The Story of Us

“People who do not know that a sailboat is a living creature will never understand anything about boats and the sea.”

Bernard Moitessier

Our Meeting

It all began the summer of 2017.  I had just graduated with my second degree from Texas A&M University, a Bachelor Science in Nursing. It had taken me 3 long years of working full time as a clinic nurse and being a part time student.  I was exhausted, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do now that school was done. Sail.

My generous dad had offered to buy me a boat for my graduation.  I was most interested in small boats, and I had loved our West Wight Potter 15’ growing up.  While talking of my dreams of a sailboat at work one day, a student nurse pipes up, “I saw the cutest sailboat for sale on Facebook.”  At the time I was not on Facebook, so she looked it up and found it for me. It was love at first sight. It was a yellow Guppy 13. I had never seen the Guppy before, but at that moment when my eyes locked onto her, I knew I had to have her. 

The following day, I called the gentleman who was selling her. We set up a meet time on Lake Belton for that following weekend. I was overwhelmed with excitement. Dad and I tried to prepare for the meeting and planned on things to look for and ask.  Then the disappointing phone call came, the man wasn’t going to sell her anymore. Apparently, his grandson wanted the boat.  I was crushed.

I looked at other small boats in hopes that I may have another spark. Alas, I couldn’t get Guppy out of my mind. So the search was on.  I became a detective and scoured the internet.

This antique boat was tricky to find. There were only about 300 made in the 1970’s, so supply was limited to say the least. I found one in rough shape in Pennsylvania.  It was an intimidating project. Then, I couldn’t believe it: I found one in northern Oklahoma (Alva) on Craigslist in beautiful condition! I could barely contain my excitement. He was asking a little less then $3,000.  After reviewing it with Dad and speaking to the seller, it was time to go get my dream boat.

Oklahoma is the northern neighboring state to Texas, however Alva is on the northern border of Oklahoma. The trip would take 8 hours drive to get there. It would be a round trip minimum time of 16 hours.  I recruited my dear mother to join me on the adventure. We borrowed my dads station wagon since neither of us had a ball hitch for towing, and we set out.

I was so excited to meet her. We had a long, boring, and flat drive to Alva. We were planning to meet the seller at the only Walmart in town at 3pm. Mom and I arrived ahead of schedule. When they pulled up with Guppy in tow, I was ready to hand over the money. She was perfect.

The young man who was selling her, originally from Belgium, seemed quite sad to see her leave.  He explained that because they were a young couple who just had a baby, they couldn’t use the boat and needed the money more. He had brought his wife, their newborn, his brother, and his parents from Belgium, who didn’t speak English but were extremely friendly. He and his brother jumped up on the boat and showed me how to step her mast.  He proceeded to show me all the sails and even started up the Game Fisher motor. I did the best inspection that I could.  There would be no negotiating, I was already sold.

One thing I did notice was that she was covered with large tropical stickers. The seller apparently really liked Malibu and had covered her with palm trees, dolphins, and bright red lettering, MALIBU. It was a minor distraction. She was Quality.  I paid the asking price and we got a bill of sell.  She was officially mine. I was positively giddy.

Then mom and I started the trek back to Texas with Guppy now in tow. We took turns driving and made it home by 3:00 am. Whew!  I was deliriously tired but what a dream come true.  Guppy was home.