Boat Search, Day II

5/25/07 –

I woke up this morning in the hotel on South Beach and took a shower. I immediately began working on trying to find a boat on the internet again and made a few more phone calls before I had to check out. While I was walking over to the beach to my car, I got a voicemail from a guy named Richard who has a pretty nice 30 Pearson Flyer sailboat. I called him back and set up a time to go look at her. I killed some time by going to a library and stealing wireless internet outside of people’s houses.

That afternoon, I arrived at the marina where Richard was keeping his boat and climbed aboard. The first thing I noticed was how huge she was compared to Lazaro’s boat. There was ample room inside for several people and all of their things. I was very interested and told him so. Almost as an afterthought, I asked him if he had a clear title. He looked down and fidgeted as he explained to me that he has only owned her for a week and thus does not have a title. “Oh,” I replied, “well then you have the previous title that has been signed over to your name then?” He fidgeted again and explained that the guy he bought it from had not transferred the title from the previous owner. This all seemed a little fishy to me so I asked to see any documentation of ownership that he had. He pulled out three crumpled and waterlogged pieces of paper from a bag and showed them to me. The first was a title from 1982 that was in the name of one owner, “Bill,” and had been signed over to another owner, “Frank.” The second was a bill of sale from Bill to Frank, and the third was a handwritten bill of sale from Frank to Richard. I pondered this bizarre situation and told Richard that I would keep in contact with him.

Later that afternoon, I called my father who suggested that I obtain copies of these three documents and bring them to an attorney here in Miami. I checked into a hotel and called my sister to wish her a happy birthday. The family sung to her while I was on the phone and began eating cake while I ate a donut hole. I did a little more boat research and then went to bed.