Sassy GAFFER lives on...

[Joseph]

I am happy to report that Sassy GAFFER (SunCat 17 #365, 2010) has just moved to new quarters and to a new skipper. In October 2009, as I was about to retire from my professional life, I was looking for the perfect mini-cruiser, one that a 65+ sailor could single-hand with ease both on land and in the water. While attending a meeting in Tampa, I decided to pay a visit to the Hutchins in Clearwater FL. I was already honed in the SunCat, but one hour at the helm of one of their hulls made me place the order on the spot. I returned to Florida in March, and with the Magic-Tilt trailer hooked to the Jeep Liberty CRD I had chosen as her land-auxiliary, through a glorious Appalachian early spring, I hauled her all the way into Ottawa. Since then she had been one of the prettiest boats in the fleet of the Nepean Sailing Club. We enjoyed together many week-long cruises in Georgian Bay and the Northern Channel and numerous solo sails in Lac Deschênes, some with dinner visits to the Aylmer marina returning to port sailing in the moonlight, and many overnights at the anchor spent under the stars tucked inside the cove at Pinhey Point, or on the lee of Aylmer Island or facing the long beach in Crystal Bay. Sassy was also instrumental in pioneering amateur radio "Portable/Afloat", allowing in 2015 the certification and activation of Aylmer Island as ON295 for the Canadian Island Activators program, the participation from the same island in several W/VE Islands QSO Parties, and a unique first-time participation "Portable/Afloat" in 2017, in the ARRL/RAC Field Day event. Sassy is now in very able hands and will soon be returning, improved and refreshed, to the waters of Lake Huron and beyond. Here is to you, Sassy! Have a long and very happy sailing life!
J.