Irish Mist

by Kathy
(N. Andover, MA USA)

I began sailing when I was about 8. I took sailing lessons in the Junior Program of my fathers yacht club. I loved it! The boats I learned to race in were called Sprites. Little small fiberglass shells pretty much, but I learned everything I needed to in those. My father had 2 sailboats, a 110 which was a racing boat and another that was 34 feet and I don't know what the type was, but I do know they were made in Long Island and most of them were destroyed in the hurricane in the 1930's so my dad had one of only about 9-10 left. It was a beauty, it rode very low in the water and was a racing boat with a small cabin. The mast was so tall we had to bring it under the Long Island bridge at low tide. My dad eventually had to give up his boats because he had broke his back very bad in his 20's and as he got older he couldn't tollerate the dampness very well that comes with sailing.

Now flash forward 35 years, I've rented a few sailboats on vacation and go on sailboats any opportunity I can. My mom and dad are both gone now and my brothers and I erected a bench in their memory out at the lighthouse at Marblehead Neck where we used to go to picnic and watch my dad race. I've been looking for a sailboat for quite a while and today I found one! Purely by chance, I went looking for Lobster and found my boat. I'm going back to buy it tomorrow. I am so excited!!! I probably won't sleep at all tonight and if I do I'll probably be dreaming of sailing.

I found this sight while trying to find a picture that looked like the boat I'm buying to show my daughters. It's a 21 foot, Welding? Streaker? I'm not quite certain it wasn't a type I had heard of before. Doesn't matter, I can't wait to be out on it. When I get a picture I'll post it.

I'll be checking in on this site often I'm sure.