Pat's inspiration is his Skipjack - a 21ft long, 8ft wide open sailboat that carries a cloud of sail. Pat was adamant about 2 things: He wanted a lot of sail and he wanted a lot of strings to pull and play with while sailing.

My sensibilities lay another way. The Teal is 12ft long and 3ft wide at the bottom - she is small, even for a canoe. Having been acquainted with the terror of sailing tiny boats in my Harley 8, I suggested perhaps we have a small sail and only one line to play with.

As I said, Pat was adamant. Cool, I live to make other's dreams come true. We came to an agreement and continued.