The One That Got Away

My journey started on October there abouts, when I answered a craigs list ad
for a free CM30.

The boat was in OK City, OK, many hours south of Lincoln NE. The guy (I will
later know to be a jerk) had a sailboat and trailer, and he wanted to sell the
trailer, and give away the boat. He had a buyer for the trailer, and the buyer
did not want the Clipper Marine 30.

I talked to the guy and headed his way with a flatbed trailer to convert on
site to a boat trailer.

30 miles from OK City, I loose the trailer, and my trailer receiver hitch
welded to my truck, in a rainstorm. Not exactly sure where I lost the trailer,
as we have never found it.

Long story short, the guy gave the boat to someone else, and I was out two
days of my life, a thousand bucks in diesel fuel, and my flatbed trailer I had
owned 20 years. Sucked. Plus I was out my free sailboat.

Well, the Clipper Marine name burned deep into my soul on that adventure.

Then I came trailor sailor, and Dano offered to sell me his boat. With a catch: His
boat was stuck in winter bound Canada and could not be reached till spring!

I was as comfortable as I could be, waiting for spring. I am still waiting. I
am being patient, as I know Spring is coming.

Then Wallace posts a CM32 for sale, and the wheels in my brain start rolling.
Could I have two huge Clippers? Do I dare?

My mind said no, wait till spring, spring is coming. My mind also said, don't
be stupid, no deal is complete without finishing the deal, and that deal is
weeks off. Anything could happen. Fire, theft, God knows what. A bird in the
hand always wins out as it were.

So, knowing in a few weeks I would have a CM30, I still went ahead and picked
up a CM32, in almost the same area of the country, so I get to make that trip
twice!

Some people are asking me if I still want SP? That answer is yes. Whole
hearted yes.

The CM30 is the boat, for me, that got away in OK City. I personally think
the CM30 to be the best looking of all the trailer-able sailboats, ever made.
Bar none. Period. I just love the lines of that boat. I also love the sail drive
inboard / outboard motor. Very cool idea.

It is possible, once I have both boats, I will sell one of them, and that
will most likely be the CM32. However, I may change my mind and keep them both,
or who knows. Maybe one on another larger lake.

Anyway, that is my story, of how I came to own two clipper marine boats (or
will own two when the great lakes of Canada thaw)
Dano & Wallace, thanks for fulfilling the dreams of an old man. I will
not soon forget you my friends.

Pictured below is the one that got away.



(update: Dano ended up selling his boat to Penny, and I purchased a second boat, a CM32 Aft Cabin Ketch from a gentelman on California. That thread is here:

https://clippermarine.forumotion.com/t61-purchased-clipper-marine-32-ketch