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We purchased "Imagine" in the summer of 2003 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I'd been unable to find a suitable (and still affordable) cruising-worth vessel in the Northwest, so began looking elsewhere. I'd actualy gone to Puerto Vallarta to look at a Whitby 42, but after spending a day going over her, determined she was "too far gone" to be worth the money and effort required to make her ready for offshore cruising. I'd seen come across Imagine on Yachtworld, but decided I didn't want a walkover centercockpit, so didn't pursue it further. While riding around in the brokers speedboat looking at the other listings he had, he pointed out Imagine, but I misjudged his angle and thought he was pointing at a Corbin, and I stated that's not the style of boat I was looking for.... Kellie saw Imagine on the brokers website, and spent a frustrating day trying to contact me. (Frustrating for her... I'd concluded there wasn't a boat here for us, switched into vacation mode and had gone off to explore Puerto Vallarta). Eventually I called home, and she stated in no uncertain terms that there was a boat for us here, and I'd better go see it! Funny, that - I'd spend many hundreds of hours over the last few years researching cruising boats, trying to determine where prices are best, what boat would be best, etc. etc. so I'd "know" when I found the right one. Kellie picked out our boat in a few hours... Yeah, well I still had to determine if she was right! The broker took me to her, and I knew within 30 seconds that I'd (we'd) found our boat. Imagine just "felt right". I spend the next two days inspecting every bit, and came up with a long list of thing found wanting. Negotiations ensued was presented, another "work" trip to PV was planned to prepare her for the trip home, and many details were worked out over the next month. My dad came with me both trips and was an invaluable source of labor and encouragement! My parents had offered to deliver Imagine as far north as San Francisco, and I'd planned to fly down with crew to take her from there. A neighbor/friend of theirs that was looking for a bit of adventure, and he arrived to join the fun. Mom flew down to meet us at the end of or "work party", and started sorting out the mess that the boys had made. She provisioned, we re-fueled, and I had to leave for home to go back to work. And so the trip home begins... |