Clearly the first thing we needed was a boat! We did a huge amount of research, Dave was glued to Yachtworld and read loads of books but we kept coming back to the Gulfstar 54. It was one of the first boats we looked at in the BVI and somehow nothing else compared. The one we had first seen in the BVI sold, but we found another in Florida and took a trip out to see her. We offered on her in Jan 08, but she was a spacious boat with a shallow draft (some of our more "informed" yachting friends referred to her as a "floating caravan!" ) so we still had reservations about her sea worthiness. When the seller started being a little difficult we took the opportunity to withdraw from the sale.

We then went back to the drawing board and relooked at our criteria and our budget! We then discovered Oysters, these are beautiful sailing yachts with a great reputation. After visiting the Oyster brokerage we put an offer on a 49ft pilot house which we have renamed "Chilli Oyster". She is 15 years old and has been out of the water for over a year so is in need of a little TLC, and although many of her electronics and large mechanical items need upgrading she is still in lovely condition. We completed the sale on 12th March 2008 and are currently recuperating after the shock of spending so much money! She is currently being worked on and we are having things like a watermaker and inverter fitted... well one has to have some home comforts... the washing mahine and ice maker are next on my list.