Yacht Delivery- Naples FL to Hilton Head SC

A friend of ours from Naples FL called one day in early March to tell us about a sailor he had met that needed his recently purchased 37 ft sailboat “Bonaventure” delivered from Naples to Hilton Head SC. I jumped at the chance and having made arrangements with the new owner, left behind my supermarket deli job, and was off on the 600 mile drive in a rented car to join this Finnish built “Kaarina” pilot house cutter. When we arrived at Naples we had a couple days of scurrying around purchasing food and supplies for the voyage, and getting to know the layout of this unfamiliar vessel. We planned to sail from 8.00am to 6.30 pm each day and either anchor or tie up to a marina each night before sunset. The highlight was a glorious sail across Lake Okeechobee on my birthday and the low was later that day when we discovered a broken alternator belt and an oil leak.

We overcame these setbacks and finally arrived in Hilton Head after 10 days of motor sailing to a happy new boating family. I liked the convenience of a large screen Raymarine chartplotter, but disliked the slow pace of this heavy yacht under sail alone. I prefer an open cockpit with a bimini for shade to an enclosed pilot house which is more suitable for cold Northern climates.