Taking the Plunge

Now you have to fast forward almost a year from when we had our first introduction to the Amel 54. Jan and I started cruising in March 2006 (but that is another story) and we spent three months on the western side of Florida and the Dry Tortugas. Anyway, when we got up to Ft. Lauderdale we decided to give Joel Potter, the Amel representative in the US, a call to see how he was doing.

He immediately said he knew we were there because he and his wife Vela saw our boat when they went for their morning walk that day. He then suggested that we come over and see the boat again when we didn't have any time pressure. Well, being Aggies and looking for something free to do we said okay.

We had a nice visit and asked all of the questions we forgot to ask Luc when we were at the shipyard in 2005. Then we went back to our boat and promptly drank a couple bottles of wne while saying several times, "we don't need that boat"; "she is beautiful"; "I wonder what it would have been like when we were in those rain squalls coming up from the Keys". Anyway we were still just talking about something that was just a dream. As things go with boats we were having generator problems and had ordered a new icemaker so we were at the Bahia Mar Marina for almost two weeks. On one of those days we called Joel and asked him if we could go for a test sail on the Amel.

As I recall he grunted like an offshore fisherman does when he sets the hook, before he said. OKAY . . ., when do you want to go.

This picture is in the Saloon of Joel Potter's Amel 54 in Ft. Lauderdale on June 22, 2006. It was taken as we signed on the dotted line for something that we would not see for over two years. The stunned look you see in both of our faces was a combination of excitement and shock at what we just committed to.
After we enjoyed a champagne celebration Joel told us to forget about the boat for the next year and a half. After all we would not see the finished boat for over two years!