Wednesday, December 12, 2007

She's gone

Hate to see a grown man cry when he has to sell his boat. And I feel honored that I’ll be the one to look after it for him.

Dan has his own fencing business, and like most self-employed folks, times can get tight and boats have to be sold to help pay the rent. I was lucky enough to be first in line to write a cheque out for Dan. Though little did I know that SandyBottom was right behind me, and FliesWithKiwiBird hadn’t quite heard me when I mentioned I was taking the cheque book to work with me that morning…

Dan even delivered the boat to my office yesterday.

Thus I’m now the proud owner of a Mirage 19 to add to the fleet. It’s probably a 1997, when Paul Hewitson was originally making Mirage kayaks in North Carolina. He then took the concept to Australia, and Mirage Sea Kayaks Australia is testament to his excellent reputation today. It was a Mirage kayak Andrew McAuley paddled, and Paul that Andrew worked with to help develop the boat.

Later that evening Dan even sent me the lyrics to Hall & Oates’s lyrics, She’s Gone. I very nearly wept.

She's Gone Oh I, Oh I'd
better learn how to face it

She's Gone Oh I, Oh I'd
pay the devil to replace her

She's Gone - what went wrong

And now I’m in a similar dilemma to SandyBottom, which boat do I use for next year’s Everglades Challenge – the Sisson or the Mirage… Kiwi vs. Ozzie…? Help!

7 comments:

Michael said...

Mmmmm.... I wonder if perhaps I don't need a new boat as well... Perhaps a better ice boat. Something with an ice-eating bow like that Mirage... LOL

DaveO said...

Jealous! I'm jealous! Like fine shotguns you always have more than you need but not as many as you want. What I want is a rolling boat. I may have to have a blog discussion of this crucial decision sometime soon......

mirage19 said...

I guess I'll have to change my handle. I hope you enjoy the Mirage as much as I did and for a longer time.

It seems Christmas comes early in Kiwiville.

Dan

Silbs said...

Warm temps, a new boat for the fleet...girl, you are living large. Just paddle safely.

Captn O Dark 30 and Super Boo said...

i'll send you down two sevylor infalatables... you and SB can battle it out to see who get s the Mirage 19!! Oh yea, possession is 9/10th's the law... :-)

Congrats!!

derrick said...

wow, that's a hot looking boat too. P40 flying tiger I think. :)

The Truth said...

Wow that botas desingn is awesome congrats, you make me wanna throw my Sevylor in the trash !