For Sale: Special Blue Water Cruiser Ready To Take You Anywhere You Want

[Celestialsailor]

I enjoy the ability you have to let water roll off your back...

[yachtmirage]

Hi, and thanks. I appreciated having water roll off my back when I was underwater in the cockpit after a big wave. Myles PS For what it is worth, if you are out on the water long enough your luck will run out one day. Better be prepared. No guts no glory!!

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by yachtmirage

Hi Rainforest and all the others responding to my thread here. Americans are real workaholics(I'm in that category myself) and aren't out there(Blue Water) having fun for the first time in their lives. Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians, etc. seem more willing to take chances and leave the future to take care of itself. Cruisers have each others back and the international community is like nothing you will ever experience. And yes I'm painfully aware of the difficult economy for the last 40 years. I wouldn't insure an older boat these days. Also I wouldn't pay $700K for the boat I have now. MIRAGE would have been long gone except for plain bad luck. I spent over $100K to ship it from New Zealand and refit it so when I was a younger man (75 years) we could add groceries and take off for 4 months to go see Alaska and British Columbia. I worked till I was 70 so I could afford it. I would just like someone who will appreciate it to buy it. We are very flexible on price but don't need a lot of hassle at our age. If we had chartered every place we have been, it would have been millions of dollars, so if I didn't get a dime for the boat I would not have room to gripe. Thanks for the input and best of luck to all of you in your endeavors. Myles and Sandy

Having run American operations , two things always struck me. I wouldn’t have they are workaholics , what they are is terrified by lack of job security laws and the reliance on employment related health cover.

This means Americans are reluctant to take vacation , worried that their job won’t be there when they return. ( I had to virtually order staff to go on vacation at times ?

Other nations have generous labour protection laws , medical care that’s independent of employment and generous state financed pension arrangements etc.

This tends to feed a work till your dead mentality.

Secondly in a big country with little vacation many Americans want to see the US first before venturing overseas, though that attitude has changed in recent decades.

[yachtmirage]

Hello Nelson3452 you replied to my thread(#1) about your friend in Maine who had a Gale Force 34 named Plieone that you thought was a great boat. I finally found the info on it. Although it was in great shape it was not cruise equipped as much as mine. It sold for $89K after a long wait. I am almost $20K under that with no sales tax for most buyers. Thanks for bringing Plieone to my attention. Regards Myles and Sandy

[yachtmirage]

Thanks to everyone of you for your input. We are going to relist our boat with a broker very shortly. Our only disappointment was no cruising couple ever responded to our offer. I guess we are a dying breed after all. Good luck in your cruising endeavors, you will never regret it. Last call! Myles and Sandy

[Celestialsailor]

Sorry it didn’t work out for you here. However, I have not seen a whole lot sell here either. Maybe because it is location sensitive. The other is dreamers can come here and well…keep dreaming. At least at a brokerage if people come to see it, it shows they have some serious interest. Good luck with the sale.

[boatman61]

To much negativity about long keel double enders on here, everyone's into big cockpits and walk through transom.
Let's face it, bar the odd 'I want to sail around the world' dreamer most people's thoughts of an ocean voyage is from Miami to the Bahamas.. a day sail that somehow needs meticulous planning to avoid 3ft+ sea's.
Hope you find a sailor for her soon..

[Raincoast]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Sorry it didn’t work out for you here. However, I have not seen a whole lot sell here either. Maybe because it is location sensitive. The other is dreamers can come here and well…keep dreaming. At least at a brokerage if people come to see it, it shows they have some serious interest. Good luck with the sale.

It’s been listed on multiple regional Craigslists and other relevant places for many months, they were not relying solely on CF to advertise it - only to moan.

[yachtmirage]

Hi Raincoast, you are correct in that MIRAGE has been listed on many different sites this past year. I'm not moaning about this particular forum. It is a very valuable resource for the cruising community and I wish it had been around when we first started looking for a great sailboat. There have been very few Gale Forces built and not many sold the past 20 years. Ours just happened to be the best equipped for long distance sailing which is what we used it to accomplish. It has been an emotional experience to let go of something that has literally saved our lives many times over, perhaps the only constant in our adult lives of something we always could count on for refuge. Only old timers can probably appreciate that comment. Our biggest regret is not being able to pass it on to someone else who'd appreciate it and see the many wonders we experienced. So fair winds to all of you. No Guts no Glory. Myles and Sandy

[Idaho]

I posted early in this thread. The seller gave the info I asked, but the ask price was too high for my budget.

So I began a road trip to Seattle and surrounding, then to Bay Area. My budget had me looking at neglected boats. In the PNW the boats had moss, mold, and mildew, in addition to the usual time-decay of boats in general. The same was found to a lesser extent in the Bay Area.

So I went to San Diego where the climate is friendlier. Those boats I saw were better, but needed a lot of work, or were missing needed, expensive cruising gear.

So I went to Guaymas & San Carlos, Sonora, in mainland Mexico. The one that drew me there was painted nice, looked good on the outside, so before the seller showed up I asked the yard how long it was out of the water? Twenty years. That is 20 summers of 110-120f sun-baking for months. Inside a ton of small jobs were needed. It has 100s of misc spares, and all with rubber are useless. It was the proverbial lipstick on a pig.

Then a local broker in San Carlos showed me a 1983 Morgan Out Island 41, cruise equipped. The ask was $59,900. We settled at $45,000, which was dipping into my cruise kitty a bit too deep, but after all the crappy boats I saw, it was a fair price to pay.

The surveyor took an oil sample for analysis, his immediate comment was, Its a very nice boat. That made my day. The lab said no engine damage on the 5,000 hour Perkins 4.154. Surveyor said with proper maintenance and care, it will go another 5,000.

The Mirage being sold here is likely a nicer, better equipped cruiser, but it is smaller; and when I began my 7,000 mile road trip to Seattle and beyond to buy a cruising sailboat, the seller's ask was too far above my means, and I would not insult him with a crazy lowball offer.

I wish the best of luck to them that they will sell their fine boat soon.

[MarcSherman]

I will be in Seattle mid-June/daughter's graduation from UW.
Any chance that you folks will be around the week of 13 June?
Are we allowed to call each other in this forum?

Cheers,
Marc

[yachtmirage]

Hi we should be around that week. Our email is yachtmirage@yahoo.com

We can give you our phone number if you are still interested. Enjoy Seattle and your daughter's graduation. Myles

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by MarcSherman

I will be in Seattle mid-June/daughter's graduation from UW.
Any chance that you folks will be around the week of 13 June?
Are we allowed to call each other in this forum?

Cheers,
Marc

Hi Marc...welcome to the forum. If you click on the posters name, a box will come up with a private message box. You might want to start there.

[MarcSherman]

Thanks!

[yachtmirage]

Hi Marc, will send you a private message. Myles