PAGE 8 • SUMMER 2008 THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SAILING ASSOCIATION
SUMMER 2008 • PAGE 7
LIVING THE DREAM
continued from page 4
The winds along the eastern side were calm. For
the first time, we had to motor much of the way
Advantage
to Two Harbors, where we decided to moor for
the night. Indeed, this was the most relaxing and
HUNTER
beautiful part of the trip with its little
Whether racing, training, learning to sail or just having fun, the Hunter JY15 can’t be beat.
convenience store, restaurant, beachfront and
clean showers. It was like that far-away, secluded
place that you read about in sailing magazines
and Sunday travel sections. A few more days of
sailing up and down the island and it was time
We Go The Distance
to head back to Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club.
Departure was uneventful. The winds were calm.
We had to use our motor about six miles of the
386.462.3077 • Fax 386.462.4077
22-plus mile passage. We disliked motoring.
For Dealer/Product Information:
After all, we didn’t buy a sailboat to motor. We huntermarine.com
bought it to sail! Late morning and early
afternoon winds rose and we were on our way as
sprays of Pacific Ocean anointed our faces. The
passage back took just under four hours.
What an adventure and celebration of our 20
th
wedding anniversary! We were stoked! Sailing
-Building Daysailers through Passagemakers-
was now in our blood! But more was to come!
The first day back in the office, I received a call
from an acquaintance. He casually mentioned
that he was retiring to a new 44-foot Catamaran
The adventure of sailing has its peaceful moments like this one at anchor
outside of Clearwater, Fla. He had a 2001 26X
amongst the other cruisers.
MacGregor for sale. It had only been in the water
six times.
The second couple had two teenage children. We could
“Why don’t you come down to Ruidoso and check out
tell they really loved her on first sight. It was a match,
the boat?” he asked. “I’m not in the market” was my
and they were so excited to be the owners, just as we
response; but he insisted.
had been five months earlier.
The boat looked spanking new and loaded with all the
Little did we know that the next summer we would trailer
cruising comforts of home. It had upgrades galore. But I
our 26X 2,300 miles to Florida and then sail to the
wasn’t ready. Desperately, the owner urged: “Just take it
Bahamas. Nor did we realize that our retirement plans of
home with you and let her sit in your yard while you
RVing around the U.S. and Mexico – just four years away
decide. If you buy her, great! If you don’t, I can pick her
– would change dramatically. But, that’s another
up on my way to Denver and leave her with my son.”
adventure!
Well, you guessed it! We now had two boats. We placed
It is indeed a “good life.”
Marisol in the Sunday classifieds, the same place she
had been advertised five months earlier.
Art Bouffard, a landlubber locked in the high desert outside of
Santa Fe, N.M., is a newcomer to sailing. Last summer he, his
The first couple to look at Marisol made a great offer.
wife Shari, and their 15-year-old granddaughter, Dana, earned
But, there was no way we would sell, regardless of the
ASA certifications in basic keelboat, coastal and bareboat sailing
offer. Personalities didn’t seem right. Marisol was
from Pacific Sailing School in Santa Cruz, Calif. He is a past
loved; and, in a peculiar sort of way, she was now part
board member of the Rio Grande Sailing Club and a member of
of our family. She would be a possession with this
the New Mexico Sailing Club. Currently president of the New
couple, not a family member. No way! I wouldn’t sell
Mexico Lodging Association in Santa Fe, he and his wife, a
her to them.
teacher with Albuquerque public schools, plan on retiring soon,
getting a larger boat, and sailing to destinations around the globe.
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