There is no denying that Randy and Lennie of SV Happy Together have got it figured out. They work hard and they play hard. Life is all about balance, isn’t it?
It has been just about two years since I had the opportunity to catch up with these fantastic owners, and in that time frame a lot has happened. The couple has passed through the Panama Canal, sailed the Baja Ha-Ha Cruisers Rally, donated time and efforts to the Warrior Sailing Program, spent time at the America’s Cup and Catalina, and too many other fun adventures to name.
In addition to exciting travel adventures, the couple has also made a big leap. They have purchased a Leopard 50. So what does that mean for their Leopard 48? I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the couple to discuss future sailing plans, options and layouts for their new 50, and they revealed why they chose Leopard Catamarans for a second time. To discover it all, check out the video below! Or, scroll past the video to read the full interview!
Catch up with Leopard 48 turned Leopard 50 Owners, Randy and Lennie, SV Happy Together
Why did you decide to purchase a Leopard Catamaran for the second time?
That’s easy. Like most of your customers, we do a ton of research before making a buying decision. And it is pretty easy when you go to a boat show and you get on every manufacturer. We knew we weren’t going to custom build a boat, we wanted a production boat. And out of all the production boats, and we like them all, Leopard with the forward cockpit was the original draw. We looked at all of the cats. We had chartered Leopards, Lagoons and Fountaine Pajots and the forward cockpit was the number one sale for us, and that is why we made the decision on the Leopard 48. Once you have had the forward cockpit, you are not going back. Now, on top of that, after owning the boat for three years and doing all of the maintenance ourselves and really immersing ourselves in the Leopard, we just think it is a fantastic built boat with fantastic engineering. We love that it has separate engine compartments, we love the electrical layout of the boat, we think it is really solidly built and so at this point we wouldn’t switch brands. And the company support has been outstanding. We took delivery of the 48 and we left the United States immediately. Our boat has not been back in the United States in two years. We have to fix things in remote locations and any time we call or e-mail because we need a part, the company has been very supportive and that’s worth a lot.
Why did you choose the Leopard 50P over the Leopard 50L?
We debated it for a long time. They make this model in what Leopard calls the performance version, which is the one we bought, and we can only assume they mean performance because the boom has to be raised a bit in order to fit that great upstairs cockpit (lounge) and so it takes away a little sail area. Also, the upstairs cockpit adds a little weight to the boat. Now we assume that for people who are going to spend most of their time cruising in the Caribbean or the Bahamas, they are going to like having this second space. For us, we’re crossing oceans as soon as we take delivery of the boat and we want a little bit less weight and a little bit more sail area. We don’t think we would use the lounge area as much, but we can imagine that in the charter fleet everybody will live in that area.
How did you decide on the Leopard 50, three cabin plus utility room layout?
The utility room is a huge reason that we’re changing boats. I mean, we could have eliminated a cabin on our 48 but when Leopard came out with the 50 it’s just the natural progression of people. We buy a boat, they come out with a new updated version with some new features, and it drags customers like us on to the next purchase. We love our current boat so much there is no reason to change. We are just doing it for the fun and enjoyment of buying a new boat and outfitting it. So when it came to the utility room, because we are going to be spending a year on the boat, you need a place for your tools and spare parts. And in this case we are going to have a separate washer and dryer. I know that makes some people crazy but that’s important to us because we live on the boat part time. So they showed us a schematic of the where they are going to delete the forward stateroom and our kids are upset about it because they really want us to have three guest staterooms, but they only come a couple times a year. We really don’t need to be dragging around that third stateroom. We are excited about converting it into the utility room. Leopard will deliver it to us that way with the washer and dryer and then we will do additional modifications to it. We think it is an excellent option for people who aren’t putting their boat into the charter program.
What does the future hold for S/V Happy Together?
The plan just unfolded when Leopard released the 50. Our Leopard 48 is currently in the Pacific Ocean and we have covered about 11,000 miles. We were considering, since we are already there, to just head for the South Pacific. But now with taking delivery of the new boat what we have decided is that we will sail Happy Together back to South Florida, we’ll take delivery of the new boat and spend six months outfitting her locally with a little less travel because right now we are bicoastal every month. Then we are going to joining the World ARC Rally in January of 2020. So we will take delivery of our Leopard 50 in January 2019, get it ready and then sail it to the Caribbean. We will wait in St. Lucia, we’re both going to take a year off of work and take off for Australia. It should be about an eight month trip.
If you want to follow Randy and Lennie’s adventures around the world, be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel.
