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Does anyone know anything about the 46' Tiki in Grenada "Follower" (not sure thats the name) or the Agent selling it, "Monika"?  I'm considering going to look at it but "red flags" are flying.  They want a deposit before I go see it. Owner has people down there that are going to move it and pull it out of water to work on it but it is "immediately ready to sail.  When I asked if I could take it on a sea trial I was told that couldn't be done cause the sails and electronics were below.  Just seems suspicious that people could be trusted to move it, pull it out and do the work without owner present but those same people couldn't be trusted to escort me on a sea trial. There has been a lot of miscommunication because we don't speak the same language, maybe just that. Any info would be appreciated.

               Happy sailing, Rob

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Hey Rob. You are dealing with the West Indies mon, everything cool.

On a more serious note... I sailed on Follower a few years ago with the previous owners, she needed new sails then, not sure if that happened??? They had a full survey done by Steve Turner, (A mate of Scott Brown, he knows Wharrams prob better than anyone, probably better than Wharram himself! :-P) flew him out from the UK I believe. I read that survey and all that was noted had been fixed. The main issue was with the beams. I'm only going by memory here but I know they stripped the boat, pulled the beams out and reglassed them, all with professional help. I wanted to buy her at the time but didn't have the money. Assuming she has been looked after these last few years I would say it's a great boat. She doesn't seem to keep owners for long??? The South African guy who built her sold after a few years, the German couple only a year or two and now she is selling again after a couple of years??? It's like she needs a cleanse, maybe a name change and a paint job. The name Follower was the name of the builders horse when he was in the army light horse.

They seem to be using old photo's in the advert, not sure why as I don't know the new owners at all.

It's going to need some work (tlc) and prob new sails. BUt from what I saw at the time she is a strong and well built boat and was fresh from a PRO Survey with all works duly noted. I would have sailed her around the world at that time no problem Mon!

It's a bit steep to be asking for a deposit though. They sound desperate. You may be able to snatch yourself a bargain?

She needs someone who is going to love her long time.

Good luck!

Penn

Hello everybody, nice meeting you, we are Pablo and Agustina, Follower´s owers since january 2012. We bought her from Joachim and Antonette (the quotated "German couple") And move to live on board with our baby. As he was only 3 months old, we didn´t sailed to much, just a couple of trips from trinidad to and  grenada to carriacou.And that was enough to see that the boat was in excellent conditions and is a real pleasure to sail her. Only two years later we decided to sell her because our plans have changed (not economical reasons). She is in the same conditions that she was two years ago when we bought her. All manteinance done, all equipment and engines working.

The building of the boat was excellent, Joachim´s mantainance was perfect, and we kept the boat in the same condition with a lot of ilussion.  Unfortunatley because of new argentinian dispositions, living abroad is not so easy as when we planed our life in follower, that´s why next april 15 if follower has not been sold we are going to fly to grenada, cross to europe in order to position her and next season we plan to bring her to south america (that explains the hull out, painting, etc).  It´s a pitty the missunderstanding, maybe language limitations.

TO MAKE IT SHORT: EXCELLENT BOAT, VERY GOOD OPORTUNITY BUT NOT A BARGAIN. 

Why ask for a deposit before you're allowed to view??  Or is that a language misunderstanding?  I've never ever heard of that before.

That is an absolute misunderstanding, completly ridiculos. No deposit to see the boat. Anyone is welcome to see her and check it, two very nice people (Nikola and Sylvie) are encharged of the boat and pleased to show her any time. We just ask for a price agreement and a refundable deposit to make a sea trial, that is because we need to fly there from Argentina, so it´s important that is a serious buyer, We did the same for the previous owners that were german.  

 

Please let me clarify what has been going on. I am the other party that is interested in buying follower. The problem is not with Pablo and Agostina, but rather their broker whom shall remain nameless. Pablo and Agostina seem to be very lovely honest people. That said, the ad for the vessel appeared in more than one place with two different prices, and the infomation was all inaccurate, listing her as a monohull and as having two Diesel engines. Believe it or not a lot of scams go on via the internet, and the number one scam is getting suckers to wire funds internationally for things that don't even exist. Given the discrepancies, and then being asked for a deposit to see the boat sounded ridiculous. We were asked to enter into a binding sales agreement without ever seeing the boat, and in addition provide a deposit, supposedly since the owner would have to travel to show it to us. It's not our problem that the owner keeps the boat a great distance from their home. That would be akin to me offering a home for sale, but since I didn't live near the home I would want the potential buyer to pay for my airfare to show them the home. Furthermore there are supposedly trusted individuals living on the boat, so the fact is it's not necessary for the owner to be their at all. We would also be incurring an expense to go down to see the vessel, that's just the cost of looking at a boat thousands of miles away. The whole thing was just a little suspicious and when I questioned the broker on this they took personal offense rather than simply initiating a Skype call with someone on the boat to verify she actually exists. I made an offer site unseen, albeit low, and even offered a $10,000 fully refundable deposit for us to be allowed to take her for a sea trial. We all know this vessel has changed owners many times in the short time since she was built, and to me that always throws up a red flag. I'm not interested in buying someone else's problem.

