Adventures of buying an AXOPAR 37 XC

After looking at boats for months and getting educated on the world of boating, we took a ride with a friend on his Axopar 28. That was the moment we had found our style of boat. My husband being an ex-motorcycle racer wanted something a bit faster than your standard cruising boat. 

We drove down to San Diego, California to visit Jeff Brown and his Axopar dealership and spent the afternoon out on the bay learning what a great boat the Axopar 37XC is. I was hooked when Jeff easily motored the Axopar onto the white sandy beach of Coronado Bay. I jumped off the bow, snapped a few photographs, jumped back on and off we went. All the spectators on the beach were amazed that a boat would do that. Then it came time for my husband's big wow moment when Jeff took over the helm, told us to hang on and cranked the wheel over and easily did donuts at 40 knots. Right then I knew my husband was hooked and we had found our new boat.

Fast forward 5 long months. After tracking the auto carrier Virgo Leader from Bremerhaven, Germany to Port Hueneme, California, I awoke on a cold January morning at 5:30 am to watch the ship come into port. Finally our boat and 12 other Axopars had arrived. A couple hours later, I received an email from Karen Brown letting me know the ship had cleared customs and they would start unloading the thousands of cars and boats loaded on to her. I was lucky enough to have a friend who had a pass to get us onto the Port Hueneme base and we were able to watch the slow process of unloading. Each time a shrink wrapped boat came off the ship I whooped it up! Luckily there weren't many people around to watch me, but I had a great time.

A couple days later the boats were loaded onto trucks 3 at a time and started to make their way down the coast to San Diego about 150 miles. You're asking why the ships don't go directly into San Diego? I learned the Jones Act of 1920 requires that all vessels carrying goods between two U.S. points be American built, owned, crewed and flagged, which the Virgo Leader is not.

Once Jeff Brown Yachts started to commission our boat, ours was luckily the first one on the stands, I think I bribed them with homemade cookies. We drove down to the boat yard, made some decisions on placement of plugs and such and had a great visit.

But be prepared, things can and may go wrong. We were all set to drive down to San Diego when our boat was scheduled to be completed and low and behold, one of the Mercury Verado engines failed PDI, so a new engine had to be ordered. Mercury was able to send the new engine within days! Jeff assured us that in the well over one hundred Mercury engines they’ve ordered in the last year, this is the only time this has happened. At least it was the winter, so we weren't planning on taking any long trips. Just excited to see her on our dock!

The big day finally arrived! San Diego, here we come! Early Thursday morning we picked up our rental car, loaded with 2 suitcases of supplies for the boat and 2 bags with our clothing and off we went. Stopped off in the office to hand over the final payment, gave everyone hugs and of course homemade cookies and headed for the dock. Ian met us there and spent a couple hours on the boat going over everything and then off we went into San Diego Harbor to test her out for a few hours. The next morning we were at it again, practicing anchoring, docking and learning the navigation system. 

Then it was time for the BIG sendoff. The guys from Jeff Brown Yachts followed us with a Brabus Shadow 800, filming as we traversed the San Diego channel. Then to our surprise, the entire US Navy came out to watch us leave. Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was returning after months at sea. Hundreds of seamen lined the perimeter of the deck, donning their dress whites watching us as we exited the channel. Thank you for your service seamen!

2 1/2 hours later in calm seas, we arrived in Newport Harbor, California for a quick visit to refuel, have a nice meal, spend our first night sleeping in the boat and then bright and early we left for the second leg of our trip home.

The second day, the seas were not so happy. Piloting thru 5-6 foot seas, averaging 20 knots, it took us 4 hours to arrive at our home port of Channel Islands Harbor, Oxnard. As we turned the corner of Point Mugu, it was nice to be greeted by familiar faces of friends of the Sea Monster and the Harbor Patrol! It felt great to be in our home harbor. We easily docked her at our home dock, glad to be home safe and sound. Since then, we have had a steady stream of neighbors visiting our new girl. Fun to see a new boat in the harbor.

Finally, we made it to the FINNISH LINE!

Big thanks to Jeff Brown and his entire staff of Jeff Brown Yachts in San Diego!

-Lori Vreeke
Axopar 37 XC “Finnish Line” Owner, along with her Husband Jim