James Jackson

“The journey is part of the experience... an expression of the seriousness of one’s intent.” - Anthony Bourdain When I bought First Light in 2022, I didn’t expect a perfect boat. I expected problems. I just figured they’d be mine. What I got was a boat that had been loved... maintained, outfitted, respected... but not sailed in over a year. She was on the hard when I found her, quiet and clean. A little faded, but not forgotten. And like every used boat, she came with a few unknowns baked into the fiberglass. The past three years have been spent chasing those unknowns out into the open. One at a time. Slowly. Methodically. Sometimes the hard way. This isn’t a how-to series. It’s not a teardown or a list of product reviews. It’s a story... about learning, about trust, about getting dismissed by people who are supposed to know more than you, and about finding out you were right. It’s also about work. Actual, hands-on, in-the-bilge, swearing-at-a-bolt work. If you’ve ever felt your boat vibrating at speed and had four mechanics tell you it’s “probably just your prop,” you’ll understand this. If you’ve ever had a shaft back out in the middle of a maneuver and thought, “Wait, wasn’t that supposed to be fixed?” you’ll definitely understand this. And if you’ve ever had to be the most patient person in the yard while also being the only one who knows what’s actually happening under the waterline... well, then this story’s for you. This is First Light. This is the real maintenance log. And this is where it starts.