Kinetics is a 1986 Nordic 44 built by a company here in the NW which became Norstar Boats but has since ceased operations. The design is from the board of Robert Perry, a prolific designer with a huge portfolio of many well known boats spanning several decades. This design is documented in Perry’s book, Yacht Design According to Perry. It is a truly solid boat built during a time when you could buy semi-custom boats crafted with quality at the expense of profit. It is still a well regarded world cruiser that offers good performance albeit with the an interior that is somewhat compact by today’s standards. They sail well upwind which is something under appreciated by some boat designers of production cruising yachts. Its moderate displacement provides a stable motion at sea. One distinct advantage to this vintage of boat over many newer ones is the ability to access nearly every component for maintenance and upgrade. However, there are still some items that have been built into the “furniture”. It has good capacity for water and diesel making long passages feasible without resorting to carrying portable containers. Each 44 I have seen has some small variations in the interior and over the years owners have added various options of their own. Perry’s interior design is well considered for real passage making and it makes sense in real offshore conditions unlike some cavernous interiors I see in marinas these days. The two head layout seemed sensible to me when I bought the boat but it is rarely used and I’m seriously considering converting it into a sail locker or other storage area [getting more use that I expected so it remains as it was designed]. The aft head has a sizable shower which was on my list of requirements and is perfectly adequate. Waste tank size is barely adequate in today’s environment of pump out only. I replaced the original with one as big as I could install.
Kinetics was first owned by a couple in Southern California where I assumed it was cruised among the Channel Island and raced occasionally over the years until I purchased it from them in 2009. I think it spent a lot of time at the dock in the last few years of its life. It was well cared for but nothing like boats, planes or cars does well sitting idle. I have spent a lot of time and money fixing all things that looked good until they were used hard for the first time. My intention is to eventually go cruising for extended periods but for now I cruise and race locally to refine the boat. So far that has worked quite well. The boat is a much better one than what I bought in 2009. Some days I love it more than others but I always come back around when the latest problem gets fixed. It’s a lot of boat, easy on the eye, built to last, held its value well and helped me meet a lot of really nice people.