Most guitar collectors sell their guitars for cash or trade for other guitars, but not Chris Mercer. In 2020, he sold four collector guitars to pay for a 27-foot C&C 27 sailboat, named the Blue Lotus, which he is restoring and plans to sail around North America. "This is going to sail down to the Gulf of Mexico and then all the way back up to the Great Lakes and back home," said Mercer, standing in the cockpit of the Blue Lotus.
This route is known as the Great Loop, and anyone who sails it is called a Looper. Mercer is a full-time musician and has been giving private guitar lessons to people of all ages in his spare time for close to 25 years. He said he was invited to sail with one of his students and fell in love from the moment he got on the boat.
"I remember thinking, 'you are going to be thinking about this every moment of your life for the rest of your life,'" he said. When offered the opportunity to take the rudder, Mercer said he could feel the "connection of the wind coming down from that sail, hitting my hand with the line and then the rudder," describing it as a visceral experience. The Blue Lotus moored in the St.
John River, in Fredericton. (Submitted by Chris Mercer) After that, Mercer knew he had to do whatever it took to get his own boat. He spent hours on Kijiji the week following that sail, eventually stumbling upon one for $7,000.
He thought it was a great deal, but a little out of his price range. WATCH | 'I know you sell guitars. Let's make a deal': Hitt.
