended at having let them win this event so easily, decided to take his revenge and sounded the charge of the elements. The wind exceeds fifty knots, six-metre waves crush the sides of the ferry as it tries to make its way through the raging sea. Leopoldine will spend an endless night, sick.
