A Sail of Two Idiots

Copyright © 2012 by Renee D. Petrillo. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-178246-3
MHID:       0-07-178246-X

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This book is dedicated to all those dreamers out there. That includes people with adventurous souls and an insatiable curiosity. Or if you're like my husband, someone who lives with such a person. To all you nontraditionalists and nonconformists (even if you just wish you were), this one is for you.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.

—
J. K. ROWLING

You do not ask a tame seagull why it needs to disappear from time to time toward the open sea. It goes, that's all.

—
BERNARD MOITESSIER

Pee to the lee!

—UNKNOWN,
but pretty sure it was a male

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed in the things that you didn't do than the ones you did do, so throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!

—
MARK TWAIN

I'd rather be in my boat, with a drink on the rocks than in the drink, with my boat on the rocks.

—
UNKNOWN,
seen on a T-shirt

Lessons

Nautical Mumbo-Jumbo

Preface

Contemplating the Plunge

1
Whose Idea Was This Anyway?

2
Monohulls vs. Catamarans

Monohulls

Catamarans

Safety for Catamarans and Monohulls

Still Not Sure?

3
Let's Buy a Boat

Research Makes Perfect

Who's Paying?

The Process

So What Happened Next?

4
The Best-Laid Plans

5
Ahoy, Matey!

What's in a Name?

Thanks … I Think

Final Preparations