First year with Quest

[loubennett]

I recently passed the first anniversary of owning Quest. I had not owned a boat with cruising accomodations for several years and really missed cruising the bay. My requirements were a boat I could singlehand and would handle anything the Chesapeake can throw at it. Over the years I had identified the Albin 28 TE as a good candidate. In the past year Quest has met or exceeded all my expectations. It is economical to run, seaworthy, easily singlehanded, and has the basic amentities for cruising. It's an ideal boat for the Chesapeake Bay. When I purchased Quest, she was just basically equipped. The price, however, left me sufficient budget for substantial upgrades. I have added A/C, windlass, autopilot, and canvas. A major electronics upgrade is in the works to be ready this spring. My son also uses the boat and our first season was very active. We put 250 hours on her from March through November and here are some highlights.

36 days cruising to places like Solomons, St. Michaels, Baltimore, Herrington Harbor (North and South), Chestertown, Middle River, and Rock Hall.
My son was best man in his best friend's wedding and used Quest to deliver the groom and groomsmen to the wedding at Kent Manor Inn.
My son piloted Quest as the "Sailing Anarchy" press boat for one day of the Melges 24 Worlds held in Annapolis. They were sending live streaming video and commentary from the race course back to shore and directly to the internet.
Attended my first AOG Rendezvous and met a great group of Albin owners. Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the whole weekend since my annual company crabfeast was the same weekend. I won't have that conflict this year and look forward to Solomons.
When the surveyor saw the name, he asked me what was my quest. I replied that I was in search of the best bar on the bay. I visited several good ones.

After an active year I am very happy with my choice of the Albin 28. Maybe one of the best things is the positive comments I get wherever I go. Even better is the more knowledgable the person is about boats, the more they are impressed. I'm really looking forward to my second year with Quest.

[jcollins]

Lou,
Great commentary. I have only owned a few boats previous to my Albin. As many have said, "this is a real boat". After 4 seasons I have not grown tired of the boat or worried about bad weather. Every trip has been an adventure that I would not trade for anything else. When you find yourself in my neighborhood this summer give me a call. We'll toast these great boats and the great people that own them!

[DWHoover]

I ran a 28TE named Quest out of The Chesapeake Boat Club in Eastport, MD. Could this be the same boat? There were 4 boats; Quest, Journey, Venture and Liberty. My 2 (young at the time) girls my wife and I loved every minuet of those 2 years. We would regularly take folks on a circumnavigation of Kent Island past the three local Lighthouses; Thomas Point, Bloody Point as well as Sandy point lights. I hope you have as much fun with this one as we had back then.

David W. Hoover

[loubennett]

David, it's the same boat. The club decided they wanted to sell one of the Albin 28's and add some smaller boats to their fleet. I boaught Quest from them in February, 2009. I liked the name, so I just had the hailing port changed from "Chesapeake Boating Club" to "Annapolis".