I have been drawn to water my entire life to some extent, and have found that I love just being around it. A gentle stream or the pounding surf, it doesn’t seem to matter. I even like standing in the yard with a hose squirting water on the shrubs! It made sense to desire to be on the water too. Patt and I have always talked about a sailboat. We took vacations where we would do sailing excursions, and many times just sat in our beach chairs along the channel in Holland watching the sailboats go in and out, dreaming of the day.
That day came in May of 2007 when we purchased a 1982 Catalina 30 MkI. We were finally boaters! We found a slip at a place on the North West end of Lake Macatawa called Lake Ranch. It’s is a wonderful location close to the Holland State Park with easy access to the channel going out to "The Big Lake" as we call Lake Michigan.
Lake Ranch looks like an old motel with small condo vacation suites, a pool, grills, and many other nice amenities that make staying there fun. Parking is a challenge because we only get one spot. This makes it hard to invite guests to come sailing, but we make do.
As summer passed we enjoyed sailing the boat a lot, and as fall and cold weather approached it was off to Parkside Marina where they stepped the mast and set the boat on her cradle for the winter.
After a second summer at Lake Ranch and wintering at Parkside, we ended up getting a slip at Parkside. It is closer to the Big Lake, and the sailing community is great. There is always someone around that is willing to crew. At this point we have been there for a couple of years and have some great friends and sailing buddies there.