My Boat: Small World, a Westsail 42

My Boat 28

SmallWORLD: WESTSAIL 42

THE STORIES OF YOUR BELOVED BOATS FROM AROUND THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

First might be the expression used when, in an unexpected place, you discover that someone knows a person you also know.

Second is probably Disney’s whimsical yet slightly creepy boat ride past a jubilant confection of audio-animatronic singing children from around the globe.

Third, apparently, could be because you’ve played the board game, Small World, in which competitors vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.

Turns out, it’s also the name of Seattle sailors Krystle and Craig McMaster’s 1974 Westsail 42. Fittingly so, Small World makes a great name for a boat.

Though Small World is Krystle and Craig’s first boat, they both got started sailing aboard the 135-foot brigantine Robert C Seamans while studying with Sea Education Association (SEA). Krystle spent three months on the ship sailing from Tahiti to Hawaii and back. Craig’s class sailed from Honolulu to San Francisco.

Once they found their way to Seattle, they got their sailing fix through club membership, rail meat opportunities on other people’s boats, and while serving as volunteer crew aboard the schooner, Adventuress.

They bought Small World in 2013 and, after three years of living aboard at Shilshole Bay Marina and cruising the Salish Sea, chopped the dock lines in 2016. Krystle, Craig, and Small World spent two glorious years sailing down the California coast, throughout coastal Pacific Mexico, and into the northern Sea of Cortez. Small World is currently on the hard in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, patiently waiting for them to drop her back in the water.

ABOUT SMALL WORLD

Tell us the story of how you found your boat and what makes it special to you.

Krystle gets the credit for finding Small World. To break from her reality of spending eight [semiconscious] hours of the day sitting at a desk in a cubicle, she would peruse online listings for used boats and send me the ones that she liked. I still have the email saved from when she found Small World declaring, “I want this boat.”

Knowing that both of us were fully committed to finding and buying the boat that was right for us was a huge factor in turning our dream into a reality. Small World was the boat that got us to act on our Big Hairy Audacious Goal (shout out to Janna Cawrse Esarey!), and that makes the old gal incredibly special.

What’s the history of your boat? (Where’s it been? Who built or designed it? Has anyone famous owned it before you?) Tell us its story.

Small World is famous—she’s hull number 1 of the Westsail 42s! The 42 was designed by Bill Crealock and laid up with that thick, 1970s fiberglass construction in Costa Mesa, California. Although Small World hasn’t had any famous owners (other than

Well-traveled Small World is Westsail 42 hull #1.

JUNE 2020 29 Krystle and me, of course) Walter Cronkite owned a Westsail 42 for many years. And he was the most trusted man in America— just sayin’!

Small World spent many of her years plying the waters of the U.S. East Coast and was even used as a sail training vessel at one point. When we found her for sale, she was in South Florida and on her way to the British Virgin Islands.

What do you like best about your boat?

Small World represents a dream realized. The boat is the physical thing that connects us to a wonderful community of people, inspires us to care for and protect the natural world around us, and serves to teach us things about ourselves and our relationship with each other. I like that when I step aboard I have a flood of memories that are rooted in hard work, happy times, lessons learned, growth, adventure, and that feeling of anticipation of what’s to come.

What do you know now about your boat that you wish you’d known when you bought it? Would that have changed your mind?

It was about a month after getting Small World to her slip at Shilshole Bay Marina that I turned to Krystle and said, overwhelmed, “I’m not sure I can do this.” The projects were being added at a jaw-dropping rate and my practical experience with managing the systems of a 42-foot boat was severely deficient. We didn’t have enough tools, or really even know which ones we needed, and were uncertain if money would run out while we chased this crazy dream to go cruising.

Being very green at boat ownership and looking at the learning curve—which seemed near vertical in some places— was humbling, concerning, scary, and uncomfortable. If a crystal ball had shown me that moment of doubt, I might have backed off the idea to buy a boat and sail away. If instead the crystal ball showed me the friends we would make, the things we would see, the places we would go, the joy we would experience, or the ways we would rise to the challenge, then I would have forged on ahead.

What’s your favorite story involving your boat?

One story I will never forget was the day Small World arrived in Seattle. The process of buying a boat in the BVI and then having it sailed from Tortola to Houston, disassembled for ground transport, and then loaded on an 18-wheeler and driven to Seattle was…expensive, nerve-wracking, and rather dreadful overall. (Listen people, fall in love with a boat in your own backyard. There are plenty of great boats in the Pacific Northwest!)

