Cruising

Did I mention that I'm a sailor?

My husband and I own a 41' sloop, aptly named "Simply Irresistible" because once we'd seen her, we couldn't resist shelling out a lot of money for the privilege of owning her. We've had her for eight memorable years. Many happy days, and a few harrowing ones, have been spent within her spacious cockpit and cozy interior. Our dog Jake has legs just long enough to scramble up and down the companionway, and he is a good seadog with hundreds of open water miles to his credit.

Most people don't know how comfortable sailboats can be. Ours boasts a lovely teak interior, light leather settees, two queen sized staterooms, a full shower bath, and a galley as well equipped as any home kitchen, only smaller. We can live aboard her if we want to, and in fact have done so for several weeks at a time as we cruise our home waters and beyond.

The Captain (my husband) and I had planned to spend this year's entire sailing season aboard Simply Irresistible; traveling Route 55 was definitely going to have a lengthy water leg. That part of the plan has come to pass, even though we have only been on our own boat for about one week. As it turned out, Route 55's float plan calls for us to deliver other people's yachts all up and down the Eastern Seaboard and Caribbean this year. Though a little unexpected, these opportunities are too good to pass up -- we are actually getting paid to do something we love. Even better, we get to share our passion for boating with our clients, who are usually long on money and short on boathandling savvy. They both need and appreciate our help.

The Captain has been doing this sort of work for a few years already, and now that I'm on Route 55, I'm free to go with him as First Mate. This has been an interesting experience too. On our own sailboat, he's still the Captain and I am First Mate, but we share work and tasks much like we do at our house.....roles are fluid and whatever needs to be done, gets done when one of us can take it on. However, when we're on a client's boat I am First Mate foremost and Life Mate secondmost. I have a set of well-defined tasks to perform and a high standard to meet. He doesn't cut me any slack, and he can be scathing in his critique of my performance should I fall short of his expectations. Then again, he holds himself to that same standard.

By and large, we do well. I am a hard worker, I do love boats and being on the water, and overall it's fun. Doing this together has taken us from the Bahamas to Canada so far this summer, and in a couple of weeks we'll be heading to Maine with another client. When October rolls around, we'll still have a few weeks to enjoy sailing Simply Irresistible. Unless someone has a nice big yacht they want delivered to the Islands for the winter, that is!