Via has some really cool design features, including a huge anchor locker that doubles as a watertight crash compartment. Her huge water and diesel tanks (175 and 208 gallons respectively) are plastic and integral to the hull, so they will never rust and also can act as watertight compartments if the hull were to get breached. She has a nice layout for a couple, with a great forward stateroom, a nice saloon and decent galley, and a second cabin and head for guests (or more often just all our extra stuff).

By far Via’s best feature is her large cockpit and huge companionway, with stairs instead of a ladder. It is hard to find a blue water sailboat around 40 feet with stairs that our dogs can manage, and it sure makes bringing food and drinks up into the cockpit much easier. We like to spend as much time above decks as possible, and having a large companionway that is easy to maneuver through really makes that easier.

Via was previously named Seeker, which was a great name, but Via had special meaning for us based on a poem by Antonio Machado. Her last owners purchased her almost new in Beaufort, NC, and then took her down the ICW and over to the turquoise waters of the Bahamas. They then had her shipped (literally loaded onto a huge cargo ship) to San Diego where they lived. Via made one run down to the Sea of Cortez with the Baja Haha rally in 2008, and then was sailed up to the PNW in 2010. She was based in Bellingham, WA where we found her and is now exploring the world!