Growing up in Newfoundland meant that you spent a good portion of your childhood in a boat. A career with the Water Survey of Canada meant that you also spent a significant amount of time in a boat. In the 1990s, we sometimes sailed with friends who had sailboats. In those days we were busy with jobs and playing golf, but by the mid-1990s our interest in sailing and sailboats reached a new high. We started taking boating courses and looking at the listings of “boats for sale”.
In the fall of 1998, we became the proud owners of a C&C 27, a 27 foot sloop named Déjà vu. For the next few years we sailed Déjà vu on Lake Ontario and thoroughly enjoyed it.
In the spring of 2002, “Deja vu” sailed down the St. Lawrence River, visiting Montreal, Quebec City, the Gaspé, the Magdalen Islands, Cape Breton Island and the west coast of Newfoundland.
In September of 2002, “Deja vu” returned to Lake Ontario via the St. Lawrence River.
In 2004, we upsized to a Niagara 35, a 35 foot sloop built by Hinterhoeller Yachts of St. Catharines, Ontario, which would become the sailing vessel “Gallivanting”.