Hello new boating friends!

I just joined the list, and per George Kolesnikovs'
suggestion I'm introducing myself.

My fiance Joanie and I are thinking seriously about buying
our first boat, signing the papers right after the wedding.
We are active sea-kayakers here in the Pacific Northwest,
and we want to load our kayaks on top of a "mobile base
camp" from which we would like to explore in our kayaks.

The typical mission for our boat would be to cruise out into
the San Juan Islands for the weekend, moor at a State Park
or anchor in a cove somewhere, offload the kayaks, paddle
around an island or two, return to "mother ship", and spend
the night. We're also interested in longer-term exploring of
the waters both east and west of Vancouver Island. Another
important function of our boat will be to provide us with an
in-town "apartment" in Belligham, which we will use one or
two nights a week. I'm a computer programmer who works at
home, and I could easily take my work out to a floating
office, especially if I can get internet access from the
boat.

Starting with that mission, our research so far has led us
toward the Nordic Tug 32, and the new American Tug 34 (we
really fell for it at the Seattle Boats Afloat show). We
attended PassageMaker magazine's TrawlerPort seminar and
learned a lot.

Given the mission for our boat, a trawler sounds like a good
fit, yes? But we still have not determined whether or not it
is sane to start out your boating experience with something
that expensive and with that many systems aboard. Our
sea-kayaking and river-running experience has given us some
knowlege about how water works, but we know nothing of
manuvering big boats in small marinas and docks with
possible winds and current! Nor do we fully grasp the
implications of being dependent on complex mechanical
systems in situations where mother nature might be having a
bad day.

We're looking forward to absorbing the wealth of knowledge
that is represented by the members of this list.

Thanks for being here,
Dale and Joanie

<I'm a computer programmer who works at
home, and I could easily take my work out to a floating
office, especially if I can get internet access from the
boat.>

Sounds like a good plan to me, but have you figured out how you will get
internet access? Are you only going to have Internet access in the Marine or
do you want it at sea? I ask because I have been interested in this
capability. There are promising satellite systems on the horizon, but the
best thing I can come up with today is a cell phone, Iridium or Satcomm
uplink and PC Direct down link. This would provide between 2,400 and 4,800
bps up and 1 Mbps down.

P.S. I would start out by joining a Yacht club or taking some boat handling
courses at the local community college. You might also try chartering a few
different boats before you buy to determine what you like and what you
don't.

Happy Trawlering
Red Beard