New Boat for 2010

STARQUEST - FOR SALE

It's been one of the hardest decisions we've taken but we have decided we have to sell Starquest.

She's a great boat, we've spent a small fortune on her, but having now lived on board for a few months we realise we need a bigger boat if we are to realise our ambition of spending six or seven months afloat.

We bought her with the intention of creating our 'perfect' boat and fully intended keeping her for 10 years or so. Because of that we embarked upon a substantial programme of refurbishment and upgrading...no cost was spared....if only we'd known then what we know now. Because Starquest is now in such great shape it's been an even more difficult decision to sell. We'll miss her.

However, time moves on and as much as we love Starquest she's just too small to be our home for seven months of the year. So the search is on for Starquest 2.

NEW BOAT

We need a boat of around 40 feet and the hot favourite at the moment is a Broadblue 385. The BB385 is an established boat and, by coincidence, it's the same boat that Jo completed her Day Skipper course on. There are a few on the secondhand market but we'll probably opt for a new one. That way we can have just what we need. We have yet to discuss the options (and prices!) with the broker but as soon as we manage to get back to the UK talks start.

There are also a couple of other options which are of potential interest. Two French builders, Lagoon and Fontaine Pajot are launching two new models at the Southampton Boat Show (both 40-footers and both appear to fit the bill) and we plan to see them too.

Life is never simple eh?