have sailed since the age of 12 or 13, when my parents moved my brother and I to Florida from Michigan. I was the neighborhood lawn boy, so when I had saved enough money, I bought a sunfish. This is how most people I have met started sailing, with a sunfish. When I was about 15 or 16 I got my first 16' Hobie Cat. I cut some guys lawn all summer, and he gave it to me. I sailed it hard, Till it cracked. At about 18 I got my second Hobie. Along the way I sailed on other peoples boats as crew. I went to college, then to Minneapolis, eventually I found myself, wife, and new born back in Florida where I had grown up. When my daughter was 10, I figured she was now old enough to get out on the water, so I bought another Hobie. She loved it, my wife liked it. We sent my daughter to sailing camp later that year during her summer vacation, where she sailed a sunfish all day. I knew she was hooked too, when after the first day, she came home and already wanted to stay a second week. But the Hobie was too rough for my wife's arthritis. So late last year we sold the Hobie, and joined a local sailing club, and took two ASA sailing classes. Just to validate what I thought I already knew about sailing. This also gave my wife a chance to experience a larger mono hull. After 8 months in the sailing club, they moved all the boats from Clearwater FL to St Petersburg. Travelling to St Pete wasnt that big of a deal, if I didnt already do it 5 times a week for work. Driving to St Pete became a chore for the family, and sailing became something dreaded. That wasnt right. So my wife and I started talking about buying a boat. Since she is the CFO of the house, she gave me a budget. Not much, but this is Florida, and there are a lot of boats for sale. I also knew that it would be a boat that would take me on my dream of cruising the Carribean. But it was a start. We looked at some 28 footers, some 25 footers, then we came across a 1985 Hunter 22, named "Gulf Breeze". She hadnt been sailed in over a year, and really needed some work, but most importantly my wife really liked her, and the price was right. We bought her two days later, then went on vacation for the weekend. This is where our story starts.