So in conclusion, Pablo and Agostina we look forward to working with you directly to come to an agreement on how we can make this deal happen. We are not interested in working with your broker, and as I told her if she had the listing for my boat and didn't get the listing 100% correct that would just tell me she is only interested in the commission and not in doing the hard work it takes to make all parties feel comfortable with the deal. All in all I don't use brokers anymore for anything because we all have access to the information that use to be exclusive to them, or at least very difficult to obtain. Sites like this are a perfect example of that.

Pablo and Agostina please let us know as soon as your listing with current broker expires and we would be happy to come see wherever she may be, and we hope to come to an agreement. We think she is a beautiful vessel and has everything we've been looking for for our circumnavigation. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Chip R

Hello Chip, I´m Pablo Follower´s owner. When ever you want we can talk by mail solarzpablo@gmail.com or skype: Pablosolarz, so we end up with all this confusions. 

Hope to hear from you,

best.

Pablo

As evidence Pablo here is a clipping from the email your broker sent to us. I have deleted here name and info because it is not my business to share that information, but this is what she asked of us.

As I told you the owner Pablo Solarz is living in Argentina and need to buy an expensive flight to Grenada.
So we should be agree about the price at first. Also we need to make an purchase and sale agreement with a deposit payment on my escrow account.

So you tell me what that means. Now she is back pedaling, but when it comes to purchases like this I take the language very seriously.


Chip R said:
Please let me clarify what has been going on. I am the other party that is interested in buying follower. The problem is not with Pablo and Agostina, but rather their broker whom shall remain nameless. Pablo and Agostina seem to be very lovely honest people. That said, the ad for the vessel appeared in more than one place with two different prices, and the infomation was all inaccurate, listing her as a monohull and as having two Diesel engines. Believe it or not a lot of scams go on via the internet, and the number one scam is getting suckers to wire funds internationally for things that don't even exist. Given the discrepancies, and then being asked for a deposit to see the boat sounded ridiculous. We were asked to enter into a binding sales agreement without ever seeing the boat, and in addition provide a deposit, supposedly since the owner would have to travel to show it to us. It's not our problem that the owner keeps the boat a great distance from their home. That would be akin to me offering a home for sale, but since I didn't live near the home I would want the potential buyer to pay for my airfare to show them the home. Furthermore there are supposedly trusted individuals living on the boat, so the fact is it's not necessary for the owner to be their at all. We would also be incurring an expense to go down to see the vessel, that's just the cost of looking at a boat thousands of miles away. The whole thing was just a little suspicious and when I questioned the broker on this they took personal offense rather than simply initiating a Skype call with someone on the boat to verify she actually exists. I made an offer site unseen, albeit low, and even offered a $10,000 fully refundable deposit for us to be allowed to take her for a sea trial. We all know this vessel has changed owners many times in the short time since she was built, and to me that always throws up a red flag. I'm not interested in buying someone else's problem.

So in conclusion, Pablo and Agostina we look forward to working with you directly to come to an agreement on how we can make this deal happen. We are not interested in working with your broker, and as I told her if she had the listing for my boat and didn't get the listing 100% correct that would just tell me she is only interested in the commission and not in doing the hard work it takes to make all parties feel comfortable with the deal. All in all I don't use brokers anymore for anything because we all have access to the information that use to be exclusive to them, or at least very difficult to obtain. Sites like this are a perfect example of that.

Pablo and Agostina please let us know as soon as your listing with current broker expires and we would be happy to come see wherever she may be, and we hope to come to an agreement. We think she is a beautiful vessel and has everything we've been looking for for our circumnavigation. We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Chip R

Chip R, you already have my e mail and skype name, if you are intrested on follower you know how to contact me.

Thanks

Pablo

Might I suggest (especially in the event that any pending deals fall through) that you post your Wharram Tiki 46 for sale here on Wharram Builders.

You can post as many pictures as you like, videos, details, and prices.

Best of all...........IT IS FREE!!

Friends of ours who happened to be in Grenada took these photos and short videos of Follower:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=4BD18203AA591322!631&auth...

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=4BD18203AA591322!679&auth...

Joachim's blog of his time with Follower is here (it is in German, and a bit rough but understandable with Google's Translate:  http://www.follower-online.de/index.php?option=com_content&view...

From reading it, he seems to have taken good care of her.

Joachim said he sold because his wife did not like bluewater cruising.

I wish we could buy Follower, but we're just not quite able yet.  

 - Rusty

Pablo and Agustina,

If you take Follower to Europe in April, is there any chance you may be able to time the trip to stop by the Wharram Rendezvous in the Florida Keys in May?

http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/forum/topics/46-wharram-tiki-in-gre...

I sailed from Caracou to Grenada on Follower a few years ago. She is an awesome boat.

It is my belief you will break before she does. If I wanted a boat to sail around the world and had the funds I would not hesitate. If you factor in building time and cost...she is a bargain. If it was me buying her I would be changing the name, something not right about it, some new sails and away I go.

I say it again... she needs someone to love her a long time. Go for it, "or not". <Disclaimer  :-P

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