Hard to believe another year is about to pass and we’re once again faced with making those ceremonial New Year’s resolutions. Some we make without ever really believing that we will stick with them through the end of January. Others we make with the intent of actually seeing the deed through.   Many years ago, Andy Lund resolved to some day embark on the cruise of a lifetime in the boat of his dreams. This year, he finally lived up to that resolution on board his new Nordhavn 46, appropriately named, Resolution.

Perhaps you have made a similar vow to yourself: work hard, enjoy getting out on the water more, and some day sail off in your dream boat on your dream excursion. It’s not an unreasonable wish! But as was the case for Andy, it might take a few years for you to achieve. Thankfully Andy’s been periodically sending out an email log to family and friends which he has allowed us to post on our website. So for now, this might have to tie you over until you can turn your own resolution into reality.

2005 will see more people out cruising on Nordhavns than ever before. We sell a lot of Nordhavns (new and used) to people like Andy who have retired at an early enough time in life to easily manage the slight physical and mental demands required to operate one of our yachts. Intrigued? There is no time like the present while you have your health, can afford a reasonable boat (and travel budget) and are willing to carve out some time. Why not consider embarking upon your own Nordhavn sea travel adventure? I guarantee you that the time you spend aboard will provide stimulating memories you will treasure for the rest of your life.

Buying and outfitting a modern passage making trawler is a big deal event, but has become our daily business at PAE where we have sold nearly 300 Nordhavns over the past seventeen years. And yet we are acutely aware and constantly reminded of the commitment required not only financially, but also mentally, physically and emotionally by the owner and crew. Cruising long distances even on a yacht as comfortable and purpose built for long ranging as a Nordhavn is sure to provide some basic sanity tests. You must have confidence in yourself and know without any doubt that your boat will take care of you no matter what happens. The crew relationship is particularly important if you are short handed on long legs – the fatigue of long watches and constant motion at sea takes some getting used to. It is important to understand what you are getting into and equally crucial to have the support of a company who knows what you will be experiencing.

Andy Lund and Resolution are in Costa Rica as this gets posted and heading south towards the Panama Canal. Andy is a well-known yachting person in the Pacific Northwest. If you’ve been to a boat show in Washington you’ve probably already met. He is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and businessman, spent the late ’90s in the private sector enjoying his boating passion and building up the largest Grand Banks dealer in the US, selling it in 2001. Grand Banks makes a great trawler; in fact, it’s pretty safe to say that they started the trawler market back in the 1960s. And we sell a lot of Nordhavns to Grand Banks owners who appreciate top quality and like a sturdy live aboard trawler with all of the comforts of home, yet want to venture across oceans to far away locations – something that the GBs are simply not designed to do. Andy knew he wanted to travel to remote places of the world by powerboat. With his connections in and knowledge of the marine industry, he had a pretty good head start in his search to find the optimum yacht to pursue the cruising lifestyle.   After evaluating some custom building choices, and commissioning a design for a 49 foot aluminum passage maker, he found it unaffordable. He gave a good hard look at Krogen (the only other true full displacement production builder he considered), and then called up Jim Leishman whom he has known for years to talk about a Nordhavn.

Call it karma or good luck, but we had just received and started commissioning a stock Nordhavn 46 – a two stateroom, two head, pilothouse trawler with a proven history of multiple ocean crossings and several circumnavigations. And, like most spec boats, we know what people are looking for and therefore load them up with the most popular options. In this case, we factory-installed the wing engine, air conditioning, generator, bow thruster, stabilizers, and other necessary basic equipment.   The 46 is available in two different layouts: a coastal version with master stateroom forward and our original offshore layout with the master stateroom aft. Fortunately for Andy, hull 81 is the master aft configuration more ideally suited for long passages. Andy loved the solid feel of the Lugger diesel and practical application of our dry stack exhaust. The machinery was definitely up to his standards for long-range travel and the luxurious varnished teak interior with exquisite joinery made him feel right at home as if he was on a Grand Banks. A deal was made and Andy quickly started organizing his affairs at home in Washington to make arrangements for extended leaves, all the while immersing himself in finalizing the equipment selections for his new Nordhavn 46.

Since hull 81 was being commissioned at our headquarters in Dana Point, CA, Andy flew down from Washington several times to coordinate the Outfitting…and believe me, he knew exactly what he wanted. The nav/com electronics, water maker, liferaft, dinghy, barbeque, etc., were all thoroughly researched and installed to his exacting specifications.

When it was time to take delivery and start his adventure, Andy went south deep into the Sea of Cortez in Mexico to use the boat and, as he told me upon his return, to “load up everything, push things to the limit and try to see if anything would break.” I remember being amazed seeing Resolution had salt caked all the way to the top of her mast from pounding up swell into the seas and spray of the Pacific. When Andy pulled back into Dana Point he had logged close to 350 hours running time and over 2000 sea miles. He smiled and handed us his punch list – a few minor things which we quickly fixed. Electronics challenges were another matter, and all those bugs wouldn’t be worked out until later. Andy added some more gear and then headed north, home to Washington.

Being single, Andy has learned to handle the boat by himself (it can be tricky at first until you get the feel for close quarter maneuvering with a single engine boat), but he’s smart enough to know that it’s a lot safer totravel distances with at least one other crewmember (and preferably a minimum of three people aboard for extended trips). So, Andy has become even more popular with his extended network of friends as he tries to line up people who can join him as crew on each leg of this adventure. Each crew member will get to participate in the joy of living on a boat at sea and passage making for a couple of days or weeks before returning to the real world.

This past summer Andy took Resolution up to the north end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia to complete his preparations and revisit some favorite cruising grounds. He said he’d have loved to make another trip to Sitka and Glacier Bay, Alaska, but there just wasn’t time. By living aboard for weeks on end he has become intimately more familiar with his 46 and was finally satisfied he had acquired all of the right gear, tools and spares. Andy has maintained regular contact with Pete Eunson, the project manager for the 46. Pete’s coached via telephone and email on those rare occasions when Andy has hadd a question or needed some help. Knowing that the company who built and sold his boat is behind him all the way has been a comfort to Andy. Any issues that have surfaced have always been quickly resolved. Andy is now much more secure in his grasp of the essentials of each system and comfortable that everything aboard Resolution has been shaken-down, warmed up, broken-in and readied for the big adventure.

I invite you to click here and read the first chapter of Andy’s quest to see the world. More chapters will be posted over the coming weeks so stay tuned to track his progress. If you would like to contact Andy, please send me an email and we will get it to him.

Andy Lund continues keeping his Resolution in this New Year and will so for many years to come.   If you are interested reading more log entries like Andy’s, go to the special Nordhavn Voyages part of the Virtual Rendezvous section of the website which is dedicated to similar types of adventures. I hope you will make your own New Year’s Resolution to bookmark this area and

periodically take time away from your real world life to hop aboard and see the world via the travel journals of wandering Nordhavn owners.