Have you noticed how many trawler owners started out as sailors? Everyone's story is unique, but there are a few common threads. Many sailors eventually find that they, their partner, or both, want a bit more comfort and space than even the best cruising sailboats offer. Handling sails and heaviliy loaded lines becomes more challenging as we age. A trawler's comfort, safety, and ease combine for an attractive alternative.

Many sailors start the transition by fully enclosing the cockpit of their sailboats. Eventually they realize they're spending more time motoring than sailing, and they succumb to the siren's song of a comfortable trawler with all the amenities of home, including big windows that offer a front-row seat to the beauty that surrounds us while cruising.

I still love sailing, and kept a small sailboat even after we purchased our Selene trawler. I day-sail on Puget Sound in the warm summer breeze. But for cruising, it's hard beat a heavy, seaworthy, long-range trawler.

My friend, Joel Marc, after more than 36 years of cruising under sail, transitioned to power as well. His boating career began in his homeland of France with a 43-foot fiberglass ketch-rigged sailboat. Only a few years after he bought his first boat, Joel moved to the capital of New Caledonia (just easy of Australia) to take a job as chief of radiology at a private clinic. In his case, moving included sailing his boat 13,000 miles from France, across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific. Along the way, he stopped in the Canary Islands, Panama, the Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotos, and Cook Islands, just to name a few.

To read the rest of Joel's amazing story, see the article in PassageMaker here: https://www.passagemaker.com/lifestyle/power-trip