(Click on pictures to enlarge.)
It seems I have become a two-boat owner again. While searching Craigslist the other day for boats for sale in this area an unbelievably 'cheap' boat showed up. Worse still, it was a make and model I have lusted after for a couple of years, an Albin Ballad. She's a 29' 11" cruiser/racer with fin keel and skeg-hung rudder with, in my eyes, drop-dead beautiful lines.After initial inquiries, it turned out the boat had belonged to a sailor who had passed away a couple of years ago, and the boat had sat in the woods for five years. Yikes!! Before that she had been raced successfully in Vancouver, and had also made a return trip to Hawaii.
Still, I had to see her or I wouldn't sleep at night for wondering if she really was a real bargain. Arrangements were made to view, and we drove up to Nanaimo, caught the ferry across to Gabriola Island, and followed the directions that we'd been given.
Lo and behold, there she was parked on a muddy track, listing a bit to Starboard, covered with dead leaves and branches, and supported by many props, some looking pretty rotten.
