The Sail that made it possible…

Xiuma - BVI 2012

Have you ever had a dream, something you wanted to do more than anything else? What is it that it takes for you to buy that house, or RV, boat, sailboat, condo, car? Or schedule a vacation of a lifetime? Is it a Disney Cruise, Royal Caribbean, Princess, a Villa in Tuscany, or Santorini? Are you living your life by design or default? Who said you couldn’t do that or anything else you desire? When did you buy into settling? When we were Toddlers learning to walk, we got up, fell down, probably thousands a time, but never once did we have the thought…”I guess I just wasn’t meant to be a walker”!

You see I made a Vision Board years ago, it had a picture of the beautiful blue ocean with dolphins and whales, and a sailboat. My VB included a family of four, my husband, two daughters, and myself holding hands, and a building that was my company. Every year when we would go on vacation, we would always do a day sail, so the whole family could experience sailing, in a different way than just going to the beach. Early in my 20’s I had the opportunity to learn to sail on Lake Erie, with some sailors from the Rocky River Yacht Club. That introduced my to the Tartan team, who at that time Tartan sailboats were being built in Mentor, Ohio. During that time, the VP of Sales had converted a brand new Tartan 37 to a racer/cruiser. Yep, that was the boat I got to crew on for a couple of years. Spoiled, yes, without a doubt. On that boat, I remember thinking someday I will have a boat….So, as our girls grew up, my husband and I did a Charter in the BVI’s. We chartered through Ocean Getaways, with Trish Cronan. We ended up on a 55 foot Oyster, Xiuma. It was the two of us, the Captain, and First Mate, who owned her. Truly, a magnificent 10 days. We loved it. A few months later we got an email from Virginia, asking for crew to assist in moving Xiuma from the BVI’s to the Hampton’s. I didn’t even ask Hugh, I responded immediately and said we would take the Nassau, Bahamas to Charleston, SC leg. We arrived on July 2, 2012 and left first light on the 3rd. We sailed through the Abacos Sea, anchored, snorkeled and thoroughly enjoyed our time. We left Coopers Town, Bahamas at sea for 4 days. Perfect conditions, perfect weather, found the Gulf Stream which added 2+ knots to our boat speed. The nights were magical as we passed freighters and cruise ships but saw nothing else. We were cleaning the stainless lifelines and a pod of Dolphins joined our passage. They stayed with us for over an hour. Playing, jumping, drafting of the pressure wave at the bow of the boat. Our last morning, we passed a German car carrier, so we knew we were getting close to Charleston. As we came up the channel into the Jetties the wind had really picked up so we reefed. Our destination, Patriots Point. Arrived around 10:00 a.m. and we began the housekeeping chores from being at sea for days. We found our way to the Marriott Courtyard in Charleston and showered. That evening, found Hall’s Chophouse and the next morning heading home to Boise. Truly, an unforgettable experience that was the step to deciding that some how, some way, a sailboat was in our future.