Welcome new Eclipse Owner

[alsantini]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of helping new Eclipse owner Capt. Ron and his wife get their new boat.  They purchased a 2012 Eclipse through Boat House in Madison Wisconsin.  The Eclipse is a dark hulled beauty with all the options that Com Pac offers.  It came with a 3.5 hp Tahutsu 4 stroke that ran like a champ, good sails, although a bit dirty, a still in the box asymmetrical, and just about everything to float away for a great day of sailing.  New owners hopefully will check in here often and maybe post a pic or two.  They are a great couple coming over from the dark side of a Mac 26X to the Eclipse light.  We had a good time checking the boat over and getting her ready for travel.  Currently they are in transit back to Kansas.  Should arrive today.  Welcome them......

[cw021382]

Always nice to see another compac in the midwest.  I am guessing lake perry?  Welcome to the compac family.

-Chris

[waterwheels]

Welcomes all around from Canadaian Eclipse owner.
Don

"Living Water"

[captronr]

Thanks so much for the welcome! I've been wanting to look at an eclipse for a long time, but haven't found one close.  Kinda scary  i saw this ad on Monday, called about it, then contacted Al with questions.  I didn't want to ask him to drive up, but when he offerred,  i jumped at the chance.  Drove 750 miles on Friday from Wichita, met Al Sat at 8, had coffeeand swapped stories then checked out the boat. I was really nervous as this was the first time EVER to see one in person.  More later...batterydying...  ron

[captronr]

Ok, battery fixed................. too continue

Al was a jewel with this boat.   Previous owner had rigged it not for launch and mostly not for travel.  It would have taken me forever to figure out how to set it up for either. After we had inspected most of the boat and gear,  Al just jumped on the boat and started threading lines, explaining as he went how I would use this or that.   I should have videoed it==I'll never remember it.  When I was involved with a task, he'd bounce over to Chari and they'd tackle a new area.   It was FUN and EDUCATIONAL! 

So I went from 'never seen an Eclipse'  at 9AM to 'knowing I wanted this one' by 10AM' to  'signing the paperwork by 11AM' and out of the dealer's lot by 11:30AM.  Gotta say, every time I looked in the side mirror for 600 miles yesterday, I'd think "Gee, this is a NICE looking boat!"   I think Chari got tired of me saying it aloud after the first few hundred times.

To answer an earlier question, we live near Wichita, and will sail this boat mostly at a city lake near Winfield, KS.  45 minutes from the house.  We also can sail it at Cheney Reservoir, west of Wichita, and our daughter in Kansas City (where we are now) found us a lake to scope out called Hillsdale or Hilman south of Gardner.  (Daughter is lobbying us to move to KC as we are hoping to downsize house in the next couple years.)

We sail our Mac26X at Grand Lake, are in a great sail club there, and love the close in amenities.   We might sail this boat there as well.  But the downside is DISTANCE==it's a four hr drive to get there....................   And our sailing mission is changing.  The Mac has been wonderful for what we wanted at the time.  Cruise, camp, sail, and motor.  The past couple of years though, we've skipped the "camp" part and stay in a motel instead.   So day trips near home drove me even more to the fast rigging Eclipse. 

I plan to hang out here a lot and download as many tips, tricks, and mods as I can.  And I'm sure I'll bug people with a lot of questions and requests for pics..........

I've been addicted to the Trailer Sailor BB, and I'll hang out on the main board there too.  We've met a lot of nice people from there face to face.  We took our Mac to Lake Havasu, AZ several times in the winter, thus meeting even more people.

We finish the trip home today after spending Sun with our daughter/husband in KC.  Should be home by noon, and put the new boat to bed for awhile.   It sure tows easier than our Mac.   And yes, the Mac is going up for sale now.

Thanks again, especially to my new friend Al!  Compac should put him on the payroll for how he advertises their boats!

Ron and Chari

[Vectordirector]

Hi Ron,
I'll also jump in and say welcome and congrats.  You have found the ultimate forum for Com-Pac people.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, we are a pretty friendly group, as you witnessed with my fellow Eclipse owner/ SW Florida friend Al.  He's a great guy and has rigged and de-rigged his boat many more times than I have mine.  It is actually pretty easy and you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.   Hard to believe you found one in Madison as I thought the only ones in the midwest were Knot Fast in Peoria and Al in Chicago.   I don't remember anyone mentioning one in Madison.  What is your hull #?  Do you know any of the history of the boat?

