Still under threat of COVID-19 and various other global issues, summer camp is canceled. My son is 17, and this would be his last real summer before entering into full adulthood. He has a job that would occupy him and a girl who’s captured his eye, but summer camp builds such vivid memories and maturity for which there is hardly a substitute.
A Wind Quest
After a friend had taken us out on her 1989 Catalina 25 sailboat numerous times last year, I was hooked and started casually checking the internet for nearby sailboats. One particular boat caught my eye last September, but we just didn’t have the funds. Once again, in May, it popped back up, price lowered, begging me to buy. Nothing wrong with just taking a live look at her, right? I inspected her from bow to stern, deck to hull. I knew it was a steal, but I had to face facts; there were too many projects that needed our financial attention this year. Knowing the boat was too good to pass up, I shared it on Facebook, hoping another friend would benefit.
What followed was, personally, astonishing. Friends reached out, recalling the memories they had growing up sailing as kids and young adults, asking what type of funding would make this a reality for our family. Thanks to caring friends with both great memories and grand visions for us, made it possible to fill the gap. On May 26, 2020, the old owners took us on the first sail of our new boat, Wind Quest, a 1980 Catalina 25 Tall Rig.
A Summer of Sailing Ahead
Our family is still very much greenhorns aboard this vessel, but already, we’ve “mastered” undocking and docking, sailing with both jib and mainsail, and points of sail. We’ve also already made our fair share of mistakes. Just a couple of weeks in, and we’ve lost the jib halyard (the line that hoists the front sail) over the mast when a knot came loose. So, in the days to come, we’ll learn how to safely climb the mast in a bosun’s chair to re-rig the line (well, one of us will). We’ve already experienced some magnificent sunsets on the lake, some breezy days, and some calm days, but every day is an irreplaceable memory that we’ll all share. We’re thankful for kind friends that understand how important this year is, in particular, for our family and while camp is not an option, we have a safe (mostly-safe) option to create our own vivid memories aboard Wind Quest.
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