I grew up sailing as a teenager in Hempstead Harbor on Long Island Sound. My urge to sail was so strong, that my family joined Hempstead Harbour Club, although I was the only one in the family with the bug. My habit influenced many of my life decisions. I attended SUNY Maritime and started a career in the southern Chesapeake Bay so I could sail as a pastime.
The final chapter in my career took me to southeastern Connecticut, where I retired 3 years ago. There, my wife Beverly and I had been sailing our Olson 34 for 15 years. We loved to sail for the pleasure of it, but we also loved the idea of accessing all the many beautiful places available to us from our home in Mystic. We cruised often, but we began to regret the days when there was either too much or too little wind, and we grew frustrated when it took us too long to reach our destination. We were undergoing a fundamental change in the way we enjoyed our time on the water. We’d seen it happen to people we knew. Now, it was our turn.
Two years ago, we started looking for a power boat. We wanted something that reflected the legacy of our area, and we found it, right on a mooring in the Mystic River. Rum Line is a 1985 Nauset 35 lobster boat-style cruiser that’s been completely rebuilt from the inside out. We’ve enjoyed our time on her and have never regretted our decision to go power. We have expanded our radius of cruising destinations. We can now go places that were never on the table before. As for sailboats, I still get my fix when I go racing with friends, something I continue to enjoy at every opportunity.
January 2024
