"Legacy": Family Visit

Monday, August 15, 2011

Family Visit

At the end of July, we were fortunate to have my wife's sister and her family come up for a visit from Southern California. My brother-in-law likes to sail but hasn't had much chance and hasn't seen Legacy before. We took the opportunity to take their family out for a little sail. We decided to just run down to Wollochet Bay (yeah, it is a favorite) and give the kids a chance to play at the TYC Outstation. We didn't have a lot of wind, but we did have some opportunity to sail.

Here is my brother-in-law at the wheel as we are leaving Gig Harbor. I think he is enjoying himself.

My sister-in-law, while not as excited seems to be having a good time.

My nephew liked it. It took quite a while for him to get over the trauma of having to put on a life-jacket. He complained as only a 2 year-old can, but he dealt with it eventually.

Legacy at the dock in Wollochet. The TYC dock was almost full but there was a spot at the end of the dock for us. Of course, there is was only a few inches of water under her keel, but fortunately the tide was coming in.

The kids had a great time on the dry playing in the shade. The one with the freckles is my daughter.

Once the tide was slack, we headed back to Gig Harbor on the ebb. We all had a great time and the family promised to come back next year to maybe spend a night or two on Legacy with us. My niece got adventuresome on the way home, even if we didn't have any wind.

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Legacy

My parents taught me to sail at age 5 in Gig Harbor, WA. Much of my childhood was spent going to sailing regattas with my folks. We either were racing boats, or my Father was prepping Clark boats to sell. Selling boats allowed him to afford the sailing habit. Never the accomplished skipper my father was, or as good at sail trim as my mother, I do have a box of old trophies from racing in my childhood.

My folks moved to larger boats as the Clark Boat Co., based in Kent, WA. started to make larger boats. We had a San Juan 21, then raced and cruised on a San Juan 24.

My folks took a break from boat ownership for a while as life got busier and money got tighter. I was busy with school activities and didn't have the time, nor passion, for sailing at the time.

Eventually, my folks got the urge again and bought a few boats finally owning a Cal-29 for some years. They named the boat "Revival" in recognition of both their reawakening faith as well as their return to serious boating. They cruised on "Revival" all over Puget Sound and into the San Juan Islands and Canadian Gulf Islands. All the grandkids learned to sail small boats while living on board "Revival" for a week or two each summer.

As the grandkids grew, it got to be a tight fit to have all 5 of the kids, with them on the boat. My Dad found an older, poorly treated, Catalina 36 and bought it. It took my folks over a year of evening and weekend labor before the boat was fit to sail and cruise on. They named this boat "Vision", both because of what their vision was for how the boat could be used by the family, as well as a nod to my father's and my optometric practice.

My father died suddenly of a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage while my folks were cruising in the Canadian Gulf Islands in 2006.

As the kids left for college, and I got a little more time, we started to use "Vision" more and then started to yearn for a little more space and a rig that was a bit easier for the two of us to sail comfortably. We decided to sell "Vision" and look for a Catalina 400.

Hence "Legacy". My parents have passed on to me, my sister, our families, and our children a love of sailing and being on the water. For us, a boat is more about shared family experience, than anything else. This is the real legacy left to us by my parents, and one for which I'll be forever grateful.