I grew up and learned to sail in St. Louis and in 1984 moved to KC for my first job.  In 1987 I bought a new Hobie 14 and sailed it on Smithville Lake in the north KC burbs for 3 years before moving to Chicagoland in early 1991 where I decided to sell it due to the cold waters/short season.  Mistake.  Life/work got in the way for the next 20 years and I didn't sail much.  In 2011 I decided I needed a boat and after a year of narrowing it down, decided the Eclipse was the one and started looking for one. I couldn't find one close for over a year and saw an  old post on the now pretty much defunct Yahoo Compac group from a local guy thinking about selling his.  Funny thing that, as I was about 2 days from driving up to Madison to look at a SunCat they had that I probably would have bought when he replied to my email.  We met and I bought my 2005 Eclipse in August 2012 from a very nice couple who lived not far from me at the time in the NW Chicago burbs.  He was very torn as he loved the boat but didn't have time to sail it.    I decided the Eclipse was a better boat for my situation and bought it after seeing it.  Sometimes they just speak to you and you know it is the right boat. My wife and I sailed it on Lake Geneva, WI for 2 full seasons and it was really perfect for us. 

In spring 2014, after a horrible winter, I decided I couldn't take the Chicago winters any more after 23 years and retired a little over a year ago and moved the boat and myself to Punta Gorda, Fl.  Loving both the boat and the area.  Didn't much like towing the boat 1400 miles with a Jeep wrangler, don't anticipate doing that again, ever.  Al seems to have more relaxing trips down and up in his Acadia. 

As far as KC goes, I really enjoyed my 7 years there from 1984-1991.  Great area.  I was an Air Traffic Controller and I worked and lived up north near MCI.  Smithville lake at the time had very few sailboats and although it was a pretty good place to sail, you had to watch out for the crazy 90mph bass boats.  It was a quick 15 minutes from my house so it worked out well.  One of my co-workers had a Precision 21 and we would go out and play.  I loved sailing circles around him!   Not sure how it is now, but I enjoyed my 3 seasons there.  I've heard Lake Perry is great but it was too far away for me and I never had a chance to check it out.   

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, enjoy your boat and don't hesitate to ask questions.  We are all here to help.

Stay warm, fair winds,


Vectordirector

[captronr]

Think the boat is #68, but I'd have to go look. 

As for the PO, I don't know much, other than he's out of state running a business and had this dealer broker it.   All my discussions were with the dealer. 

I gotta hand it to ATC guys; just like long haul truckers, hours and hours of absolute boredom, followed by moments of shear terror!   The new KC airport is a piece of cake to fly out of, except it's way the heck out of town.   In the 60s, I flew in/out of downtown airport (forget the name).  Taking off, they'd go 100% power standing on the brakes, then release them and hope to get airborne before they splashed in the river.  And Landings--there was a night club on top of ___ building west of the airport.  Planes came in BELOW the club altitude, so you could be up there, looking down on airplanes landing.  Really interesting.

Take care, and yes, I will be asking questions.  Right now, I just want a long nap.  1500 miles in 2.5 days---I'm not that young anymore to be doing that.

Ron

[Vectordirector]

MCI is a great airport and favored the boredom over terror.  At ORD it was much the opposite!  Favored the terror part.  ORD has about 5 times more traffic than MCI. 

I don't miss the job.  Watching airplanes is always fun though. 

Vectordirector

[captronr]

Agree on the watching airplanes part.  We live about 5 miles south of McConnell AFB (Wichita).  Over the years, we've enjoyed watching the AF fly F-4 Phantoms, then B-1, and now mostly KC-135s.  The KS Air National Guard did most of the flights, and for a long time, did flyovers for town parades/July 4th/etc.  Those pilots perfected low slow passes over the bigger parts of the crowd, go vertical and light off the afterburners.  The noise was deafening--truly the sound of freedom......

Have fun,
Ron