We began 2004 with this new boat, a '72 CS22.  We'll take it on a summer sailing vacation in the North Channel, which is comparable in beauty to the Greek Islands.  Cruisers who spend the winter in the Caribbean return to these cruising grounds every summer. 

(This was Jan. 3rd, at 9 degrees! I was in a T-shirt all day...)

 
This was our 1973 C&C 25 Redline, "Pieces of Eight". We sailed it for three summers. 
We entered the C&C Regatta for two of those summers, and took away the Cruising Division trophy for both years.
Previous boats:
    I just had to get into sailing...after all, we live just minutes from the lake.  Ernie Olivo sold me this old home-built Glen-L, a 17' design that Ian Gatehouse built as a 19'.  It heads up quite well.  Ernie didn't charge me much for it.  But the first step was to repair a leaky drop keel.  That's a wrecking bar in my teeth.  I'm not a real pirate.

 




With a fresh paint job, the boat sported a new Ovimbundu name that my father bestowed on it from his Angolan childhood. 
 

Finally, I got to sail her:
 
                  

I sold her in 2000/  Last year the new owner donated her to the Sailing Yacht Canada Restoration Project.
I was sad to see her go, but at least she served a good final cause.
This is a smaller craft that I tried to master.  I was never very good at it, but it was fun. 

This is the Lomar II.  It wass a steel cruiser, 40' long and a shameful waste of money.  I had to give her up in July of '99.   I had dreamed of cruising in her, but realistically, I didn't have the time a boat like this needs for maintenance and TLC.  Every year I seemed to get busier, in an expanding sphere of interests and activities.  I agonized over the decision for weeks, but finally, the boat had to go.  In any case, while I owned her, I learned that I preferred sail over power.  Sailing is slower but more peaceful, and time has a different quality when you're on the water in a sailboat.

Deborah's tastes were for classier boats.  Here she is at the helm of Gordie Hunter's boat.  A few years later we bought our own Mirage 27.

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