Making the switch

After more than 50 years of sailing, from a Sunfish to a 32’ schooner, from Michigan’s and North Carolina’s inland lakes to the Potomac River, Long Beach (CA) Harbor and Catalina Island, San Diego and Mobile Bays and Pensacola, our latest boat - the schooner, “Mystic Traveler” - was deemed a total loss from damage sustained in Hurricane Sally (September 2020).

We’d already been talking about making the switch to a trawler for the next phase of our boating experience: coastal cruising from New Orleans to the Florida “Forgotten Coast” and the rivers of the Tenn-Tom watershed; so the loss of our schooner seemed like the right time. We started looking and almost immediately found a 1987 Transpac Eagle 32. We made an offer and yesterday it was accepted! So as we transition the schooner to the salvage company, we’ll be finalizing purchase of the Eagle.

We’re looking forward to learning a lot here - where to go, how to do it. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of questions, particularly related to systems and techniques. And I hope I’ll have some value to add along the way.

Thanks for having us!

Welcome. You will see over time that you will have quite a lot of transferable knowledge to dispense to your new dark side fellows.

Welcome aboard.

Welcome aboard

Congratulations on the Eagle....one of my favorite boats!

I made the transition several years ago from sailboat to trawler and have not regretted the choice (although I still love to sail and try to sail whenever possible with friends).

And from Fairhope! One of my favorite towns ever. A treat to explore there.

Welcome and please add your experience and knowledge to help us.

Tim

Welcome aboard Tim!!
Sorry to hear about your sailboat loss, but the bright side is it gave you the opportunity to transition to a trawler. We made the move in 2016. I found there was a bit of a learning curve in several areas, but it is all very doable.
I particularly found close quarters boat handling (docking, etc) to be very different. Our sailboat was a fin keel with a very deep, large rudder with a saildrive. The sailboat backed up very easily and responded to helm anytime there was even a bit of way on. The trawler, not so much. We had a 100 plus foot yacht captain take us out for a day to instruct us, and it made the world of difference.
Good luck with all you have on your plate.