Back to the Beginning

This is the story of how Magic Dragon came into our lives.  It was one of those moments where the stars just seemed to align and propel us along a collision course with destiny.  We had reached the point in our dream to begin to look at boats.  Our youngest daughter was recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery and was between her sophomore and junior years of high school.  We knew that we were 2-3 years away from purchase and we made a deal that we would take one mini vacation each year to go somewhere to look at boats.  We had spent the last several years pouring over books and posts about buying a sail boat and hours sitting in front of a computer screen drooling over Yacht World adds.  We knew that we were looking for something in the 37′ to 42′ range and had an idea of what boats were proven blue water cruisers.  We also knew that we wanted to get the purchase right because we were only going to have one shot at it and we had a limited budget because I refused to finance a dream, meaning we had to be able to pay cash for the boat we were going to buy.  We planned a trip to Seattle to take Jayde and her best friend Taryn to see the sights and get away between the end of swim season and the beginning of volleyball practices and their junior year.  We made a deal with them that we would spend 3 days vacationing and then they had to give us one day to ourselves to look at boats and then on our final day we planned to go out to the Peninsula for breakfast at the Blue Moose in Port Townsend before heading back home.  Things went as planned.  We had loads of fun showing Taryn the touristy hotspots in Seattle and then our day came….Yay.

We spent an entire day with 3 different brokers looking at boats, taking pictures and jotting down notes of what we liked and didn’t like.  Mostly we were disappointed because everything in our price point needed so much work and would probably cost so much more in the long run.  We returned to the hotel discouraged.  Later that night I got on the internet and brought up Craigslist and looked for boats listed there (I know I know….bad idea and we had read over and over Craigslist horror stories) but I managed to find one boat listed that met some of our criteria.  Called the fellow and he said he would  be able to show the boat  the next day.  He told us the boat was at Pleasant Harbor outside of Brinnon and yes it was in the vicinity of Port Townsend.  The next morning we caught the Bainbridge Ferry and began our trek to Brinnon.  Keep in mind that I am from Montana and my knowledge of the geography of Washington is limited so as we are driving through these quaint little communities and farms I am not seeing any water big enough to float a boat the size I was expecting to see.  I have 2 teenage girls in the backseat and we are going to meet a man that I made arrangements to meet over Craigslist. Dave is humming banjo tunes and I am getting more stressed and apprehensive by the moment.  We pass through Brinnon and thank God we see a large body of water but no harbor and no boats.  As we go a little further, looking through the trees we see some masts and I sigh a little.  We see the turn off for Pleasant Harbor and drive into one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  We park the truck and stand in the parking lot looking out over the harbor, the first boat our eyes are drawn to has a beautiful wooden mast.  I took one look at that boat and looked at Dave and said “That’s our boat!”, he replied “You don’t know that you haven’t even been on it and how do you know that is the one we are here to look at?”.  I just knew that was our boat.  As it turned out THAT was the boat we were there to look at.  From the moment I first saw her and then stepped aboard I knew she was the one.  Did she meet all of the criteria no not really.  Were we ready to buy a boat ummm NO we weren’t.  We still had one child in high school.  At any rate, she was thee boat and within moments we were talking about buying her.  We told Mike that we had no intention of financing.  The price was very reasonable, but it would require some finagling on my part and moving of resources to come up with that kind of cash.  It was the second week of August, we agreed to give me until November 1st.  He wouldn’t show the boat anymore until then to give me time to try to come up with the money.  We left feeling almost giddy, we found our boat.  We returned to Montana and by the middle of October, I had juggled resources sufficiently to make the purchase  We made arrangements to come out for sea trials and to have Mike’s friend complete the survey (I know, how many stupid things can you do, an impulse purchase, complete trust in a total stranger, and not knowing very much about boats….ok almost nothing).  We arrived for the sea trials and it was quite blustery.  The entrance to Pleasant Harbor looked to me like it was 12 feet wide and I knew the Magic Dragon was over 11′.  I have to say I was terrified.  John – the fellow who completed the survey offered me the helm but I wanted no part of that nonsense.  I was certain I would crash it into land or sink the silly thing but I still so loved this boat.  It also became very clear to me that there was absolutely nothing in mgy previous life experience that prepared me for sailing or life on the water but I still wanted to embrace this dream.  We left that day owning a sailboat.

Five years ago this coming week we first laid eyes on the Magic Dragon and almost five years to the date from first seeing her, we will begin our voyage down the straits and out into the Pacific Ocean.  This weekend we are back in Pleasant Harbor and they kindly placed her back in her original slip.  We have been surrounded by friends and family as we say our goodbyes.  It just seemed fitting to come back to the beginning.