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It’s the stuff
that romance novels and movies are made of, something you wouldn’t
expect could happen in the real world but did. It’s the story of
true romance between a female emergency-room physician and a classic 109-ton,
65-foot Malahide trawler. (Malahides are Norwegian-built, wooden-hull,
North Sea-style commercial vessels that in the 1970’s were sailed
to the Malahide Shipyard in Malahide, Ireland, to be converted into passagemakers;
the yard folded in 1983.) It’s the story of a woman with no boating
experience who inadvertently becomes the owner of a boat she doesn’t
want, decides to turn it into a charter yacht, and in the process, uncovers
and falls in love with its magical history, and creates a network for
trawler owners worldwide.
It all began in Seattle
on a Sunday afternoon in July 1994, when V. Joyce Gauthier, then a student
at the University of Washington, was staying onboard a houseboat on Lake
Union. Gauthier, a kayaking enthusiast, took a kayak for a spin around
the waters off picturesque Gasworks Park and uncovered a beautiful moorage.
What intrigued her most, though, was the one empty mooring with room for
a decent-size boat, views of the surrounding park, and easy access in
and out. She thought, It’d be neat to own a houseboat and keep it
there.
Gauthier returned to
the houseboat and found an ad in the classified section of the local newspaper
for what she believed to be that exact mooring, which indicated there
was room for a 65-footer. She called the number listed and spoke to a
gentleman who joked, “It’s a little big for a kayak” (especially
one that wasn’t even hers) and mentioned that three other couples
were also interested in buying it. He continued, “You didn’t
mention anything about a husband or partner. Are you making this decision
alone?” Her answer was yes, which apparently impressed the owner.
Three days later she put down a deposit, and two months and $55,000 after
that, the mooring was hers. She had no boat and no boating experience,
just a mooring and a love of the area and of being by the water.
Next page >
Part
2: “I had
absolutely no idea how to operate a charter business and didn’t want
to go broke in the process.” > Page 1, 2,
3, 4
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