Two Bikes and a Boat

Who are we? We are Kathleen and Matthew,  a couple of 50-something cyclists, who met because of our mutual life-long love of all things bicycle…collecting them, fixing them up, and most of all riding them – for fun, for basic transportation, for exercise, for everything!  Our honeymoon trip this past summer was planned to coincide with two internationally-renowned cycling events, the Tour de France Grand Départ in Yorkshire, and the vintage bicycle event, L’Eroica, in Bakewell, England.

Here we are all outfitted for the vintage ride. That blue beauty is a 1964 Moulton 4-speed which Matthew lovingly restored for me, and on which I rode the 30-mile route through the hills of the Peak District, all dressed up in my “Lulu” costume.  Matthew rode the 50-mile route, including the off-road trails, on his late-80’s Steve Bauer steel-frame road bike with tubs, wearing his best Brooks wool jersey and riding cap (not hat!).

So what about the boat, you ask? Well, that all came about because, on one of our early group rides together (The Great Waterfront Trail Adventure), I kept stopping and admiring the lovely sailboats, gliding along the waters or sitting at anchor along the shores of Lake Ontario and the St-Lawrence. I had never been on a sailboat, but there was something about them that had always appealed to me. It was something I had always wanted to try, one of those “bucket list” things.

Matthew, on the other hand, had sailed since he was a kid, had been a previous sailboat owner, and was rather lonely for the water. He gave me fair warning at that time “Be careful” he said, “If you keep talking about sailboats, you’ll end up owning one”. I failed to heed this advice, and sure enough, 2 years later, found myself co-owner of a boat, pretty “Penny”, our first joint venture.

A lovely little Mirage 25, berthed at the Nepean Sailing Club, she was to become my “training boat”. I took the CYA lessons, then raced her in the Monday Night Ladies Coached Boat series. Our team of four newbie ladies pulled in a first place for the season!!

From there, the dream of “sailing off into the sunset” started to take shape. At first it was just that, a dream, a lovely nebulous idea, until we made the mistake of going to the Annapolis Boat Show. We attended Andy Schell’s seminar on the Caribbean 1500, and we came out of that absolutely hooked! All the way home we talked about “how and when”, instead of “if”.  We made the big decision, that in 2016, we were going to seize the day, and just do it! We’d take a year off of our lives and go on a Sailing Adventure. Lots to plan and do before then, but the commitment has been made, the rest is just details that need to be worked out in order to make it happen.

Step one:  we need an ocean-going vessel…..one with enough storage space for two bicycles!