NORTHERN RANGER II
Boat Type: Nordhavn 50
Owner: Lawrence Talbot
Home Port: Vancouver, BC
Home Club: Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
Built: 2001
We did the Cubar in 2015 on our Nordhavn 46, Northern Ranger I, with the intention of keeping the boat down in Mexico and perhaps travelling further afield as the other half became more and
more retired and less and less prone to going to work.
The trip down was a lot of fun, full of adventure and some very good times, and not a little excitement thrown in for good measure. ( interesting story from the last year and a half would probably be the time we were trying to get into Turtle Bay, after the fleet had gone on further south, and we were confronted with a very angry and uncooperative thunder and lightening storm. After trying in vain for several hours to find a hole in the storm, we were finally granted permission to pass and hightailed it past Turtle and followed the rest of the gang to Santa Maria and anchored there… unscathed but a little shook up!)
We have absolutely loved cruising in the Sea of Cortez whenever we have a chance to come down from our home in Vancouver, BC – we even drove down in our camper last fall, pulling our Grady White behind us, so we could spend lots of time really exploring the Sea with friends and family. And then one day, Lawrence was looking on Yacht World… it all starts like that… and found that
one of the boats that had come along with us on Cubar ’15 was up for sale… Worknot, a beautiful Nordhavn 50 – the obvious choice for someone with undiagnosed four- foot itis. Her owners, Gale and Mary Plummer, had suddenly been given the opportunity to become owners of a Nordhavn 57, in Florida. Just like that we were two-boat owners again. The 50, which we renamed Northern Ranger II, is up at Chula Vista, waiting to come down on the Cubar. We bought our N46 already with the name Northern Ranger 1, and liked it so much we have decided to bring it along with us. Somehow it has just worked!
We are currently working on bringing the 46 up to Ensenada so she can be put on the market, with Jeff Merrill ( who sold us the 50) ( which means we may have to do the Bash before we do the Cubar again!) There was a thought to bringing the new boat down to La Paz this spring, but we have decided that it would be a lot more fun if we had a boat in the San Diego area for the summer. After all, what with hurricanes and extreme heat, we don’t cruise in that part of Mexico in the summer for almost 6 months. This way, we have a boat that we can fly to or even drive to… kind of a
summer home away from home. And then – we will be able to join the gang and do a repeat of the Cubar, along with old friends and new friends.. we made some wonderful friends on our last Cubar, which is part of the reason we want to do it again.
Our cruising experience had been exclusively the Pacific Northwest, almost 40 years of piloting various boats up and down the coast from Vancouver and around Vancouver Island. We thought we lived in one of the most beautiful cruising grounds in the world.. and we do… but we have become very smitten with the Sea of Cortez and are looking forward to another season of exploring. After that, we are not sure which direction we will be heading!
The Nordhavn fleet certainly offers boats that will take us anywhere, and do it comfortably. The 46 is an extremely seaworthy boat that can handle almost anything you throw at it. Having the extra four feet, with the 50 , and still having one of the more seaworthy Nordhavn’s built, along with a few extra knots of speed, will be a bonus.