So here we are again, its Bob Perry corner once again. Only this time, rather than dreaming abut our future Bob Perry designed cruiser, we now own one! As of Wednesday, we are the proud owners of our latest true love, a 1976 Islander 28, Aurion. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. As some of you may recall, I keep coming back again and again to Mr. Perry’s designs and the funny thing is, I didn’t even know the Islander 28 was one of his until we spotted one for sale locally and started doing some research. And not only, but also, unbeknown to me, there was this one sailboat on another dock at our marina that I kept looking at all summer that I just seemed drawn too. As it turns out it is an Islander 28. I never got around to taking a closer look at it, I just kept noticing it. Anyway, the one we bought was found at Hooper’s Yachts where we purchased our previous two sailboats. The previous owner, Gary and his wife Michelle, did a lot of work on Aurion and kept her up well.

Some of the features we appreciate are her classic lines, well balanced sailing characteristics and beautiful cabin. She is beamy, and we like that. Lots of elbow room down below, but she does not appear beamy. In fact Mr. Perry has said that he is very proud about giving the Islander 28 almost 10 feet of beam with out it looking fat. In fact, the sailboat has a beam 9′ 10”. Of course the other thing that I am very much looking forward to is being able to stand up in the saloon. Our previous boat had sitting headroom only and as we spent every weekend living on our boat this past summer, we found this to be a bit hard on our backs. I like back spasms as much as the next guy, but standing up seems to suit me better. The other thing that was a bit hard on the old back was dangling from my toes from the stern rail like a bat while trying to release the lock on the outboard motor and then using what little left over strength I still had, to tip the outboard up so that we could sail. Nope, won’t miss that either!

We did get a chance to go out for a test sail before we purchased her and we are both very pleased with how she handles thus far. The day we went out saw 15 knots, with gusts to 20 or so. In the puffs she would heal a bit more, speed up and track beautifully. Healed at 20 degrees, we could let go of the tiller and she would just go! This boat’s keel is about 500 pounds heavier than our entire last boat, so this is a big difference for us. We considered our Precision 23 a bit on the tender side, and this lead to a few “Capt. Puffy Pants” moments over the summer, so we think having a higher ballast to displacement ratio will suit us just fine.

For those of us who are not fluent in the Greek language, the definition for Aurion is a breeze, i.e. the morning air; properly, fresh. It has also been used as to-morrow. To us, it means a fresh start and Aurion is our ticket to that feeling. Each time we climb aboard we will have our fresh breeze to propel us through life’s journey wherever that may lead us.

Aurion is well equipped with all of things Honey Bunny and I have been dreaming about. Dodger, bimini, full galley, BBQ grill, whisker pole, anemometer, knot log, depth sounder, auto pilot, enclosed head, sound system, dingy, extra head sails of various sizes, etc., etc., etc. The original owner had her set up for racing, so perhaps an asymmetrical spinnaker is in our future as well, wouldn’t that be fun.

So now the future is our oyster, and we can while away the next six months of frozen lakes dreaming of our life aboard our new love, Aurion.

One additional note: I may have to change the tag line from “One Sailor’s Quest for the Perfect Boat” to “I Found the Perfect Boat!”