As a woman, it’s a bit unusual that I really don’t like to shop, however, if we are talking about boat shopping…now you have my interest. We have become boat shopaholics over the last couple of years. We have become regulars at yachtworld.com, pouring over the boat ads, discussing what new boats popped up today over dinner, and “what did you think of that one?” has become a frequent phrase in our new found vocabulary among other words like jib, displacement, davits, chartplotters, dorades and windlass.

Our list of potential boats was at one point as long as there are nautical words. We learned about lots of different boat manufacturers, builders and designers. Each new boat that we learned about became our boat de jour, we tried it on for size…how would we look behind her helm, would it be comfortable to sleep aboard, how would she sail and did we think it would feel like home.

Naturally, we had to narrow down this list at some point to move this from speculative dreaming to directional reality. Ahhh…but remember, it is the journey, not the destination. Boat shopping is no different in that regard. We have fully enjoyed our journey of boat shopping and it would appear that we are now nearing our destination.