Trawler Lifestyle | PassageMaker Magazine & Events

Over the past forty-seven years my husband Bob and I have cruised sailboats to many different parts of the world. Never in our wildest dreams, however, had we envisioned buying a cruising motorboat, much less living in one that was carried through bluewater at fourteen knots on the deck of a five-hundred-sixty foot ship.

Tom and Carol Olson had owned Bluejacket, a Dutch-built double-ended motor yacht, only a few hours when a nasty storm birthed by a far-away hurricane did its darnedest to sink her in Lake Erie. Huge, spike-like seas quickly formed, as unexpected early October winds pummeled the lake in 1995. Tom later would say they resembled the stiff peaks of meringue on a pie. Waves broke over the bow of the 48-footer, sweeping the deck and rolled the rails under.