In February of 1980, Jim purchased a new Pearson 35 from Southwest Marine Sales in Clearlake, Texas.  The Pearson was christened “Talisman” and registered with the Coast Guard.  Jim was a member of the Lakewood Yacht Club and sailed Talisman in the gulf waters off East Texas.  Three years later Talisman suffered damage to the port bow from hurricane Alicia.

     In 1989 Jim and family moved to Melbourne, Fl.  Talisman was relocated by truck.  Talisman’s new home was Diamond 99 Marina located on the Intercostals Waterway (ICW).  Shortly after moving Talisman to Florida Jim agreed to sell Talisman to George (See First Marine Survey Conducted 1989). George who did local consulting work, turned Talisman into a live-a-board boat.  He had the marina upgrade Talisman with central AC and reinforced hatch locks.  As a part of the yearly upkeep, George had Talisman hauled two miles up the road for a bottom job at Pineda Point Marina.  While Talisman was out George unfortunately passed away leaving Talisman on the “Hard” for the next 18 months.

     In early 1996 Matt came along had Talisman surveyed and offered a contract for it from the estate of George. (See Second Marine Survey Conducted 1995). Matt renamed Talisman to “Mikhaya,” after the German word “Mechaia.”  Mechaia is roughly translated “Great Pleasure."  Mechaia was changed to Mikhaya to make it sound better over the VHF (so the story goes).  Over the next two years Matt made numerous upgrades to Mikhaya and basically restored her back to a 70’s classic. 

     Matt and friends sailed Mikhaya in the Banana River and the Indian River (ICW) just off Dragon Point, Indian Harbour Beach, Florida.  He also made two trips to the Bahamans with Mikhaya in the late 90’s. 

     I purchased Mikhaya in February of 2000 when Matt decided to take on a bigger boat (See Third Marine Survey Conducted 2000).  I chose to keep the name of Mikhaya (didn’t want to remark the stern) and to take the boat out of documentation (didn’t want to pay the bucks).   In early 2001 I hauled Mikhaya and rebuilt the Westerbeke engine.  While Mikhaya was on the hard, I made major upgrades to the electrical system, the plumbing system and had the steering  refurbished by Edson.  So far I have sailed Mikhaya  in the same general area as she has sailed for the past seven years.  Mikhaya is presently moored within site of the Dragon on the Banana River.

     In March of 2002 I located Jim (the original owner) over the net and spoke with him on the phone.  I emailed him pictures of Mikhaya (Talisman) and gave him the web site link.  He was delighted to hear about the boat and indicated that some of the best years of his life was spent on ‘that’ brand new Pearson 35.
     

      UPDATE  Nov 02

The "Dragon" on Dragon Point collapsed in September of this year.  A rebuild is planned.

      UPDATE  July 03

Mikhaya is docked just off of Dragon Point to the right of the channel marker in the picture.

Top of Page