Commander 235

[Rodney]

I recently bought Commander #235, Nameless Beauty.

I've been sailing about six years and this is my third sailboat. My last boat was a 1966 Columbia Sabre, which I loved, but my wife thought was too tender.

I found Nameless Beauty on craigslist for $3,500, in pretty good shape. She seams perfect for our family right now. My wife and I have a four year old named Alden. Commanders seam to have great sailing characteristics and adequate accomodations for small family cruises. I'm partial to Alberg designs, hoping to upgrade to an Alberg 30 or 35 in the next five years.

I've had some exciting times with Nameless already that I can't wait to share. I look forward to the support from this group in keeping up with maintenance and upgrades!

[Rodney]

When I bought Nameless Beauty, she was moored in Bellingham Washington, about 170 miles north of my home, Tacoma Washington. My son's spring break was coming, and I decided to take advantage of having a boat so far north and spend the week with him sailing the San Juan's before starting our trip home.

We spent a couple of weekends on the boat getting her ready for the trip. We started noticing some problems we didn't see when looking at the boat. The cabin lights don't work, and the beautiful stained glass in the companion way wouldn't budge, making climbing in an out a pain.

On Thursday of Easter weekend, I caught the bus to bellingham to get ready to depart Friday morning for Roche Harbor, 35 miles west. When I arrived at the boat, the stained glass lifted out with no problem! The warm weather must have dried out the teak enough for it to losen its grip. This had to be a good omen.

I left the dock for the first time, trying to find my way around the massive Bellingham Marina to a fuel dock to top off the gas. Unfortunately, both fuel stations were long closed by the time I got there. I was determined to leave at sunrise, not wanting to wait for the fuel docks to open at 8:00 am, I pulled up to a dock at the boat launch, put the gas tank in a cart and walked a half mile to the nearest gas station.

[Fritz]

Congrats Rodney. Your new boat looks very nice. I just purchased Commander #3. Needs some work but hope to have her in the water by the 4th of July.
Fritz

[Commander227]

Congrats and welcome Rodney. A few people around here were watching that boat but Washington is a long way from Minnesota. I'm glad she found a good home.
Looking at the pilings in the pictures it looks like you got a righteous tide up there!
Mike
C227

[ebb]

Capt Rodney, Sounds like Nameless asserts her personality.
Hope you enjoy sounding off here, too!

[Rodney]

We do have righteous tides up here, with extreme tides ranging from -3 to 13 feet, with currents running up to 5 knots in the Tacoma Narrows and up to 8 knots in Deception Pass.

Congrats and welcome Rodney. A few people around here were watching that boat but Washington is a long way from Minnesota. I'm glad she found a good home.
Looking at the pilings in the pictures it looks like you got a righteous tide up there!
Mike
C227

[pearsoncommander251]

I had also found C235 on CL and spoke to the owner a few times. Moving the boat from WA to New Orleans was very expensive so I purchase C210 (which was closer but still a long haul (Maine))
How is the overall cond? Hull, deck, rigging etc.
And

Congratulations!

[Rodney]

It's been a while since I updated this thread. These pictures are from Easter day in Roche Harbor. We attended mass at a Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel on the hill overlooking the marina. It had a Mary holding baby Jesus in one hand, and a sailboat in the other. Then came the Easter egg hunt. So many eggs!

[Rodney]

Here is my first time anchoring. We didn't even use the motor. We set up the anchor, sailed right to a beautiful spot, turned into the wind, dropped the anchor, backwinded the sail, let out the chain to a 7:1 scope, felt the anchor dig in, and there we stayed. Will it be this easy every time?

[Rodney]

We didn't see any puffins on this island, but lots of seals. I was really looking forward to seeing puffins. It wasn't until the end of the trip that I realized the hundreds of black birds that had been surrounding us the whole trip were puffins, just not tufted puffins like they have at the zoo.

[Rodney]

This was my favorite anchorage in the San Juan's. It was beautiful. There was a cliff on one side, and a reef on the other, so I got to try putting out a bow and a stern anchor to keep us in place. It worked like a charm.

[Rodney]

A galley would be nice, or at least a functioning grill (on my list). For now, it's spaghetti on a camping stove. Delicious.

[Rodney]

We anchored of Stewart Island for a few hours, mostly so that we could use a real bathroom, but also to explore the island and play a little hide and seek.

[Rodney]

I took these as the weather was picking up. It got pretty nasty, gusting near 30 knots. I closed the hatches and we were down to a reefed main. Everything was soaking wet. The boat was a champ. We limped into Port Ludlow where my crew (sister in law's boyfriend) found a bus home. Alden (my five year old) stayed the night hoping for better weather in the morning. We ended up leaving the boat anchored in Port Ludlow for a few weeks before resuming the trip south.

[Rodney]

Fun sailing exercise. Give a five year old the helm and adjust the sails to wherever he goes.