Around 1990 we were enthusiastic scuba divers when we got tired of the typical "cattle boat" mentality on most scuba charters, so we started looking for our own dive platform. Running in and out of a Hunter Legend 43 and a Catalina 40 that happened to be sitting side by side in Havre de Grace, my wife firmly decided on the Legend 43.
After cold-water diving and sailing a couple of years along the California coast we made a 2- month trip to the Sea of Cortez in 1993, including the infamous 900 mile Baja slog back to San Diego. Since we enjoyed the occasional leg out of sight of land better than the often nerve-wracking coastal legs, we decided to make a Hawaii passage the following year but did not yet have quite enough savings to afford a more expensive "blue-water" brand so had to make a ton of upgrades instead (e.g. following the Corenman's Westmarine Cup manual) before making our first passage to Hawaii (and back) in 1994.
After another (2-season) expedition to the sea of Cortez we wanted to sail to Australia (via Hawaii) and started going to various US sailboat shows to pick our second boat. Believe it or not, my wife kept picking various larger Hunter models!! By then, these all had even tinier anchor lockers (especially compared to the one we already had completely rebuilt on our Legend 43), highly impractical (e.g. round) cockpits, no more toerails, no seaberth, etc. etc. So I told her it would be easier to keep rebuilding our Legend 43, especially since it had proven itself so well.
Rivendel II (aka Lucky Rivendell) ended up bringing us safely to Mexcico (2x), Hawaii (2x), Tuvalu, Australia (2x), Fiji (2x) and Vanuatu (9 seasons; doing a medical assistance project) without tearing a sail or breaking anything of significance (not counting electronics and engine). After some 50,000 NM of criscrossing the NE and SW Pacific in December 2008 Rivendel II was sold in Brisbane (for about the same dollar amount we paid for her in 1991!).
We sure do miss her, but are now starting our new adventures in a rural mountain area of Idaho, with a superb view of Palisades Lake. If the light is just right and we shield our eyes a bit, we can almost believe we are still on the Pacific ocean.....
Flying Dutchman