Well, about 1 year exactly after purchasing Jade Panama’ 3.0 (The Californian 55 LRC), we have already made a change! You see, there has been this boat that has been on our list of our ideal dream boat for about 4 years. It was owned by friends of ours and we had always told them… if you ever decide to sell it, to please let us know.
When we bought the Californian, we did talk with them and they were not ready… figured it would be another 3-4 years. So we thought perfect, we can buy the Californian, use it for 3-4 years, and then take the plunge. Well, if these times have showed us anything its that we need to be prepared for change and the unexpected. It all started with an innocent text, … “Were you serious about wanting to buy Chillin’?” When I got this I ran to my beautiful wife and first mate to show her the text. Did it mean that they wanted to sell???
I eagerly replied that we absolutely were interested. This set off 4+ months of talks, discussions, plans etc, and eventually, we ended up with a vessel we truly know we will be calling our own for MANY years to come.
Let me introduce the next Jade Panama’… the 76′ Rayburn Custom originally built as Watermark in 2001. This vessel has seen the world. It was originally designed and built by a couple with many requirements, but they essentially rolled up into 3 primary items. 1- It needed to be able to be ran by a couple without crew. 2 – It needed the ability to cruise anywhere in the world. 3- It demanded the utmost from its build quality and seakeeping abilities.
All of these were accomplished in breathtaking fashion. The vessel is loaded with binder upon binder with every build detail documented to the nth degree. All the way down to a binder that does nothing but document every piece of wood trim on the entire boat, its dimensions, fit, finish etc. Same said for every other system that can be found on the vessel. For a guy like me, this is a dream come true. Rayburn also is/was well known for the absolutely top build quality, and is on par with Delta in this respect. That’s no small feat.
Once the boat was commissioned in British Columbia at the Rayburn factory, it set sail and ventured up to Alaska, then back down south all the way down the coast past Panama’ and down the Western Coast of South America. She came back North, through the Canal, South again along the coast of South America and on to the Caribbean where she eventually crossed the Atlantic on her own bottom to Europe where she spent 4 years on the Mediterranean sea. She worked her way back to the US via the northern route, back down the East Coast of the US to Florida where the next Owners took possession. Ultimately our friends purchased her and shipped her back to the PNW where they enjoyed her for 5 years around the PNW Puget Sound Waters.
She was originally built as Watermark – you can see it in closer to original form on this old YouTube link.
She was then refit/updated around 2015 and you can see some of the changes here on this YouTube link.
and Now… she is Jade Panama’
Isn’t she lovely :)… ok, I am biased. But, ultimately her build quality is stunning. All interior is Honduran Mohagany and she is stunning. Even better, the previous owner was meticulous about maintenance and records, and upgraded all the electronics etc as well.
More to come as we get comfortable with her, but needless to say… we feel blessed and excited!
