We are waking up this morning on our boat! Yesterday we set sail for Tugboat Island leaving the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club around 10:00am.

On board were Ron and Erika and Kimberly and myself. Kimberly took us out of the moorage really well and the smile on her face was quite big.

We motored a bit until we got farther out in the bay and saw that we had enough breeze to hoist the sails. Once we got the sails up and turned off the motor we started moving along quite nicely.

We only saw about 7 knots + wind but we sailed along at 5 knots. I got my hands on the helm and so begins our long relationship together.

As we were sailing along in the nice sun and light breeze across the Straits of Georgia, Kimberly saw a small group of Dahl porpoises(their markings make them look like little killer whales). With a light tap tap on the hull they came right over and started to play with us.. It was magical!
They played with our bow and even dove down to our 7'1/2 foot keel.
This lasted for 1/2 an hour. We all felt that this was a very good omen to our adventure together.

When sea animals make the choice to come and play with you it makes you feel even more connected in a way that is hard to describe. It left us all with a sense of being closer to the water and the boat.

After that wonderful show the breeze died down and we fired up the motor and dropped sails for the rest of the trip over to Tugboat.

The sun was out and it was warming up. Ron took the helm and guided us in to their favorite spot that they have been going to for years. He took us in and we docked up to a most beautiful place to stay for a few days..

We will check in later to continue our cruise together......

When we finally stepped onboard Nina it was a very surreal experience.
After seeing her pictures for so long we felt we already knew her pretty well.

But we found out that pictures could only tell part of the story. The pride of ownership that Ron and Erika had put into her over the years was amazing.
They had spent many years taking her farther North while cruising her in some of the most beautiful waters in the world.

They were both so excited to share her story with us. Ron and I looked at the top sides while Kimberly and Erika went below. Then we switched and got a good look at everything. It's hard to describe what we were feeling but we both knew right away that we were going to get her.
We also feel in love with Ron and Erika. They are just a real delight!

Since that time we have had her surveyed and done the banking and as of now we are ready to sign for her.

We leave tomorrow to go cruising with Ron and Erika in the Gulf Islands to do our sea trials and have then show us her wonderful personality.

Packed and ready to go!!

This is our very first look at Nina as we were walking to look at her for the very first time. We had no idea what we were about to see after looking at her pictures for a year and a half.

We were not let down.

This story begins in September 2010. My wife Kimberly started looking at sailing magazines shortly after we met and has not stopped since.

I could always tell when she had found something interesting or had caught her eye when a magazine or book had been left open and a page marked or picture of a boat left out.

So that is how she found NINA.

In the September 2010 issue of 48North she saw a picture of a C&C37/40. We have owned a C&C35 since 2003 and have always been interested when we see others. The ad had a link to over 50 pictures of her.

We started looking at her and realized what a beautiful boat she was and we wondered if there was a way to own her. But like some things in life the timing just wasn't right for us. But that never stopped us from dreaming about her.

Since that time we have looked at those pictures thousands of times. Always seeing something different as we did. We had emailed the owners and had planned a trip up to her home in Vancouver B.C. but the trip got canceled due to bad weather.

So we kinda moved on and went about other life stuff but we always kept an eye on her from afar thinking that she may not be the one butthat we were getting closer to finding our next boat.

Then she shows up and all of a sudden the time was right!