How I came to own a Sovereign 7.0 Sailboat

Hi, I'm Henry and I'll be your guide on this adventure/misadventure. If you're reading this it's probably because you were searching for information about Sovereign Sailboats. There will be plenty of posts about Sovereign, its history and the surviving boats later but for my first post I want to talk a bit about myself and how I ended up with a Sovereign.

It’s a really stupid reason. I grew up on motorboats in Miami, Florida. My dad owned these boats. As a teenager he got me my own 15' Boston Whaler. That's the closest I ever came to actually owning a boat. Now, 47 years old, I had never considered a sailboat before.

My wife's father had an O'Day 37' Center Cockpit when she was growing up and she always urged me to get a sailboat. I just wasn't interested. I assumed sailboats were expensive (buying an old one isn't, you can get them cheap or free but they do cost a lot of money to repair and maintain).

Then my children went to a summer camp where they do a lot of boating and sailing and my wife and I attended their family night. While we were being taken on a short pleasure ride on one of their boats I struck up a conversation with the guide and he mentioned the anchorage near their dock where people live on their sailboats or just park them there for free. It was kind of a revelation. I thought maybe I could find a cheap old sailboat (still not knowing if there was such a thing) and leave it there.

I began looking at boats on craigslist and found one that was very cheap but that was in the middle of several projects that I’d have to complete. In any case, it was sold by the time I called. Then another one was listed and I jumped on it. It’s a Sovereign 7.0 from 1980. It’s in very good condition for its age and it came with a 9.9HP Johnson outboard. The seller listed it for $3500 and I got it for $2900 including the trailer.

The seller had it in the water at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club and after investigating it, it’s pretty reasonable to keep it there. It’s more secure and there’s 24/7 water taxi to and from the boats. I have been out on it a few times already, mostly just putting around with the outboard but I am signed up for a basic keelboat class in early September and looking forward to learning how to sail.

 Stay tuned. Pics and more posts to come.