Deliveries

April 27

You can't fedex a boat.  Well, you *can* ship them but the cost would likely rival that of the boat itself.  9 times outta 10, the boat that you want to buy won't be in your local marina; it may not even be in your country, or your hemisphere.  Most sane people, this author obviously excluded, don't want to sail across oceans or go "the hard way" (against wind/current), ever.  Sailing is supposed to be fun.  But they still want their boat home, so they employ a Delivery crew to get it there. 

Bubas' owner employed Oly and Jean as delivery skippers.  Jean brought Elze along for company, and I managed to talk my way on as an extra (unpaid) hand for the long Pacific passage. 

With very few exceptions, deliveries are not fun, they're not supposed to be fun.  There's a deadline, usually, which means little or no island exploring or "cruising".  Delivery crews often face the worst weather, as they don't have the luxury of waiting for the right time to go.  There's a budget for provisions, which means pretty basic meals.  And there's a pretty much constant fear that you're going to be the one to break something on this boat that isn't yours or even a friend of yours.  If it's a recently purchased boat, as Bubas is, chances are there won't be much on board in the way of spare parts or tools that tend to accumulate over the years.  So, if something goes wrong it's pretty darn tricky if not impossible to fix.  If it hasn't been sailed much recently, other sort of "standard-issue" stuff may not be on board either, like red interior lights for nighttime or jack lines for the deck. 

If I'd have had my "druthers", I wouldn't be on a delivery, but as a beggar I couldn't be a chooser in Panama, so delivering Bubas is how this gal is getting across the Pacific, to Tahiti anyway.