It’s a small world amongst Westsails. Could be because of their legendary legacy or the fact that only around 1200 of them were ever built (or both). Either way, here’s my fun little Westsail story for this afternoon:

First Mate Binga and I are gearing up for our DelMarVa Rally aboard Shaboom, so we sojourn over to our local West Marine to look at Personal Floatation Device (PFD) options for Bing. A very nice lady comes over to help us, which is funny to me, as a former West Marine Blue Shirt myself, I didn’t really need advise. However, she immediately endeared herself to me by mentioning all the funny power boaters around and how she was a sailor herself, having sailed extensively aboard her …. get this …. WESTSAIL 42!!

Whoa! Wait! What?! Westsail 42?! Amazing!

Needless to say, I was initially put off by my surprise, yet totally delighted to find a kindred soul in the middle of this damn desert!

I proudly stated we were Westsailors ourselves and that in 2004 Binga, at the ripe old age of two, had nearly 4000 nautical miles sailing experience aboard Nereus and that she was adding mightily to that total next month as First Mate aboard Shaboom.

Turns out, Cecilia (that’s her name) no longer sails, having lost her husband/sailing partner a few years ago, but her Westsail sails on. And, I know the boat! You see, I’ve been shanghaied into service by Cap’n Pat before all our adventures aboard Nereus or Shaboom. As Admiral of our Westsail club, the Westsail Owner’s Association, Pat suckered me into becoming “Membership Director” to digitize all the records and make sure there was some accountability for delinquent members – a noble task and great job, for sure. As a result, I got to know each and every boat associated with the association. One member was Drake Roberts with his Westsail Paragon. Turns out West Marine’s Cecilia was Paragon’s previous owner and has stayed in touch with Drake and crew over the years. Drake is currently sailing Paragon up through some of Nereus’s old anchorages on his way up the east coast before crossing to Ireland. He posts updates and stays connected through Facebook and his YouTube channel, which has some very nice video of the Westsail lifestyle.

So, it is a small world. Here we are, two strangers in a West Marine in the middle of the desert sharing about all the people we know, the boats we owned and the places we’ve sailed. What a great day!