All sailors start somewhere. As a teen I eagerly absorbed National Geographic stories in the late 60s of young Robin Lee Graham sailing single-handed around the world in his tiny boat. I was infatuated. Construction plans in Popular Mechanics lead me to build a sailing dinghy out of cedar ribs and plywood. Like many, I taught myself to sail, reading about the fundamentals in magazines and books. Practical knowledge came from dodging ocean-going ships and tugboats in the Fraser River just south of Vancouver, British Columbia. I was hooked, dreaming grandiose plans of a sailing future. Then life got in the way. Starting a family and career left very little time for recreation. Sailing took a distant back seat, but was always there, waiting to return.
