20 February 2011

After entertaining several less than acceptable offers for Catspaw and one offer that turned sour, we eventually concluded her proper sale in January of 2010. This sale came none to soon, as we had already contracted to move into a retirement community in Medford, OR, beginning in March. (Someday, I will add a description of this incredibly hectic several months of our lives, in which we managed to sell both boat and house, dispose of or pack our many remaining possessions, and travel 3600 miles across country to our new home, two cars in caravan, each with a trailer in tow.)

Catspaw's new owner, Valentin Argirov, is a Bulgarian diesel mechanic, working in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is enthusiastic about Catspaw, technically astute, resourceful, and, like Catspaw's previous owner, just a little bit crazy. My strong reservations notwithstanding, he somehow made it home to Santo Domingo from Fort Lauderdale via the Old Bahama Channel, sailing singlehanded against both wind and current! We wish him well with his plans for Catspaw and hope to hear further from him regarding her new adventures.

To adapt this subsite to the new reality that Catspaw is no longer for sale, I have removed the Sales Details section from the Offering page and renamed this page, Summary Description. Consonant with this modification, I have also renamed the previous Description page, Detailed Description. These pages together provide an extensive pre-sale description of Catspaw (as of January, 2010). As Catspaw's then home is no longer her home (and is also no longer for sale), I have also unlinked the Current Home page. Finally, to provide what I hope will be a useful reference for the new owner, I have retained the link to the Owner's Comments page, renaming it Pre-Sale Comments.

From this point forward, this subsite will be devoted primarily to completing the story of Catspaw as we have lived it prior to 2010.

10 October 2009

There comes a time in every cruising sailor's life when he decides that it's time to swallow the anchor and leave the cruising life to others more robust and energetic. And so it is that we now look to parting with our beloved 36' cruising ketch, Catspaw. We brought her to life some forty years ago in a driveway in South Miami, and she has been enabling and enriching our lives ever since.

The purposes of this website (subsite) are twofold. Short term, I want to provide a relatively complete description of Catspaw for the prospective buyer. Long term, in celebration of the many adventures and good times we have enjoyed aboard her as a family, I would like to tell her full (and I think memorable) story.

These purposes are somewhat compatible, but not entirely so. The more information a prospective buyer has about Catspaw, the better he can judge how well she will satisfy his particular needs. But the more I drone on about her, particularly on historical issues peripheral to the sale, the more likely I am to lose his attention.

There are currently six primary subsections of this Catspaw website, accessed by clicking the first line of links at the bottom of this page. The Offering page provides a summary description of Catspaw and lists pertinent specifications and sales details. The Description page provides, stem to stern, above and below decks, a detailed description of Catspaw and her subsystems, accompanied by multiple photos. The Early History, World Cruise, and More Recent History pages summarize Catspaw's long history, describing both her triumphs and her misfortunes. Finally, the Owner's Comments page discusses various practical issues that should be of interest to the prospective buyer.

Our home in Fort Lauderdale is also for sale and provides an ideal base of operations for Catspaw. A seventh subsection of this Catspaw website is included in the off chance that the prospective buyer might be interested in acquiring both Catspaw and her Current Home.

The prospective buyer should read carefully the Offering and Description pages. If further interested, he should then at least skim the three history pages and read carefully the Owner's Comments.

Contact information is included on the Offering page.