How To Buy A Boat

"How To Buy A Boat"

I just got back from a sailing holiday where I
remembered this true tale you might be interested in.

A friend was looking for a second hand boat
(a Laser) to buy, when he hit on a great idea...

At his sailing club (the Queen Mary in London) there
was a large trailer park and a smaller yard where
the management put trailers and boats if the owner
didn't pay their membership for 12 months. The Queen
Mary club is very big and at the time there were three
or four Lasers in this yard that judging from their
condition hadn't been sailed for at least a year.

My friend took down the numbers of these boats and
asked the club secretary for the owners address so
that he could make them an offer. The first chap he
rang said he wasn't interested in selling as he was
going to sail it himself "one of these days".

He then rang the second owner who lived about 100
miles away. A woman answered the phone and
confirmed that they did still own the Laser. My friend
explained that he had seen it in the defaulters yard
and that as it clearly hadn't been sailed for a year -
did she think her husband would be interested in selling?

"Oh no" she said "there must be some mistake -
come rain or shine my husband spends one
weekend a month in London sailing..."

I bet he had some explaining to do when he got home!
Received on Thu Jan 17 07:34:53 2008