Cadenza in Puesta Del Sol, Nicaragua

First let me introduce who we are....

My name is Ezzie Brody, and my husband's name is Ken, yes Brody.

We live in PA...but there are several problems with PA. First--there is NO salt in the water here. Yes, there are lovely rivers (don't forget the Susquehanah), lakes (many manmade), but alas none of the water has salt in it. That's a big drawback for me as I love salt in my water.

We have our boat in Harrington Harbor North. She's a beauty, a 24 yr old sloop in very good condition. But she's a monohull and we want a catamaran.

The Wall Street Journal calls the touring motorcycles like the Gold Wing, the Winnebagos of motorcycles. So they would probably say that catamarans are the Winnebago of sailboats.

Fine by me. Our latest heart throb is the Maine Cat 41. I was very surprised that I would like it as much as I do. When I saw their website, mecat.com, I went "ugh! a galley down!" And yes, I told the owner Lynn and her husband Dick my reaction when I looked at their website.

Let me back up a minute...and tell you that we were originally looking at a Lagoon 440. When it came time for the Annapolis Boat show this year, 2007, I sent Ken down on the first day. "Pick out the candidates we REALLY want to consider," I instructed him. I did not want to look at boats we either A) could not afford, and B) wouldn't buy if we could afford them. We have so little time for serious looking at a boat show that I did not want to waste time.

It was like running a gauntlet when Ken took me down on Saturday to show me the contenders. People who just want to look, have no idea what the serious ones really need to do. The lookie loos just walk slowly, stand in the middle of the aisles talking, pointing but not MOVING. We dashed around this person, zipped past another and finally made our main destinations: several monohulls in the 48-54' range, and 4 cats.

Ken had already told me he was dissapointed in this years Lagoon 440 because the interior looked cheap mainly due to the flooring. We seriously looked at the Fontaine Peugot another we had looked at several years ago.

Ken kept pulling me towards the Maine Cat 41 and I finally said "OK, let's get to it so I can visit the Lagoon 440."

Lynn immediately introduced herself and said that Ken had told her I wouldn't like the galley down, so she first took me there. Whoa! Real counter space, and what a wonder--I didn't feel like I was in a dark hole! The long window above the counter and the sink looked out over the walkways, and facing the other direction I could easily see through the porthole to the cockpit and "back porch."

I scoured the rest of the boat and told a very delighted and surprised husband that we had found the one!