I was probably 15 or 16 when I bought my first boat, a 17’ Grumman Canoe. I bought my next an 18.6’ EasyRider Eskimo sea kayak at age 31, which came equipped with a downwind sail making it technically my first sailboat. Then at 48 I bought a 2007 Hunter 36 sailboat, never having sailed besides a few times when the wind was at my back in the kayak. In fact the first time I had been on a sailboat actually sailing was during the sea trial on Lake Union on our sailboat.
The boat I always wanted changed like the wind. It always grew with age or salary slightly out of reach. Back in the days when I had bought my 17’ canoe with my paper route money I saw power boats parked in the driveways on my route that I though when I grew up that is the boat I will get. Then while I was working at the mill as a millwright helper during the summers to pay for my college one of the millwrights took the crew out on his 34’ Carver powerboat and I thought that was the one. I grew up steelhead and salmon fishing from the bank watching the boats go by and thought one day I would own a jet sled, which I came pretty close getting when I was about 40, but the new boat was put on hold for a few years after I met me wife and got her a kayak instead.
Then one day we had paddled across Puget sound in our kayaks hoping to get lucky enough to have the wind at our back so we could use the sails, which of course didn’t happen, that we watched a sailboat with her sails full effortlessly glide past us while we watched from the beach. That got us thinking we need to get one of those.
We started talking about the sailboat more seriously one afternoon walking along the marina and decided to go up to the office and inquire about slips. We put on name on the waitlist that afternoon and good thing because we found out it was a couple year wait. We spent then next year and a half walking the docks and looking at boats. We had decided that the 36-foot Hunter was about as small as we wanted to go and just for kicks one day I showed my wife this nice Hunter 41 I found, thinking that she would not even consider it, but to my surprise she actually really liked it and it was me that held back as it was a little over the amount I had talked myself in to spending. We did however put our name on the 40’ slip waitlist as well since we were starting to look at bigger boats. This would be a wise move as although we ended up with a 36, the day we made the offer that got accepted we got the knock on the door with the registered letter stating that our 40’ slip was available and we had 30 days to decide and must have a boat by then or forfeit our spot on the waitlist and would have had to start at the bottom again.
Another funny story is while looking at sailboats we were invited to go out on my wife’s coworker’s powerboat on Lake Union to watch the Duck Dodge Sail boat race one evening. We were introduced to another gal who was also interested in sailing. She grilled us with questions about or sailing experience and what we were considering. Having had no former sailing experience, except for the kayak which hardly qualifies, once we told her this and that we were looking at a 36’ Hunter she looked at us and said, “HOW STUPID ARE YOU”. She obviously tough that we should have started out a bit smaller and worked out way up after taking at least some training like she was doing. My wife and I still look at each other when we are out on our sailboat on a beautiful summer day with the sails up and a strong enough wind to move us along and say, “How stupid are we”. We even thought of naming our boat that.
Duane
S/V Salish Mermaid
2007 Hunter 36
