Plan C    

With COVID 19 raging all we could do is comb the boat adds and enjoy our own boat in Southern California. We talked to Ian at South Coast Yachts about a Jeanneau 490, a design award winning boat we really liked, but it did not perform well for us under sail. In the fall of  2020 South Coast Yachts hosted a Jeanneau show in San Diego. As the search continued, we made plans with Ian to attend, hoping to see a Jeanneau Yacht 51, and went even after learning the Yacht 51 would not be at the show.


Raft up in Goleta Bay with Shoreline Yacht Club

Rascal docked at San Diego Yacht Club

There was confusion about where the show was, which broker was hosting, and who we were meeting with that day. Simply say we eventually found the show and met Dan Krier of Marine Service Center, the new authorized Jeanneau dealer in San Diego. Dan very patiently walked us through a great presentation of the Jeanneau Yacht 51 (JY51) and answered all of our questions. He sold us on the boat, but we needed to sail it before placing an order.

We kept in touch with Dan and looked for an opportunity to sail the boat. I retired December of 2020 and in March we headed off on a 2 month road trip to ski, visit relatives , and tour some states we had not yet been to. While on the road Dan contacted us and said he could get us on the JY51 in Seattle so we added Seattle as a waypoint at the end of our travels and scheduled to meet May 10, 2021!  In April we got a call from Dan saying that in order to secure the current pricing we needed to sign a contract and put some money down; prices were going to go up 3% in May. We agreed with the caveat that we could back out at no cost after we sailed the boat in May.

We arrived in Seattle on a clear day with a light breeze. We met Mike and Linda on Wicked a 2018 JY51. They had sailed her to Alaska and all over the NW. Dan joined us as we walked all through the boat for the first time. It was as awesome as we had hoped. We motored out to the sound and brought up the sails. The breeze was about 9-12 knots, but the boat moved well and the helm felt very responsive. We did a few tacks and gibes as we made our way back to the dock. Before we left we had signed on the bottom line and ordered a boat.




Now came the test of patience.  The boat was scheduled for an April 26, 2022 delivery.

So what do you do while you wait...


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