SV VINAKA
ABOUT BRUCE
The journey to this place began when I was sixteen and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Somehow, I found myself walking in a boat yard and there, sitting on a cradle, was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen created by man. A thirty some foot deep keeled sailboat glistened white in front of me. I walked around her again and again studying every line, every curve. How did this work, what did it feel like in motion, how do you handle and control such a thing? I was struck at that moment, and something sparked in me which I have never lost.
On that day I accepted I would have a boat like this one day and learn to master all the skills to enable passage to anywhere I wanted to go. I determined to do this thing and it became a part of me.
It is still.
ABOUT MARLA
I’m just a landlubber from the Pennsylvania coal region who, for as long as I can remember, always wanted to know what else was “out there.” Although I had a wholesome upbringing by most accounts, I never really felt like I fit in to small town lifestyle. I joined the Air Force not quite a year after high school graduation which seemed like not a bad career choice and also a way to fast track my Great Escape. A circuitous route took me overseas and eventually back state-side to California, where I fell in love. I fell in love with the golden state of California–I hiked in the tall mountains, swam in glacier-formed granite lakes, and explored tide pools beneath the drop-dead gorgeous bluffs of the Pacific Ocean. My wanderlust for what else is “out there” was satisfied for a time, but I wanted to see more. I began to plan my next experiences abroad.
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That’s about when Bruce and I got together.
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As a former boat owner, Bruce was pretty serious about getting back on the water, in part to satisfy his sense of adventure. I was happy to support him. Who was I to squash a grown man’s 30+ year dream? Little did I know a modest boat purchase would lead to a total sailing lifestyle. Exploring the world by boat never even crossed this land-lubber’s mind, but I couldn’t resist the possibilities!