Going from sailing Selene to selling Selene so we could afford to buy our 56'

Sailing Selene

At the young age of 2 our daughter stopped taking daily naps. So on special occasions hubby and I take a long drive to get her to sleep during the day. Yesterday was one such occasion. After staying up late with her friends (we had a sleep over) she was having troubles being a ‘normal’ child. She went from happy kid to insane kid every few minutes. Furthermore, we had plans to see a fireworks display in the evening. Sienna would never last if a ‘forced’ nap wasn’t instigated.

So hubby and I put Sienna in her car seat and drove for a half hour to get a coffee and then drove back. She passed out within a few minutes. During our journey, Reg, the guy selling our current boat, gave us a ring. Unbeknown to us he had just finished showing our boat to an interested party. Additionally, Reg explained that he had a few others already expressing an interest.

We only put our boat up for sale last week!

Both hubby and I quietly wondered if we’d be able to sell Selene before we even buy the new boat. Ironically, we paid the deposit on the new boat earlier in the day. The deposit amount equates roughly to the amount we’ll get for selling the whole of Selene. That demonstrates the large jump in boat size/value that we’re making. Yikes.

For part of our negotiations for the new boat, our broker helped us to get a deferred payment written into the contract. In other words, we’re aiming to buy the boat in December however 10% will be held back and has to be paid the following August. The reason we did this comes down to selling Selene. We really couldn’t realistically afford our trip without selling our current boat and we didn’t know how long it would take (for her to sell). We thought that Selene would sell before August so the deferred payment gave us the confidence to say ‘yes’ to the deal.

If Selene sells now, we can simply buy the new boat outright and don’t have to worry about the 10% deferred payment. That would be cool. Both hubby and I had a giddy feeling inside.

Interestingly, Reg, the guy that’s selling our boat, use to own Selene

Sometimes I feel that reality is stranger than fiction because you just couldn’t make this stuff up.

Last year Hubby, Sienna and I were moored up in Cowes, Isle of White, England and hubby started talking to some boat owners that had the same make boat as ours. Later that day, the boat owners caught up with us and explained that they met an ex-owner of our boat at the Southampton Boat Show. Apparently, they were sitting at a bar and got talking to the guy next to him. They mentioned their boat and the guy explained, ‘Oh – I use to own one of those too – her name was Selene.’

The boat owners moored up to us told us the story and then passed over Selene’s ex-owners details and hubby rang him to catch up. We kept in contact and kept saying that we must meet up.

A few months later, we finally met up with the ex-owner, Reg. He brought over his photo album of Selene in Greece when he took her down to the Mediterranean. It was great to see the voyages that our precious boat has been on! And it was so nice to meet a previous owner. There can be such a shared passion and love when you have a common ownership over a boat.

One thing led to another and Reg mentioned that he brokers boat sales as a hobby. Hubby and I made a note of his hobby and thought that perhaps in the far future he can help us find a new home for Selene. Little did we know that we’d be calling Reg so soon. Within months of meeting him, hubby was asking him to help us out. The rest is history.

My good friend made a picture video of us on Selene. If you’d like to see it, click here: Video of Selene

Read my next instalment of my journey here: Sea trials and the survey – the night before we meet our dream yacht