Commander's Fleet

	The Banana Wind was what I considered my "traveling boat." It was a 2003 Precision 18 (HID# PCW18530J203) that was small, light, and easy to transport on a trailer. I could raise the mast, rig, and launch it myself. It was the second Precision 18 I owned, the first being Kalapana, a 1998 Precision 18 (HID# PCW18464G798), that I sailed 1998-2000 prior to purchasing Banana Republican. Although not overly spacious inside, it was comfortable enough for one person to spend a few days on. I took some extended cruises with it to islands of Lake Erie and on the Chesapeake Bay. Unfortunately, due to movement restrictions after two hip surgeries, I was forced to sell it in 2005 because it became too difficult to maneuver around inside the cabin. *Photos*
	In the fall of 2008, I rescued a 19 ft. 1988 Seaward Fox (HID# SYX00816E888) that had fallen into disrepair. It then became a restoration project that provided me with therapy to satisfy my uncontrollable desire to work on boats. (I had run out of things to improve on or add to the Banana Republican.) I established a four-year project completion date to coincide with my retirement plans, but I became obsessed with the work and finished it a year early in the summer of 2012. With the boat renovations completed, I decided to retire a little early and relocated the boat to the Gulf Coast of Florida where I began spending the winters as a "snowbird" in Cape Coral Florida. After a couple years, I decided not to return to Florida in the winters, and I brought Paladin back home during the summer of 2014. I moved it to a marina on Lake Erie in the summer of 2015 and then sold it in the summer of 2017. *Photos*
	The Banana Republican, being a 2000 Precision 21 (HID# 21265I900), was only three feet longer than the Banana Wind, but it had considerably more interior space. I purchased it new in 2000 when I sold Kalapana. Although trailerable, I didn't travel with the Banana Republican because it was a little too much work launching and retrieving it for a short-term cruise, especially when I was cruising alone. Instead, I dock the boat at my home marina and use it to sail my home waters. Most of my summer weekends between 2000 and 2010 are spent on the Banana Republican. *When I purchased Banana Wind 2* in 2010, I sold Banana Republican. Photos Banana Republican featured in the August 2004 issue of Sail Magazine**
	I was set to purchase a nice 1989 Seaward 25 in the summer of 2009 as a replacement for Banana Republican; however, the sellers sold it out from under me. It probably proved fortunate because later on I decided that I would prefer something slightly smaller and was fortunate to find a nice Seaward 23 (HIN HZk23358H001) for sale in Michigan. It remained in storage along the shores of Lake Michigan until I picked it up in the spring of 2010. Ironically, the boat was located just several miles north of the one I almost purchased in the summer. I wanted to find a nice to find a boat newer than Banana Republican and this one fit the bill being a 2001 model. It also possesses two other features I found attractive: wheel steering, auto pilot, and an inboard Yanmar 1GM10 diesel engine.After 13 years, I sold it to downsize to a much smaller boat (West Wight Potter 15) for the ease and simplicity of small-boat sailng, a return to my roots in the final phase of my sailing career. *Photos*
	Banana Daydreamin'? Well . . not yet . . but someday . . . maybe.

Just when I thought I was done buying boats, I purchased a small 2009 West Wight Potter 15 (HIN HMSA2779L809) from a friend in the Fall of 2022 when he bought another boat. Since I planned to put my teardrop camper at Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, in the summer of 2023, I thought it would be nice to have a small boat to sail on Lake Erie while I was there. As such, I secured a marina slip at Geneva Sate Park Marina for the 2023 summer season.

A basic tennant of sailing states that you never give up one source of power before securing another source of power. That being said, having secured one source of power by purchasing the Potter and sailing her on Lake Erie, I determined that the boat was capable of meeting my future sailing needs with fewer hassles and less work. Therefore, I decided to give up my other source of power, my larger sailboat, Banana Wind 2, and let her go, selling her to another who took her to Tampa Bay where she lives out my dream of living on the Florida coast and sailing the gulf waters.

Since the Potter is so small, I decided that she needed a beefier name, hence the name Archangel, which is what I intend to call the boat in my upcoming novel Legacy: A BVI Novel.

Photos