The purchase of Dawn Trader was complicated by the arrival of Hurricane Earl on September 2, 2010. The Marine surveyor was too busy prior to the storm and then delayed by the storm. I had already made two trips to North Carolina trying to complete the purchase of my dream vessel. While needing some cosmetic tender loving care (still in need) she was in excellent structural and mechanical condition. At seventeen years old there are few vessels built to this high standard. With Hurricane Earl approaching within 85 miles of the Outer Banks, Derek and I battened down the hatches, stripped off the gear on deck and prayed. Anyone that has seen what havoc these storms wreck knows our vessel's fate was in God's hands. I left my plywood motel room and drove a hundred miles inland to the junction of I-95 to both get away from the destructive potential of Earl and meet my good friend Mike Smolak on his way to Canada to see his lovely Patricia. Mike brought all my hundreds of pounds of tools and sailing gear to make my trip down to Florida possible.
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