I purchased Blue Opal, a Victoria 34, in September of 2016. I had made the trip over to Conwy on the fast ferry, met the broker, looked at the boat, and promptly asked my parents to go take a look at her as well. This is after a year+ of thinking about a larger boat, going to the Southampton Boat Show, and visiting a few other brokers (including one for Halberg Rassey).
She’s been undergoing a refit since purchase – new standing rigging, new running rigging, new life raft, new fire extinguishers, new DSC-enabled VHF, and new canvas (spray hood etc). Visited her this weekend gone, and reminded myself just how big a 34 footer is compared to my current boat, a 21 footer! Mounted the new life raft canister, plus two of the three fire extinguishers, Dad helped with the radio power and antenna wiring (a quick strip and re-connect to clean up the grounding braid), and making a cutout in the diesel tank shield more suitable for the handle that resides underneath it (it was binding on the wood when turned).
If all goes well, she’ll come across to Ireland in late April. Just need to find a buyer for Aslana, so that I can stop being an admiral of a fleet.