Going into 2008!

Consistent with the approaching NEW YEAR there is a new Calendar posted on our website at: http://www.yachtsls.com Once again ‘HELLO’ to all those whom we didn’t see at the Whitby & Brewer Rendezvous in Annapolis just prior to the infamous Boat Show!

The Rendezvous committee was invited back to the location at the homes of the late Dr. Bruce Rankin, at the invitation of Linda, his daughter and Pat Drenning, neighbor and resident on the adjoining property and also an owner of Whitby 42 #43, Westering Home. He is now on his way south to enjoy his winter in the keys, I believe near Marathon. Virginia continues to upgrade and enjoy the Whitby 42 #130, Morning Light, on the Chesapeake that she and Dr. Rankin sailed much further distances together. As usual, the members bonded together to share a very intimate wealth of new experiences, problem solving and remedies, along with some specialized presentations from invited speakers. If you have never made it to one of these events, you should make an effort rather by land or sea, to come and share.

The membership website is at; http://www.bcpl.net/~bcboykin/whitby_home2.htm

Or http://www.whitby42brewer.org

And the Whitby 42 Forum is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhitbyBrewerSailboats/

Several new owners of recent years as well as a few more seasoned ones are underway to head south. Joe & Sarah are aboard “WINDREKA III”, Larry Donaldson and wife Janet with daughter & son Clare & Graham and their trick poodle, Beau, are all on “STAR SHADOW”. David Groves is moving on down also to the sensible warmth of the south, with his wife, Haille aboard “Shamal”. I must add she is a very talented individual having achieved on a hobby basis, levels of competence in many areas from which their Whitby will benefit. Ted & Alice Schimpff have departed Annapolis aboard ‘WINDSONG’. I believe Greg Temple and Judy are also underway but began with a head start from Brunswick, GA along with a few others underway too! Jane Witherspoon and Brian Stewart aboard Pilgrim who left the upper Great Lakes a couple of years ago have done their trip south an then some. After enduring very challenging weather the arrived in England this winter via an unplanned stop in Bermuda, a stop in the Azores and then up to Ireland and now England where they are on the hard for the winter! They are back here on the continent and hope to be talking to them over the next few weeks! Jim and Karen Anderson aboard their Whitby 42, Northern Reach have departed the great Lakes too, with a very well dressed vessel featuring a very nice hard fixed windshield and dodger. With their cats they are off for their targeted period of enjoyment ahead of their permanent retirement to the sea!

Many of the above have websites and or blogs about their trips and if you contact me, I can supply those URLs etc or get you connected if you want to learn more about their experiences. Since your issues in preparing for a long trip are usually very similar, their experience is very relative due to the time of the information when it comes to electronics, and their knowledge of current hardware and where it is available.

A little less romantic, Chris Lewis bought a Whitby 42 in Jacksonville, FL last January and shipped it back to Toronto and is living aboard “Shon’jir” year around but looks forward to the great shift south at the end of his working career! Lion’s Paw, now owned by Marg & Steve Colquhoun, are on the hard, and soon to be very hard yard in Penetang Ontario, where winter temperatures and high winds are not kind to boats or people and they too, are looking forward to the trip south also in the not to distant future.

Alex Magnone, having operated his business in Whitby for the years following the retirement of Kurt & Doris Hansen & Whitby Boat Works Limited, has finally reached retirement status and age this year. Alex had spent most of his working years at Whitby being responsible for the Alberg 37 line as well as being the master craftsman for all custom work on the Whitby 42, Whitby 45 and the Whitby 55. He has since redone our Cabin Sole and this winter is taking on redoing to original standards Andy Skerlec’s Sliding Hatches for Toberua II. If you have projects that need special talent, contact me and I will get you in touch with him.

For those of you who receive this letter and are future owners of a Whitby to take you away on your planned retirement and or adventure, I can tell you that for a host of reasons, there are some Whitby 42s and Brewers for sale that are available at attractive prices and circumstances. Naturally, a 20+ year boat at a low price won’t be new and pristine as would be a higher priced one, but there is nothing new there. What is exciting is that those with 3 or 4 owners preparing for their time-away, have upgrades to their infrastructure that are very important and necessary. New rigging, new sails, new or rebuilt engines and or generators along with refrigeration and air conditioning systems, ground tackle and fresh water service and generation along with fuel cleaning systems are all current generation equipment that improves your enjoyment on that getaway. All the great reasons that always existed are still there but some of these items awesome and add substantially to your enjoyment but also come attached to vessels reasonably priced and will stand to a tough survey if they have been kept up to date. There is not a big premium for electronics due to the very quick updates and changes in that category, but when you look at the basics, the Whitby 42 still stands to the cruising requirements for being a vessel that will provide safe and comfortable long distance cruising with lots of amenities!

For Instance, I recently had 2 new hips installed (infrastructure Improvements as I would call them), and I enjoyed getting back aboard Toberua II and when it turned out to be a rather blustery day with a few flashes in the sky, I found it to be comfortable, safe and very manageable. As I see Bernie Boykin, the Editor in Chief for the Association Newsletter and lots more, also having a few infrastructure improvements, and still doing a turn on his Whitby 42 as well as the tennis court, I am convinced that I too, can have many more years of enjoyment aboard the Whitby 42. So don’t get intimidated too soon.

As has been the experience over the last years, there are about 8 to 10% of the Whitby 42 and Brewer 12.8s out there for sale at any given time. Like all vessels 20 years old or so, most need a thorough inspection of their basics, including the traditional survey by a well qualified surveyor, a sail inspection by a sail loft if warranted and most importantly, an oil analysis of major components taken in your presence, namely the transmission and crankcase of the main motor as well as the crankcase of the generator if one present. All Seacox* need to have their operation proven also. With these great equalizers, your Whitby should provide many years of enjoyment for you or the next owner! Ancillary equipment needs to be carefully assessed also but with these behind you, it only leaves the bolt-on inventory and the plug-in accessories to be checked. Out of Warranty or five years is pretty well the limit on fine electronics for value assessment, after that is simply a blessing and I have known some of these to be operational 20 years and more! So once you have made the plan to abandon your Whitby for a different recreational career, concentrate budget on infrastructure and some curbside appeal as in real estate and hopefully she will stand you well in the market place.

As Sailors mature, many opt to change their lifelong pursuit to closer destinations in a Trawler. To serve those people, I have accumulated a small number of respectable Trawlers and continue to focus on Whitby 42s and Brewer 12.8s at the same time! If you have interest in a Trawler while selling your Whitby 42 or similar, I would be glad to be of help!

My Calendar for 2008 is now posted on my Website at http://www.yachtsls.com and click on CALENDAR. The vessel shown is the same as last posting, namely Bob & Ruth Kramer’s, but now owned and sailed by Dale Kramer, their son and remaining on the Chesapeake for now! With luck the calendar will print out on 8.5” X11”, and if not let us know so we can fix it to work with the various Browsers!

If you have a particular topic of factory information discussed or story you would like to present, please be in touch. You will see me insert my knowledge from time to time on the Whitby & Brewer Association Forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WhitbyBrewerSailboats/ signed as below. Happy winter sailing to all!

May clean diesel and fair winds be yours, Douglas!

If you know of anyone who would like to be on our email list to receive these News and Share letters direct, please have them drop me a note. Thank You