Anacortes Nauticat sailor

[Korvessa]

Hello Cruisers!

I've lurked occasionally in your community as a guest, but figured it was about time to register and say hello. I have contributed for years on Sailnet as well under the name "Medsailor."

Me? Why thanks for asking! I'm obsessed with boats and began this obsession about 15 years ago by buying a 31ft custom wooden sloop to live on. I lived on her for about 6 years in Seattle and cruised (on an absolute shoestring budget) as far as Desolation sound on a 4.5 month trip. I loved that boat, but now call myself "a recovering wooden boat owner." Never again.

My wife and I bought a Formosa 41 together and lived aboard her for 4 years or so in Seattle and Anacortes WA. We kept her for a couple more years until 2 years ago when the arrival of kids, and an improved financial situation, caused us to gaze at boats with more "kid friendly features."

We found the Sparkman and Stephens designed Nauticat 40 to our liking and bought a feature-rich, ketch rigged specimen from Florida and shipped her to the west coast. A long saga ensued which involved shipping damage, a ruined engine, over a year in the yard and much work with insurance companies.

We're now, 2 years after buying the boat, hopefully past that part and are looking forward to plying our local waters. We have a an 18 month old boy and a 3.5 year old boy, and we are finding cruising with kids this age to be very different than before. Much harder so far, but differently rewarding as well.

In 6 years, we want to take about 5 years off and sail down the west coast of the USA, down to mexico for a while, then go circumnavigate Australia.

Korvessa

PS My claim to fame is that my Nauticat came built from the factory with a Sauna. Yes, really. I guess in Finland it's not such a big thing, but here it gives me bragging rights.

[Korvessa]

Here is a photo of our boat. It's a wonderful photo taken by a professional photographer named Charles Guldner who was sharing the anchorage with us. He was so pleased with the photo that he flagged us down the next day to give us this, and one other photo for free. Thanks Charles!

[Panope]

Greetings and welcome to the forum Korvessa.

I'll keep an eye out for ya and give a wave if/when we cross paths (I am based at Port Townsend).

Cheers,

Steve

[Korvessa]

Thanks for the welcome Steve! Also, thank you for all your hard work with the anchoring videos you've been posting. The videos you've made are by far the best footage and cover the broadest scope (pun intended) of anchors that I've yet seen. It's so valuable to see, for example, how an anchor responds to a 180 degree swing.

I was an early adopter of the Mantus and started a thread on Sailnet about it that helped Mantus get off the ground. It's nice to see that your tests line up with my personal experience, which is that it's a good setting and holding anchor.

Cheers!
Korvessa