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sailing adventure. I have a picture of that day that was taken by some others at the park that evening, marking the beginning of our family sailing. But, an El Toro is pretty small, especially for two adults
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48° NORTH, MARCH 2011 PAGE 14
and a toddler. I kept looking in the paper to see if there was something a bit larger we could afford. Finally I found a Star with a trailer, for $1000. I persuaded my wife that we really could afford it, made contact and purchased our first boat. I learned later it had quite a racing history. One of the problems we faced was launching and retrieving. The trailer did not have an extension and would not allow floating it off. So, we took it to places like Des Moines Marina and Kingston, in order to have it hoisted into the water, then retrieved and put back on the trailer. We now had two children under five, and the small cockpit and low boom clearance of the Star made for some interesting day sails off Des Moines and Indianola. We then moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, at the north end of Lake Pend Oreille. We secured moorage at the Windbag Marina, a short distance from our home, which made it possible for me to take it out whenever I had about an hour. I did a lot of sailing during my lunch time. I recruited some friends to sail with me and we helped organize the Pend Oreille Yacht Club which sponsored some races. It was great fun but the family was not really involved. We wanted something a bit larger that could be more easily launched and retrieved, preferably with a cabin where our young children could be secured if it became rough. My wife was working at a bank and a repo notice for a San Juan 21 crossed her desk. She called me to see if that might be something we would be interested in. I didn’t know much about the SJ 21 at the time, but did some research, contacted the owner, and within the month traded my Star for the SJ21. We named it True Joy, and that it was for several years. With the cabin we could now cruise and we explored some of the northern parts of Pend Oreille. After a few years my job location changed again and I ended up in Burlington, WA, just south of Bellingham. It was a quick drive up to Bellingham and to Squalicum Harbor where, during the spring, summer and fall, there were races on Wednesday evenings. My children were now old enough to be crew, so each Wednesday we traveled to Bellingham, set up, launched and raced through the evening, after which we had to dismantle the boat and return home. This also involved a stop and a local eatery for some late dinner. I am not sure of what memories my kids have of those times, but mine are precious to me. My wife decided that, since the boat had a cabin, that we should go cruising. So, we planned to cruise the San Juans that were literally in our front yard. We made all the preparations, packed the boat and headed to Bellingham to launch, then sail to Sucia for our first stop. On the chart it did not look that far, but with no wind, and a 3.5 horse motor, it took a long time.
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