February 2016 Update. Murre has sold. — March 2015 Update New Photos Added Included in this repost of my November, 2014 description of Murre are a number of current interior and detail photographs. These shots were taken March 7, 2015 and can be found by scrolling to the bottom of this article.   November 18,, Read More

The phone rang but once before Kevin, the broker, picked up. “Of course, no one is pleased with this decision,” he said. Two trips to Florida, a Figure 8 boat found, offer accepted, deposit wired, a sloshy sea trial and a thorough survey. Then two days at home entirely at my desk, working and reworking the sums, Read More

In the previous post I mentioned extending my Figure 8 boat search range beyond the west coast of the US and Canada. Just so, this week finds me in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There are three boats here that hold promise but that are different from one another: two are steel, one is aluminum; two are cutters,, Read More

In September I promised the Figure 8 Voyage Board of Directors—a body ably chaired by my wife and comprised of her as well—that a Figure 8 vessel would be secured by year’s end. Now it is January 9, and I remain like Ishmael upon the strand searching the horizon for a ship. Except I don’t get to the strand much. Instead, Read More

The holidays. Five airports, four families, three American states, two babies but oodles of kiddos, dogs and cats and hikes and boomerang lessons and Shrek reruns and bike rides and obligatory feasting, and one all-out good time. A nice break from planning an expedition. But am now back at my desk. The rain that pummeled the bay, Read More

Then the unexpected happened. A steel yacht came for sale in my neighborhood, which is to say, Sausalito. From the beginning, serious contenders for the Figure 8 have been in short supply, and even extending my scope to the entirety of North America’s western coast has netted only the boats discussed here. Not a large field and none, Read More

After a lovely evening with Chris and Rani, I caught the next-day ferry to Friday Harbor, here to see an actual Amazon 44. I first became aware of this Amazon, named Nomadness, while researching the Fastwater, and once found, I was taken in by her subtle lines and the vast amount I could learn about her without, Read More

The day after viewing the Amazon 39 saw me early aboard the Clipper Ferry for Victoria. Rain and heavy wind in Puget Sound. The purser urged us to expect “strong motion” as we entered the Straits of Juan de Fuca. “Sea sickness tablets are available at the counter,” she said, “25 cents a packet.” For me these, Read More

  What defines an able high latitude boat varies by what one defines as his high latitude area. A vessel that is ideal for Alaska’s Inside Passage might not be what one would choose upon departing the Falklands for South Georgia. Such is the case with the beautiful, sturdy and capable Amazon 39 I inspected in Port Townsend., Read More

  Next day saw me on the Bainbridge Ferry again, this time with a car headed for Poulsbo to see a Waterline 38. One word describes first impressions of this boat: unremarkable. To my eye, her lines were common, thick and high-sided as if drawn with a dull pencil (sorry Ed). But first impressions are unreliable,, Read More

Last week I flew north to inspect potential Figure 8 boats. Over four days I saw five steel and aluminum boats in yards that took me to Seattle, Poulsbo, Port Townsend, Victoria and Friday Harbor. If I’d had the good sense to live nearer the Netherlands, I could have conducted this entire search without ever leaving the sales, Read More

In a few hours I fly to the Pacific Northwest to inspect five prospective Figure 8 Voyage boats. This article describes the search to date, including how my thoughts have evolved since this summer’s Northwest Passage. — “The best boat is the one you have,” is often quoted to illustrate a basic truth about voyaging: as, Read More