What happens in your childhood often follows you through life. Both of us grew up in families that enjoyed sailing. Burt's parents owned and raced a Flying Scot in Mansfield, Ohio while my father built several sailboats during his youth and was the Sea Scout leader for Chicago prior to World War II. Burt raced his family's Flying Scot and eventually purchased his own Lightning to race. My family often took vacations in Michigan and Maine that focused on sailing. We met at the University of Michigan while undergraduates - the "pick-up line" was "How would you like to crew for me on my Lightning?" Little did I know that the Lightning was old, wooden, and very leaky and that crewing involved sitting on the floor boards and bailing for all I was worth. A new, dry boat followed shortly and the relationship took a turn for the better. Thirty nine years later, including two sons and two grandsons, we're still sailing together along with our offspring who also enjoy the pastime.
For a number of years we competitively raced our Lightning until work, graduate school, and an expanding family made the travel too difficult. The Lightning was sold; windsurfers and a US1 (a Laser on steroids) replaced it. The boys learned to sail off a beach on Lake Erie supplemented by occasional bare boat charters in southern waters. Once the last college tuition payment was made, it was time to indulge ourselves with the purchase of our Corsair 31 trimaran, Irrational Exuberance. We docked her at the Sandusky Sailing Club on Lake Erie and enjoyed exploring our local waters with a passion. One of the benefits of a folding trimaran was that it could be trailered to distant destinations. We had many trips to the Florida Keys during the winter months along with two trips to Lake Huron's North Channel and one trip each to southern New England and the Florida panhandle.
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| Irrational Exuberance under sail on Lake Erie |
The die was cast - we loved the cruising lifestyle, but the Corsair was too small for full time cruising so it was time for a change in boats. The "five year plan" was put into action. The first two years were spent researching blue water cruising boats that fit our specific requirements and inspecting possible choices in various locations on the East Coast. In the spring of 2009 we found Exuberant in Oriental, NC. She was a 1992 Hylas 44, one of the rare ones that weren't in the charter trade in the Caribbean. She was lightly used and structurally in excellent condition, but her systems were original and outdated. Three weeks of work that June in Oriental got her into condition to make the trek back to Lake Erie, and then the work really started. Two years later we are still finishing up the refit. Meanwhile, Burt retired, the house was sold, our possessions were downsized and put into storage, and the cars were sold. We currently live on the boat full time in Sandusky, Ohio. In the summer of 2010, we took off for nine weeks for a shakedown cruise through Lake Huron to the North Channel, an opportunity to see how we could handle the boat and what improvements still needed to be made. It's a pleasant lifestyle - we take time out for last sails in our home waters and enjoy waterfront dining on deck every evening.
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| Exuberant at Bear Drop Harbor in the North Channel |
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So, now we are down to the wire. In a little over two weeks we begin the trip to the Atlantic Ocean. It's a time of mixed emotions. There's the stress of finishing up the installation of a water maker and figuring out finally resting places for our on board possessions and provisions. We are taking some sails to favorite destinations to say good bye to the places and people we have treasured over the past years on Lake Erie. We are collecting email addresses, phone numbers, and destinations for rendezvouses with our many sailing friends. We will spend one final weekend with family before leaving our Ohio roots. And we wonder, are we really insane or are we about to embark on a dream of a lifetime?
