When I met my husband Bob in 2008, he owned a 30-foot S2. Over the years I had sailed in Lake Erie with friends so I knew the sailing basics and I love to sail (more like deck ornamentation)! Bob and I started visiting the boat on weekends at his marina in Clear Lake Shores, TX. We ventured over the hill one day to Ship & Sail and a Hunter Passage 456 caught our eye. Wow. I could actually stand upright the entire length of the cabin. We expanded our search and looked at used boats. Nothing came close to the Hunter. Bob had shared his dream of cruising with me and this boat was “talking” to him. Could he ever hope to own a boat like that someday?
Fast forward a couple of months – we are engaged and before we know it, we are co-owners of a Hunter Passage 456. I had never owned a boat before -- let alone a 45 footer (OK I had a canoe when I was a kid)! I’ve always heard that the two happiest days of your life are the day you buy the boat (check!) and the day you sell the boat. The day we sell this boat will not be a happy day for me. She is fabulous. Now we own the boat – what do we name her? I went online and came up with a few suggestions, none of which were too original. Maybe I should tell you that Bob and I met the old fashioned way – online. My online alias was Watersedge423 (another long story). He suggested that we name her Water’s Edge – isn’t he sweet? I liked it – I don’t know any other boat with that name. Done deal.
I spent the next three months planning our pool side wedding. I should mention that we had our kitchen renovated, front yard and pool garden landscaped and the living room and hallways painted before the wedding. After the demolition, I took off for Brazil on business and left Bob with the contractors. Timing is everything, right? But he still married me on August 23rd.
The day after the wedding we took our families to the boat. When we arrived, much to our surprise, our friends Mike and Gloria Rooney (s/v St. Somewhere) had made a “Just Married” banner and tied it to the stern of Water’s Edge.
While traveling the channel from Clear Lake to the Bay -- what fun it was having folks wave, give us a thumbs up, clap and just show us a high sign as recognition of our new life together.
We started our “forever sail” on that day and look forward to many years on Water’s Edge while cruising the Caribbean and the East Coast of the US – living happily ever after – every now and then.
