A Sailor at Heart!

I spent many of my childhood and teen-year weekends boating on the Ouachita River and on Bayou Desiard in my hometown of Monroe, Louisiana. We fished, skied, tubed, and just cruised on the smooth-as-glass southern waters. Just after graduating from college, I joined a friend in a sailing regatta in Arkansas. And that’s when I knew I was truly a sailor at heart! (Or at least a boater of some sort, as it turned out to be). I moved from the South to Newport Beach, California, soon afterwards with one thing one my mind: Meet people who had boats and belonged to the various yacht clubs dotting the shores along Lido Island, Newport Harbor and Balboa Island. (Ha! What a goal!) I never met the sailing friends I dreamed about, but I knew that I’d be out on the water boating again some day.

And it happened! A few years after Tom and I married, some friends asked us to join them for a week on a houseboat on Lake Powell. Now THAT was pure heaven! Two of the couples brought their ski boats along. At night, we slept on the roof of our houseboat. During the day, we’d all hop into the two ski boats and have water balloon fights and shoot potato launchers (where, I’m not sure… this is a dim memory, folks!) But I can tell you that our Lake Powell adventure is one of my all-time favorite vacations! It would be many years before I’d find myself on the water again, but I was confident it was just a matter of time.

So imagine my surprise a few years back when my dear husband informed me that a friend wanted to sell his boat to us at a price too amazing to pass up. YES! I became a boater once again… we were the proud owners of a little, 15-foot Seadoo Speedster boat. What our beloved Seadoo (that we dubbed the Rowdie 2) lacked in size, she made up for with sheer speed!

A helicopter took this fun picture of us on the Rowdie 2 on Canyon Lake!

We spend the next two summers boating on the warm waters in Central Texas as often as we could! I loved our sunset cruises and long days on the lake.

Sunset cruise on Canyon Lake in Central Texas.

We mostly boated on Canyon Lake, just 20 minutes from home, but we also took the Rowdie 2 to Lake LBJ and Lake Travis for tubing, cruising, and — our favorite — lowering the anchor and floating with a cool beverage in hand and Jack Johnson blaring on the stereo. One year we even took the Rowdie 2 all the way to the Florida panhandle!

Tubing with my bestie Tawnya on Canyon Lake.

Our favorite: floating with friends, both human and feathered!

Since moving to Palm Desert, boating is no longer a weekly activity. Last summer we boated in Newport Harbor and even went down along the coast until I freaked out about the size of the waves! 

A day in Newport Harbor on the Rowdie 2.

Over Easter weekend this year, we put Rowdie 2 in the San Diego Harbor — pure boating paradise! Tom, Trevor and I had a blast cruising around the harbor, checking out the downtown skyline and the huge aircraft carriers.

My cute husband son in the San Diego Harbor next to a giant aircraft carrier!

Rowdie 2 never seemed so small as she did that day!

Captain Tom in front of the Marriott Marquis San Diego, where he started his career with Marriott over two decades ago!

We have big plans the little Rowdie 2 this summer. We will be escaping the desert heat as often as possible to explore the waters of southern California. I’m sure many new memorable adventures await us!

You’ve heard of “the selfie”… well, this is “the boatie”!

Whether you’ve realized your boating dreams or are still hoping the dream becomes a reality some day, you’ll love the Discover Boating website, which helps people get on the water to experience the fun of boating. For those looking to get their feet wet, Discover Boating is an unbiased online resource packed with easy, interactive features on all things boating, including  a boat selector guide, cost comparison tool, renting options, youth boating programs, education courses – even stories of discovery and inspirational videos. Plus, Discover Boating offers tools and information for experienced boaters looking to learn more. The feature I love most about Discover Boating is that you can find the tools and resources to help you get on a boat, even if you don’t own one!

Check out this boat selector quiz to find the boat that’s a perfect match for you!

Check out this boat selector quiz to find the boat that’s a perfect match for you!

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