I met a real character today.

The folks at C-Dory marine got me together with a customer to whom they just
delivered a new 25-footer. We whizzed around Puget Sound for a while so I could
make some notes on performance, ride, and handling.

The guy just got laid off from Boeing, so he's going back to college to learn a
new trade. He's going to be a massage therapist.

He's 73 years young!

He just stepped up to the 25-footer from his previous boat, a C-Dory 22.

I asked why he had decided to go to a bigger boat, and this is his story:

"I went into the Coast Guard in 1947, at the ripe old age of 17. Five other
guys and I took an 83-foot cutter from Seattle to Ketchikan, and that was
really the first time I'd ever been up the coast. I swore right then and there
that if I ever had the money to be able to afford my own boat, I was going to
duplicate that voyage from Seattle to Alaska. A few years ago, I finally had
the money together and I bought the 22-footer. After I got it, I realized that
I would want a little bit larger boat- and particularly something with a
permanent head and a shower stall. So I'm heading to Alaska in the 25. It looks
like it's going to be 2005 before I go though, my massage therapist classes run
through the summer of 2004."

Once in a while it's refreshing to stop and contemplate just how much this
pastime can mean to a person. :-)