It was a cool fall day on the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon. I walked down the docks toward a small boat. I looked at the beautiful lines of the Pearson Triton sitting in the slip in front of me and dreamed of where it might take me. I knew I would buy her that day. As I walked back up the dock to head home to Seattle I could never of imagined the changes life would take moving forward.
This was not Makara, but the first of three boats Emily and I would own, though I was yet to meet Emily. The Triton took us down the west coast to Southern California experiencing storms, calms with inky thick fog, islands, coves and people we never could have believed we would meet. With unforeseen conditions we sold her and moved to the mountains of Arizona. A few years later with another set of unseen conditions we moved to the High Sierra of California and embraced the mountain life of climbing, running, hiking and skiing. The dream of being on the water never left us.
Feeling the draw of the sea after our move to the Sierras, we went on the hunt to find our new magic vessel. In Alameda, California we found a partially neglected Islander 37 which became ours. We sailed her to San Diego and kept her there a few years. We eventually found a home with her in Channel Islands harbor near the Northern Channel Islands. We took her out on trips to the islands and learned to work with her strengths and weaknesses. One year we sailed her down to La Paz, Mexico and kept her there through the winter. We had some great adventures with her in Mexico. Unfortunately ,She was struck down by the big hurricane which swept Baja a few years ago. She took a little bit of damage to the hull which was easily fixed, but her mast had been bent severely. I had her bandaged up and a kind welder repaired the mast. I changed the rigging and dropped her back in the water. the next couple of weeks after the repairs were spent sailing around the La Paz area. This reminded us why we dreamed of sailing full time. We were in a dream land of warm water and calm bays, but we still had commitments, so it was time to head home. Emily could not join so I sailed her home alone via the offshore clipper route.
A few years have passed. We have enjoyed our Islander 37 and she has proven to be dependable, but we longed to have a bit more room to have a few companions on board. By chance one day I was looking at sailboat trader and came across an Ed Monk Searaker 50 at a price I couldn’t believe. I told Emily and she couldn’t believe it either. It had to have some major issue, but the pictures looked good. We had to look. We took a flight up to Seattle and to our surprise she looked good with only minor work, my idea of minor, to be done. We made and offer, she became ours. We did not like the current name of the boat and decided to rename her. We looked at all the options we could come up with and settled on MAKARA. Makara is the vehicle of the Hindu sea god Varuna. Makara is now our vehicle and we know she will take us everywhere we wish to go.