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 | Preparation Thursday September 1 – Friday September 9 Anneke and I left Cleveland, OH (Please...no Cleveland jokes. I’ve heard them all. I can even do a 45 minute stand-up routine of just Cleveland jokes. It NEVER was our home! It was just a lucrative 4-year business opportunity...honest!) on September 1st headed for Chesapeake, VA. Her Jeep was loaded down with clothes, tools, boat supplies, and anything and everything else we thought we might need on board for the delivery. Yes…we looked like the “Clampetts headin’ for Californey”! We had just purchased Reverie, a boat that we are renaming Prime Time, from Chuck Grice at Virginia Yacht Brokers in July. Prime Time is a 2003 Selene 53 Ocean Trawler (Selene Ocean Trawlers). Our plan was to move Prime Time from Chesapeake, VA to Kemah, TX, where we are relocating. Prime Time will be our home.
Virginia Yacht Brokers is located at the Atlantic Yacht Basin. We needed to have some work done to the boat, and I'm glad that we chose AYB. This is a wonderful old boatyard...rich in tradition...highly skilled tradesmen...scenic location...PRICEY, but a superior quality product/service. New employees at AYB are those with less than 10 years employment. There are even some second and third generation family members at AYB. Boatyards are SO different than marinas…in a very good way! AYB is a very cool place… Sharon Wilson, our dear friend from Houston, flew into Norfolk on Saturday September 3 for a long weekend visit. Sharon and I worked together for years, sail together whenever we can, and ALWAYS enjoy her world-class martinis…often and fondly! This was the first time that Sharon had seen Prime Time, and we had a great visit. Anneke stayed with me on Prime Time until Labor Day. She drove back to “you know where” while I stayed and reviewed all of the boat systems and tried to prepare for our trip to Texas. She flew back into Norfolk on Friday September 9th. Our plan was to leave on Saturday September 10th to begin the cruise. We needed the services of a delivery professional to help us get Prime Time from Chesapeake, VA to Kemah, TX. This is a fairly large boat…it’s new to us…with complex systems aboard. Neither of us had ever made a cruise of this magnitude. And to add to the “fun/pucker factor”, weather can be a real issue until November. It’s still hurricane season! No, we don’t have a death wish and we certainly don’t want to lose or damage our boat. Several circumstances (primarily a STRONG desire to get out of Cleveland before winter!) dictated that this is when we could/would make the trip.
One of the MANY excellent referrals we received from Chuck Grice at Virginia Yacht Brokers was Captain Mark Mitchell. Mark has been delivering and managing yachts for years and has over 300,000 nautical miles logged. Not bad for a 46 year old! He also has a charter company Mermaid Charters with his wife Thelma and daughter Cheyenne. Chuck thought that Mark would be a perfect fit for us.
Mark is ALWAYS busy. When I first contacted him to see if he might be available, he was taking a Marlow 70 to Maine for the summer. He had a two-week opening in his schedule starting on the 10th of September available. It fit perfectly with our needs. We talked about the weather…we talked about the weather again…and then we talked some more about the weather! We knew that we were at risk, but decided to give it a try.
Mark called me Friday night to let us know that he had returned from Maine and would show up on Prime Time first thing Saturday morning. I had been aboard since the 1st of September doing “boat jobs”…inventorying, cleaning, reviewing the various systems, etc.
Saturday the 10th of September arrived and finally I meet Mark at the Atlantic
Anneke and I had borrowed the loaner car at the Atlantic Yacht Basin and made the rounds provisioning Prime Time on Friday. AYB is a very convenient place with all of the necessary facilities (grocery & liquor store, numerous restaurants, electronic and auto parts, etc.) within a mile radius. We usually walked whenever we just needed a few items.
I had waited to change the oil and filters in the twin Cummins diesels and the Westerbeke generator. Prime Time has a Reverso oil change system installed, and I had never used one before. This piece of equipment makes a dirty, messy but extremely critical task unbelievably easy. Mark and I changed all fluids and filters in under an hour. It’s very cool!
OK…it’s 1300 and we are FINALLY ready to leave. The marching band, cheerleaders, and well-wishers were all there (actually it was only Chuck Grice and Jason Henry…a nice young man who regularly helps Mark with deliveries). Chuck had his digital camera to memorialize the event, and both he and Jason helped us to slip our dock lines. Prime Time is on her way to Texas!
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I can't even begin to say enough positive things about Chuck Grice, Bob Starr, and Michelle Sulzer at Virginia Yacht Brokers. These could be some of the nicest, friendliest, most professional individuals that I've ever met. Buying a boat can be an emotional rollercoaster. Surveys, offers, counter-offers, loans, repairs, adding new boat toys, and the thousand other details all contribute to a very high stress level. These wonderful people made every step of this process as seamless as possible. Michelle even kept us updated by emailing photos of the boat work progress. VIRGINIA YACHT BROKERS ARE THE BEST! 
Yacht Basin. While we had spoken on the phone numerous times, we had never met. He walked up to Prime Time…sea bag in hand…and I immediately felt reassured. I love watching the 1992 movie Captain Ron (Kurt Russell), but I was EXTREMELY relieved that Mark didn’t have an eye patch and never called me Boss! We quickly introduced ourselves and got busy reviewing the boat systems. Everything was in order…we were fully provisioned…it was time to head for Texas!