Small World represents a dream realized.

48º NORTH

It should be no surprise that we had remained in close contact with Daniel-The-Trucker as he made his way from Houston. The favorite story part really starts with a phone call from Daniel letting us know that he would be coming over the I-90 bridge in one hour. We assured him that we would be standing on the bridge to watch him pull our beautiful blue boat down the freeway. Important to note here that Krystle is very trusting, and maybe crazy, considering we just spent our life savings on a hunk of fiberglass that she had never seen in person.

So there we were, standing on the bike path of the floating bridge, our hearts pumping out of our chests, waiting for Daniel to drive by. From the moment his big white truck came into sight we were uncontrollably screaming and jumping up and down. He honked the big air horn as he drove by and I watched as Krystle ran down the bridge yelling at the top of her lungs “THAT’S MY BOAT! THAT’S MY BOAT!” I’m honestly teary-eyed just remembering that feeling. It was one of the purest moments of joy I can recall.

Describe the most challenging situation you’ve experienced on your boat and how it performed.

Our intended destination was La Paz. The weather had other plans for us. After an overnight sail from Mazatlán we were motor-sailing and nearing daybreak when wind speeds almost instantly increased from 5 knots to touching 30 knots.

It’s rough to try to wake up, get out of a bunk, put on pants in the dark, and climb into the cockpit when a boat is overcanvased and hard on her ear, but Krystle was in the zone from the second I asked her to come on deck to help. We managed to balance the boat for the conditions (love that cutter ketch rig!) and avoid the lee shore of Isla Ceralvo. With the unfavorable wind direction, we decided La Paz was no longer an option for landfall so we set our sights 50 miles north toward Isla San Francisco.

The wind was unrelenting for hours, and our confirmed love of the Hydrovane was further deepened. Despite more green water on deck than we had ever seen before, Small World continued to make miles northward. Rotating cockpit naps, fruit snacks, and a thermos of hot cocoa were helping pass the time, but then a tanker ship on a collision course appeared over the horizon. Needless to say, things got a little spicy.

With repeated hails in English and Spanish having gone unanswered, our tCPA creeping below 10 minutes, and our CPA hovering around 0.1nm we made the call to jibe. Small World’s canoe stern gives little concern to a following sea and it was pretty awesome to watch the boat effortlessly move through the maneuver. Collision avoided, we put the boat back on course and resumed watching the mesmerizing (Craig’s word choice) terrifying (Krystle’s word choice) display of wind and waves.

Where do you plan to take your boat? Do you have a dream destination?

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, our plan was to return to the boat in October and spend the 2020-2021 cruising season exploring the Sea of Cortez. At this point, who knows when we will make it back to Mexico.

When it comes to dream destinations I think we’ve learned a lot about taking our time and being content. It took us 15 months to sail from Port Townsend to Ensenada and I’m certain we could have slowed down even more. We made lifelong friends, tasted delicious local beers, had the most incredible experiences, earned money, and found our cruising groove all because we adopted the philosophy that our destination was wherever we already were.

Our goal has always been less about getting to a specific location and more about actually following through with our dream. It’s a big deal to buy a boat, get it ready to go, finance the whole ordeal, leave jobs, redefine normal, etc. We’ve always tried to remember how lucky we were to even get to the point of making the Big Left Turn.

If you could have any other boat, what would it be and why?

In all reality, we are really satisfied and content with Small World. Over the past seven years, we’ve worked hard to make the boat what she is today and starting that process all over again sounds a bit like insanity. If and when our cruising days come to a close, it would be a blast to have a little daysailer to run around on. If it’s an open checkbook kind of situation, then an Alerion 28 would do just fine.

JUNE 2020 30

Whether it is a beloved cruising sailboat, powerboat, racing boat, wooden boat, work boat, tug boat or even a kayak or old Laser, we want to share your boat’s story for 48° North’s “My Boat” series. Email andy@48north.com to get started!

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DONATE YOUR BOAT SUPPORT PROGRAMS

The Northwest Maritime Center is seeking tax deductible donation of vessels in good condition to raise money for our programs.

We will consider boats of all types and sizes, though most appealing would be fiberglass boats on trailers or ones with a proven track record for cruising. Contact Kris Day at kris@nwmaritime.org or 360.503.8874

tax deductible donation of vessels in good condition to raise money for our programs

Looking for a few good boats.