| I'm a 50-something retired
mailman, who's had a lifelong dream of living aboard a boat.
My first boat, in 2001 was a Mirage 5.5 that I bought to see if I still
enjoyed sailing
as much as when I was young. Growing up, we always had a powerboat for
skiing, but
every chance I got, I used someone's sailboat. Mostly Sunfish. Needless to
say, the
Mirage, reaffirmed my joy in sailing, and by the end of summer, I had bought
a Hunter 26. I wanted something big enough to give me a taste of living on it, and it
fit the bill. That's what brought me to this moment in time. For
the past 3 years, I've been looking at boats. When I first decided to go
ahead and retire early, I had planned on |
 |
| be comfortable with it. Then, out of the blue, I meet a woman sailor. So I
went back to my original idea of something around 32 feet, and almost went with a Niagara
35. I couldn't quite get comfortable with some likely problems with it though.
After going to look at it though, I suddenly found myself no longer needing
a bigger boat. Then I found Aria.
The Ontario 32 had long been on my "short list", but were usually priced outside of my budget. I had overlooked this one though, because it had been listed as a C&C Ontario, rather than just Ontario. So it didn't show up in my search for an Ontario. So, once again, serendipity, entered my life. Hopefully it works out better this time. You might wonder how someone who grew up in Indiana, and then spent almost half his life in Alaska, ends up living on a boat. Well, long before there was Jack Aubry, there was Horatio Hornblower. Between his saga, and a love of history, and the legendary sailors found therein, I've always felt attracted to sailing. Add in the sense of independence and self-reliance that comes with being self-sufficient, and what's not to like? Of course, it helps not to have any ties to land as well. And, in the
end, I realize, I'm just a simple man. |