The One

A co-worker of Tim's had been single for a long time and a lot of their time in the cockpit was filled with his conversations about the state of his dating life.  Each new girl that happened along seemed to be "the one". A few weeks ago we attended his wedding to a lovely bride, and from the look in his eyes she was indeed "the one".

I feel a bit like this sometimes as Tim and I look at boats.  We have a list of qualities we'd like to have in our final choice and even a scoring system to try to determine how each boat stacks up against it.  All well and good for a mechanical unit, but after listening to all the old salts at the marina expound on the virtues of various sailing traits, hulls, berths, heads lifelines and engines, I keep coming back to the same idea in my head, the one that says I need to love this boat.  A modified fin keel, good solid dodger, bulkhead table, and separate shower are all well and good, but ultimately there has to be a connection, a smile on my face when I see her at the dock, a knowledge that this is home.  We haven't found "the one" yet, but just like Tim's coworker, I think you'll see it in our eyes when we do.