Greetings from Minneapolis

[olaf3]

Greetings, all.
I've gleaned a lot, lurking around this forum over the past couple years. I grew up around boats, and learned to sail a sunfish at 12, going on to a 16' catamaran, a Finn, and then life got too busy (for the next 25 years or so). After a Navy deployment where I had saved up some money, I told my wife I had been saving for a boat. Bless her heart, she was all for it! Since we have 5 children (they were much smaller when I got the boat (Precision 18), I needed to have space to store camping gear, and a place for the kids to get out of the weather when it gets cold and rainy. My boat (Happy Pelican) was named by my children, and we've used it extensively on the lakes in the city where we live (Minneapolis, aka "City of Lakes"), the St. Croix River, Lake Pepin, and Lake Superior.

Looking forward to continued learning, and getting some advice on our next boat, which will be capable of taking 1-3 of us through the Southern Ocean, around Cape Horn, and exploring the Maritime Provinces, Greenland, North Atlantic and wherever else we can (in whatever order!) Until that time (5-7 years), however, we will continue on honing our skills as much as possible on Superior and the surrounding lakes here.

I really appreciate this forum, and the opportunity to learn many of the "nuts & bolts" of cruising. Looking forward to more learning.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Olaf.