So now it was time to start a new chapter, PARENTING!!!! With Connemara sitting in North Carolina , Lisa and I living in the upstairs apartment of the rental house we bought, it was time to get busy. As with so many things in our relationship, this went exactly according to plan. Lisa went off the pill for 6 months while we "played" cautiously. Then one trip I came home from Brasil, we didn't take any precautions, and 3 weeks later, bingo!!In the mean time we had the boat brought back to Port Colborne. We toyed with the idea of selling her in NC, but Mark got spooked after reading about the possibility of seizure by US Customs so we brought her back.
It was around this time that I started looking ahead to the "next" boat. We sold Connemara II but knew we were financially a few years away from affording what we wanted (at the time USD was around $1.40CAD). I became addicted to Yachtworld.com, a great resource for prices and specs on used boats.
As much as we both wanted to get back on the water, we realized we may have to wait a few years.
Then one night I was sitting in the control van on a rig off Newfoundland (I spent 2 years in Brasil when Delaney was born, but was now working off the Canadian east Coast) when a co-workers story pushed our boat buying palns into overdrive.
Craig was about my age, with 2 young kids, a new house and a promising career at Oceaneering. During his most recent offshore medical a flag was raised and he went for further testing. Long story short, he had an agrressive cancerous tumour that had to be removed. Thankfully it all turned out fine, the operation was a success and he was able to continue living a normal live. I must admit, it spooked me.
So I went home, and nonchalantly suggested to Lisa that we go have a look at a new Macgregor 26M. How's that for a change from Connemara!! After telling Lisa Craigs story, I just decided that we needed an "interim" boat, something we could trailer.
Next thing we knew we were the proud owners of a brand-new 2003 Mac26M. www.macgregorsailboats.com/
For the next 2 summers we moved that boat around alot!!The Mac's have a mixed reputation, alot of "traditional" sailboat owners have a very strong bias against them (I must admit, I didn't care much for them either).
They are a pretty good sailboat and a "not bad" powerboat, but when you look at the design philosophy you have to admit it's a pretty good product.
Billed as a "Powersailor", Delmitch (as in DELaney and MITCHell) was 26' long, drew 12' with the daggerboard and rudders up, and was powered by a 50hp Honda outboard.
Delmitch had most of the options available including a really nice full cockpit enclosure. For a 26-footer she already had alot of room, the kids shared a small v-berth while Lisa and I had a queen sized berth aft.We got to a point where in about 45 minutes we could have her rigged and ready to hit the water.We did a few trips to Toronto Islands, as well as to our local beaches near Port Colborne.
NICKEL BEACH, PORT COLBORNE
