In 1995 we were reviewing our lives, the things that we missed doing and what we still wanted to do in our lifetimes. Upon reflection we realized that most of the things we missed and still wanted to do had to do with the ocean and traveling. [...] Based on this we decided that having a sailboat would be the perfect answer for us. In addition it would allow us to share our love of the ocean with our 5 kids and allow us to travel freely after our kids had started their own lives. Friends and family were apprehensive but also patient about our intentions and dreams of “Sailing to X” destinations. Most believed that our “wild and romantic” dreams would wear off over time and “common sense” would prevail. They obviously did not own nor watch the movie “Captain Ron” as many times as we had with our kids. Our “wild and romantic” dreams didn’t wear off, as we have been adding to and continue to fulfill our dreams aboard our Kalik 44, the sailing vessel STX. We purchased STX in 1997. Overall she was in good shape although her instrumentation, wiring, plumbing and other systems needed updating due to age. Over the next 10 years she was completely refitted and upgraded with the hull, bowsprit, mast and the basic interior teak as the only original items retained. The refit took us 10 years as we did most of the work ourselves while still raising a family, working and sailing her every chance we had. Our first offshore undertaking began in 2008, a 6,696 mile transit of the North Pacific starting in San Diego, California. We sailed the Hawaiian Islands, visited the Aleutian Islands, spent the summer with family and friends in Juneau, Alaska, sailed and motored through Southeast Alaska and British Columbia and visited family and friends in the Puget Sound in Washington State. Our initial intention was to return to San Diego but we ran out of time before winter caught us in Seattle. We've spent nearly four years in the Seattle/Tacoma area with two summers going back to Alaska and one summer exploring the San Juan Islands. On May 3, 2012 we are leaving the Seattle/Tacoma area to return to Juneau via the Inland Passages and then heading outside via Sitka (weather permitting) to make the run offshore to San Diego with stops in San Francisco, the Channel Islands and Catalina Island to finally complete what we started in 2008!

Our Kalik, STX, is a fiberglass hulled, flush deck, cutter rig designed by naval architect Gary Mull of San Francisco, California. It was built in Belgium in 1981 and sold by the Sovereign Yacht Company. As Mr. Mull died in 1994, at the age of 55, specific information concerning the boat is [...]

scarce. From what we have been able to gather the boat was built in Belgium in 1981 and sold in the US by Sovereign Yacht Company. Due to the down turn of the economy at the time there were very few of these boats produced and Sovereign Yacht Company went out of business after only two years. We believe there may have been only about 20 Kalik’s built. She is 44’ long with a beam of 14’, has 3 double staterooms, 2 pilot berths, a salon table that seats 8 and 2 heads. She now carries 100 gallons of water and 200 gallons of diesel. We redesigned the galley with additional cabinetry, a new refrigerator, a separate freezer and Corian countertops. We added a water maker, Single Side Band radio, generator and a Webasto hot water heating system throughout the boat. The 42hp Nanni (Mercedes) diesel was replaced by a 55hp Volvo Penta diesel, an Autostream 3 blade feathering prop replaced the two blade prop and the battery bank was increased to 800 AH. All electronics, wiring, plumbing, hatches, ground tackle, rigging and sails were replaced and the fuel capacity increased to 200 gallons in three fiberglass tanks.