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Old 04-21-2014, 09:42 AM   #22
kolive
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City: Cowiche, WA
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 662
My wife had the original idea to buy a boat. W were taking our German exchange student out into the San Juan Islands on a Whale watching boat one spring break. We sat outside the entire time on this small boat talking about how nice it was and she asked why can't we do this. One the way home we stopped at "Boat Country" by Dagmars and crawled over boats for the next 4 hours. Did not know a things about them but decided we liked the Tolly 26 the best of all the boats we looked at and could realistically think about affording. That is when I contracted the "Yachtworld Disease". I am glad Yachtworld does not have an hour meter for viewing their site, it would be embarrassing.

We ended up getting a 19' Starcraft Islander cuddy cabin my wife noticed in Portland. Started buddy boating with our Coast Guard Aux friends in the San Juan's. Took the boat to the tip of Vancouver Island to fish for a Springs and looked towards the Broughtons as a place to go next. Decided we did not like the fast boat experience and starts looking at trawlers. She loves everything about boating!

Found an Albin 25 on Craigslist that was perfect for our first trawler. Decided to take a class to really learn more about this style of cruising and how to drive a single screw boat through AYC Yacht Charters in Anacortes. Great decision as we learned a lot in those 3 days in the Islands. I got the confidence to drive, dock, plan and take care of our boat from this class. My wife was feeling pretty sickly during the trip. Little did we know.... When we got home a couple of weeks later she was admitted to the hospital for emergency open heart surgery to remove a tumor the size of a golf ball from her right atrium! Boating on hold, nothing else matters now. The surgery was May 21st.

We spent most of the summer in recovery at home. She is amazing and does great recovering and in August asks, Can we take our Albin out for a short trip please? Wow! We go to Stuart Island in the San Juan's and she wants to hike out to the lighthouse, 3 miles. We take our time and she does awesome. Loved the trip and now begins planning for longer trips next summer.

I do the docking, we both drive, cook, clean and maintain the boat. I do the mechanical but she is very interested and helps check all systems. Tying up when docking is something she is very good at and does not care for others that try to take HER lines and do it their way, her way is our way.

We have a Grand Banks now and feel like we have boating luxury accommodations. She comes from a long family history of boating. Her relatives were Whalers out of Connecticut and Captains on the Great Lakes where she grew up. She is half Otter, the nicer half and loves to swim and be in the water. I am more hesitant about being in the watery realm, not the best swimmer but working through it and always wearing a life vest when I jump in. I Love watching her swim and play in the water. She spent the better part of two hours swamping our kayaks to see if she could empty them out and climb back aboard and laughing the entire time. I have to work hard to get her out of the water.

I am so blessed to have her as my mate and partner. Boating is just better because of her. We spend a lot of time together and love it. Can't wait to get out there again. Her Heart a Birthday is coming up soon and we celebrate it every year. She will be 6 years new this May.
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Keith Olive
1974 Grand Banks 36-427
Vashon Island, WA
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