A Sailor on a Motorboat!?
I started sailing when I was in high school—my dad got me started—on “fast, wet” sailboats (you spent as much time in the water as on the boat). I loved it. But time passed, and I didn’t do much sailing during college, grad school, or the early years of my career.
Fast forward to adulthood: I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work for Apple Computer. The idea of sailing in “The Bay” was enticing, but fast, wet sailboats weren’t the way to go. Sailing in SF Bay could be brutal, with 30-40 knot winds and 6-foot waves in mid-summer. I fantasized about sailing larger boats, taking my kids and family out, and even going on sailing vacations. To make this a reality, I started a certification program through the Olympic Sailing Club (OCSC) at the Berkeley Marina. It was a rigorous program, and they weren’t afraid to flunk you out of a course if you didn’t meet their standards. Their unofficial motto seemed to be: “If you can sail San Francisco Bay, you can sail anywhere.” They gave you the confidence to do just that.
I progressed through several courses and eventually earned a bareboat skipper certification (allowing you to charter a boat as the sole skipper) along with coastal navigation and electronic navigation certificates. I chartered boats from OCSC but later found a few sailboat partnerships over the years in SF Bay—the last being a 42-foot Catalina. I sailed nearly every week there was wind. I thoroughly enjoyed day sailing on the Bay, seeing it as a mix of sport, recreation, and soul-enriching tranquility. My favorite moments were when the diesel motor was turned off, and the wind took hold of the sails.
Beyond SF Bay, my family and I went on several sailing vacations to places like the Caribbean, Antigua, and Belize. These were some of the most memorable trips we ever took. At one point, a close family friend suggested we charter a bareboat motor yacht out of Anacortes, WA, to spend a week exploring the San Juan Islands. I felt a bit out of my element, needing time to adjust to two massive diesel engines powering the boat rather than the wind. It was an “okay” vacation—I loved the San Juan Islands but missed experiencing them by sail instead of motor.
Fast forward again to retirement: I moved to the wine country, and for the most part, my sailing days were over. I didn’t sail for seven years. I missed it, but my life was full with the farm, saddle donkeys, gardens, grandkids, and more. Yet, the allure of sailing lingered.
After my wife passed away, I began spending winters in Baja, Mexico, with my new partner, Marilyn. Together, we started fantasizing about sailing in the Sea of Cortez out of La Paz. Before we pursued this, though, we vacationed in the Netherlands and spent several days living about 50 meters from the Rhine River. Each day, we watched an array of boats—from small rowboats to massive commercial barges—travel up and down the river.
As I mentioned in my first post: I love boats. Our imaginations soared with the idea of boating, and particularly, live-aboard boating. We began dreaming of summer-long trips aboard a boat. My favorite live-aboard vessels had always been catamarans, with their spacious aft living and kitchen areas above the waterline. However, the idea of a sailboat at our age seemed daunting—too much work, heavy lines and sails, and high maintenance with all the sailing paraphernalia, especially for just the two of us.
That’s when the idea of a motorized catamaran started to appeal to us.
We became convinced that motoring, rather than sailing, was the way to go given our diminishing balance, strength, and agility. And so, the search began—looking for motorized live-aboard yachts designed for warm waters like the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Aegean.
