The Story

It all starts in 2019 when our sixteen year old skipper first learned about the mini class and said the fateful words, "I'm going to own one of those some day"

Fast forward to the 2023, Austin recently moved to Maine to pursue a professional career in the marine industry, hoping to grow his sailing ability as well. Shortly after the move he became antsy for some type of project and began boat shopping. Remembering one of the boats that caught his attention several years ago, he adds the words "Mini 650" to his search. This yielded no positive results in the States, but he got a feeling to add one more word to his search, "Canada." To his surprise one popped up a mere eleven-hour drive from his home.

Rapidly the idea took root, and the obsession began to take over. From finding the boat in Google Maps to closing the door of the truck to go see her, he was invested. One truck stop nap and thirty hours later, he was back home already contemplating his offer. Nearly five years after discovering the class the idea of his own mini was becoming a reality. Two weeks, and one accepted offer later, the trip to bring her home began.

Pickup

Having started the trip Friday after work, he made it halfway before tucking it in for another truck-stop nap. By noon on Saturday, he was there, hooking the trailer up and loading Nico up with sails.

Trip from Rockland, ME -> Toronto, ON -> Thomaston, ME

Projects

Finishing out the drive to Maine began the hard work. Off came boat parts and out came the stuff, and straight into projects.

First on the list, the only thing keeping the boat from being usable, was a crack in the tip of the rudder which immediately snowballed into the far bigger job of full restoration. A trend that would materialize in all of the projects going forward

Expanding the coatings skill, next came the clutch panel.

Meanwhile, Zealot was experiencing some well-needed TLC

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Wrapping up the off-season was a mad dash of sanding, cleaning, and work behind the scenes in preparation for launch day. Mostly coatings work on the keel finally getting that iconic high visibility foil, painting the bilge, and working on some nonskid in the cockpit. The rudders were also installed and troubleshoot, hardware remounted, and a hefty interior cleaning.

Launch Day

All 9 months of getting her, preparing her, and waiting for weather to come around all lead up to this