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Indeed 40' Kaufman Screamer Introduction

When monitoring my internet advertisements for the sale of Night Heron in December 2002, I came across an interesting boat for sale by a charitable youth organization, Planet Hope, Inc. of Washington, D.C..  The boat had been donated to Planet Hope as it was on the hard and had not been used for the past six years. 

While in New Jersey for the Christmas holidays, Barbara and I drove down to Deale, Maryland to see the boat.  Barbara was not too taken by it, but I saw a lot of potential for having some fun.  I would describe Indeed as a real daysailing sled.  I felt that it would be perfect for the Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon club races out of Wickford on the Narragansat Bay.  My impression was that with some modifications Indeed could lend herself to some spirited single-handing (a must for any boat that I own).

In January, I negotiated a lease/purchase agreement for Indeed.  Although I officially took possession of Indeed on February 1st, we were not able to get back down to Maryland until March due to Barbara's surgery and the inclement weather.  Because we also filled our spring schedule with a two month long shipboard cruise, I decided to leave Indeed on the hard in Deale until we get back from the cruise in May.  At that time I will bring her up to New Hampshire (I bought an old boat trailer that I will modify) to get her shipshape before we go down to Wickford, where she will be on a mooring.

My initial impressions are that she does not need much to get her ready to sail (famous last words!).  My biggest challenge is installing a second tiller station farther forward in the cockpit that will allow me to single-hand the boat more readily.  I am approaching this as a fun play boat (v.s. a project boat) and am not looking to invest too much time or money into her (e.g. her old sails will be fine for now).  No major race campaigning, just fun daysailing.

We are going to be in Wickford working on Navillus this year and Indeed will give me a chance to do some fun sailing instead of just working on boats as I have been doing for the past several years.  Although we cruised 7500 miles on Night Heron in 2000-2001, we spent the previous and subsequent years doing extensive work on her instead of sailing.  In fact, I only sailed Night Heron once in 2002 ... over to Newport for a Used Boat Show and back.  The year prior to acquiring Night Heron was spent working on refinishing the topsides of Kiva in the process of getting her ready to sell and also stripping, fairing, and barrier-coating the bottom of Navillus.  Those years were frustrating, only working on the boats while watching the other sailors going out to play.  This year I'll be able to do both.

I had a nice talk with the original owner of Indeed.  He had nothing but praise for the boat.  His description of her is that: "She is a real sailor's sailboat!"  He raced Indeed for twelve years before a new business venture made him unable to take the time to sail her, which is why she was just sitting on the hard.

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