Catamaran Owner Cruising Logs



Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007

by
http://www.catamarans.com

Despite the fact that catamarans are gaining in popularity, many sailors are still curious, “why would you switch from a monohull to a catamaran?"  Our story is quite simple….to fulfill a long desired dream and complete a natural evolution in our boating lives……

Mark and I (now in our 50’s), have been around boats and water since childhood.  Mark’s family had a powerboat and they enjoyed fishing off the New Jersey shore.  I grew up in Delaware between the Atlantic beaches and the Chesapeake Bay. My family toyed with paddlewheel, pontoon and houseboats.  Recently, Mark and I recalled that our first exposure to sailing was at our respective childhood camps when we were eleven years old….Mark at Pine Bush, PA and me at Camp Pecometh, Chester River, MD.

As a young couple we owned a 16 foot Hobie first, then a 16 foot Prindle.  We enjoyed sailing in state parks in PA, DE and at the beaches of DE and NJ.  Looking back, I wonder how we hoisted those masts up and down….ah…youth !  We read Multi-Hull Magazine beginning in the mid-1980’s and just about any other sailing magazine available while becoming boat show “groupies".  Rarely did we miss a Philadelphia or Annapolis show, eventually including Miami in our annual route. We enjoyed several chartered sailboat vacations in the Keys, North Carolina, Colorado, California and the Chesapeake.  We couldn’t drive by a boatyard without stopping to look at “the boats for sale".  I felt like “always the looker, never the buyer!".

One cold, rainy day in March, 2000, Mark suggested we take a drive down to the eastern shore of Maryland to look at boats. I love it there, so I’m up for the trip but sick of looking, “We always look and never buy.  Let’s go look at antiques."  Needless to say, that very day we bought our first “real" sailboat, a 1985 Seidelmann 295 which we named “First Born".  Not yet the catamaran we still dreamed of, but affordable for us at the time while we continued our vision.  We had six great years on the Chesapeake with our monohull which solidified our desire to spend more time sailing and to have more room and comforts, ie. energizing us to continue our dream for a catamaran.

We began to start seriously narrowing down brands of catamarans in 2005.  We weighed pros and cons of many, as well as new vs. used.  Lots of spread sheet columns of pluses and minuses!  One of the important influences for us was timing---if we were to invest in our dream boat, we also wanted to assure we would have the time to enjoy it. Now was the time, and we placed our order for a beautiful Leopard 40 catamaran at the Miami boat show in February 2006, taking possession in October, 2006.  We have been living and sailing aboard ALA since, enjoying every moment.  No, we would not trade in our experiences for anything, and are glad we have achieved “our dream".
For us, the advantages of a catamaran:

Possible disadvantages of a catamaran (hard to think of any!):

Gwyn M. Vernon

Gwyn and Mark Vernon currently live and sail aboard their 40 foot Leopard catamaran, ALA, in Florida and the Keys.  Home is Wallingford, PA where they live with their four parrots.  ALA will sail in the Chesapeake this summer, 2007.

For additional information, please visit www.catamarans.com

 

 

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