Meeting Yuma
The next morning was off to see our new boat! Having learned something from the previous day we split our gear into two lots and took one lot to the station where Frederieke stayed to guard it while I returned for the other lot. That was a bit easier. Not much.
The train trip to Burnham-on-Crouch was easy and comfortable. The only hitch was that when we arrived at a station where we had to switch trains, we stood 20m from our next train trying to figure out which was ours (there was only one) only to realise it was ours as it pulled away. A 30min wait for the next one ensued. Luckily the station had a small kiosk with coffee and cakes.
On arrival in Burnham-on-Crouch we were met at the station by Francine, the half of the yacht broker couple who had managed the sale/purchase process. She loaded us and our luggage into her car and off we went to the marina where we met Grey Wanderer (and soon to be Yuma) and Stephen, the other half of the yacht broker couple.
What to say about our first meeting with Yuma? Well in some respects it was a bit of a non-event – overall she looked exactly as we thought she’d look, inside and out. After such a long time looking for an Ovni it almost felt like a confirmation rather than having finally achieved a goal. Most of all it felt like a relief. Finally, the search for a new boat was over. Here she was, here we were with her and we could now get on with it all after such a long time of dreaming, scheming and preparatory work. Phew.
David meeting Yuma for the first time
We’d never seen a 365 before but even so, after looking at so many photos of so many 365s, 385s, and 395s, she looked how we thought she’d look. But better. Yes, I was anticipating that there would be lots of signs of wear and tear but she looked fantastic, close up and all throughout. The paint work was all in good nick, the woodwork looked great and there were nice owner touches such as lamps, clocks, barometers etc. She almost felt new. This was all a great relief. We had been prepared for it all to be like this by the information from the broker and the previous owners and the surveyor’s report but even so, it was a relief.
One big concern we had had was whether she would be big enough inside. The 395 we’d seen had looked too big, the 385 had looked about right perhaps even a bit tight, but the 365? We’d never seen one. Well, on first impressions we thought she looked about right. Perhaps the v-berth was a bit narrow at the foot but everything else looked big enough and not too big. It’s a tricky balance to strike in a boat, having enough space, sensibly arranged, without going too far. We wanted a boat big enough for all our gear (diving, camera, hiking, music, etc) without continually moving things to access other things, but not so big that the boat got silly to handle, sail and maintain. We thought 40’ was about right for the boat side of things and the smaller the better. In the 365 at 39’ we seem to have hit a sweet spot. Vastly more space than our dear old Tartan 37 and much better arranged for our purposes.
Happy!
