The sailing bug bites Guy

It was the summer of 1999 during one of Guy's  annual camping trip. He, his cousins and his nephew Kurt were camping in New Brunswick on the Bon Adventure . Day after day the weather kept deteriorating so they decided to fly back to Halifax where they would soon take a flight back to Ontario.
They spent a couple of days there.  Walking around they came upon a marina where Guy
 noticed a couple in their late sixties take possession of a brand new sailboat that they would sail to England. They invited him down below and talked of their forthcoming Atlantic crossing. Guy was amazed to listen to two people speak so enthusiastically of a cruising life in such a beautiful boat. Something that had never crossed his mind.....nor mine! So you can imagine my surprised reaction when he returned home and informed me that he would be finding a boat for the two of us to experience a cruising life of our own.
Guy spent the next 2 years searching ads and the internet for a suitable boat that he could call his home while afloat! By 2001 he had narrowed it down to a few different models. These boats were in Florida so we flew to Fort Lauderdale, met our broker and he spent a couple of days driving us all around the state looking at the boats Guy had chosen on the internet as well as some the broker knew of.
When we saw the boat we now have, we spent a good part of the afternoon inside imagining a cruising life of our own someday. We put in an offer and by the time we were back in Canada, the previous owners had accepted it . Wow! We now owned our first boat.  A 40 foot Valiant.
We made arrangement to have it trucked to Port Huron Michigan and secured ourselves a dock at Bridgeview Marina in Sarnia.  It arrived July 1st 2001.
As intimidating as it was, we entered a steep learning curve, we read everything we could get our hands on that would get us better acquainted with our new purchase. We surrounded ourselves with knowledgable sailors . We took boating courses, studied for the ham radio license and attended many seminars throughout the years.
In the last 10 years, we have shared with experts some extensive work  to the top sides,  below the water line, updated all electronic systems, rebuilt the engine, revamped the interior  etc. etc. and gained the much needed experience needed for us to safely enjoy the trip we are about to start.

                                                    Guy scraped, peeled, reglassed, sanded and painted the bottom

                                                    I sanded and varnished the interior