The Story of Mayhem!

How it all started:
In May 2009 one of my closest friends, Craig Cooley, purchased an old beat up Ranger 33. Out of the blue, Craig calls me and says "Jason, I am putting together a racing crew of rookie sailors... do you want to learn to sail?" I said, without hesitation, "I'm in... absolutely, when, where... I'll be there" and that was the start...

I am sure Craig remembers those first few trips out on "Good Cheer" as it was named. A perpetual barrage of questions. How does this work?, what does this do?, where does this go?, how are we moving?, why aren't we moving? etc. Through all of Craig's patience, or impatience at times as it were, I learned the basics of sailing. More importantly, I learned that I LOVE SAILING!

After a couple seasons sailing with Craig and the rest of the rookie crew, in fall of 2010 things changed. Craig sold his boat because he just wasn't using it as much as he thought he would... this presented a problem for me as I looked to Spring and Summer and thought of all the fun I'd had racing out of the Oak Harbor Yacht Club. I began looking for a boat.

Having sailed in Oak Harbor enough to have seen what other guys were sailing, I essentially decided on a San Juan 24. I began to shop around and look for a good buy. In doing so, started talking with my friend Dan about getting a boat. We decided we'd go in on one together. (Dan was one of the other "rookie" sailors on Craig's, Good Cheer). After doing some looking, we found a boat listed online for sale out of the Everett Marina.

Dan and I made arrangements to go see the boat. The owner was asking $1800 and the boat was called "Warsawa" and was in serious disrepair. We knew from the start that this was going to, at the very least, be an interesting trip. You see, the email address of the seller was "intentionallysexy@.....com". I just had to see what kind of guy would have that email. When we met him, he couldn't have been farther from what I was expecting with an email like that. We saw the boat and offered the owner $1200 and were given the reply "You should buy a canoe... you can get a pretty nice canoe for $1200". Undeterred and being the astute negotiators that we are, we said "OK" and walked away. We figured that he would make some type of counteroffer. This didn't happen and as we drove home, we said... he'll call us. He never did. A couple days later, Dan and I decided we wanted the boat and called for a second round of talks. We ended up settling on $1778.00. I am not sure, but I think this may have been exactly what he owed the Marina in past due moorage fees...In any case, we were the proud new owners of a boat and were considering renaming it "Intentionally Sexy"

We made arrangements to come pick the boat up the next day. We met him at the Marina, and Dan and I set off to sail/motor back to Freeland then on to Oak Harbor where it would be moored. Craig sailed the second leg of the trip from Freeland to Oak Harbor with me and was thoroughly impressed with our purchase, citing the traveler and outboard being worth nearly what we paid for the boat. This was all the confirmation I needed! I was in love with my new boat... ugly as she was... and that was where it all began.

Warsawa was not an appropriate name for our boat. After sailing in a few Wednesday night races, and going out on other short adventures it was evident that our boat needed a more appropriate name. After tossing around a few ideas, it was decided that Mayhem! would be our new name. She was renamed unceremoniously with a can of PBR showered over the boat and a short prayer spoken.While "Intentionally Sexy" does have a nice ring, better judgment prevailed... but it is still a great story.