M'KULEANA

They say the best two times in a boater's life are 1) when they get the boat, and 2) when they get rid of the boat. I certainly understand #1. I can also understand #2 though we are not there. We have had our fair and perhaps unfair share of good times, not so good times, and pirate times. Nine years and counting and she's still our girl. I guess that's being a mariner.

We started our journey in a professional capacity. Don was the development director for a private school district; I was the graphics guy for the district. I got handed off by Don's predecessor, and we spent a number of years in fruitful endeavors. One day one of us suggested meeting at a local brew pub and became known as the "oatmeal stout guys." We started meeting on Saturdays until we discovered MacKay's Ale House, at which point we shifted venues and definitely became drinking buddies.

Around summer/fall 2015 I started thinking about getting a boat — I live on a bay, which turns into the Salish Sea, arguably the best inland sailing in the US. I happened to mention it to Don one day and his eyes beamed; we decided to get one together. We had no idea of the adventures that lay ahead: high seas, crabbing, breakdowns, and pirates. And, of course, the refrigerator that negated our need to frequent the ale house.

April 6, 2016, we pushed off the dock at Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. M'Kuleana was ours. We headed up the north Fraser River, into Georgia Straight, south to the US, through Halles Passage, northeast into Bellingham Bay, and home to GWest-125, Squalicum Harbor, Bellingham, WA. We've been there since, only moving further out the dock to GWest-131.