The Start

East Greenbush, NY

I have a lot to write here. This will become the story of the Labatt-Simon's journey to accomplish a dream. I know - that sounds cheesy. I can't help it.

I asked my family for a sailboat when I was 13. I got one - it was about 10 inches long and you could inflate it in about 3 seconds (funny family). Two days ago we received word that our offer on our second sailboat - a Passport 40 - was accepted, and thus starts step two of our adventures.

Within this blog I'll go both forward and backward. I'll describe almost the exact moment approximately 2 years ago when I first suggested to my wife (Kristen) that we spend a year cruising. You'll also hear about current news and future plans, such as our trip next week to sea trial our boat, and our trip we'll be taking in a few months to bring our new boat from Annapolis to Lake Champlain.

Anyway, I hope everyone appreciates this blog. I've started it as much for me as for others who are interested in how we've arrived here today, and where we'll be in the future. Oh gawd... more cheese. I'll try to keep it to a minimum!

I'll just start today with some information about our family. I won't start with our first Coast Guard call, or our first "timber" of our mast on our Precision 23 (our first boat), or with running out of gas on the outboard during a thunderstorm! By the way - all of those things happened this season - our first season with our first boat - Anticipation. You'll get to know us pretty well!

So about our family. I'm Chris, just celebrating the 6th anniversary of my 29th birthday. My wife is Kristen, only slightly younger than me. Our son is Casey, 9 going on 10. Our daughter is Kaitlin, 5 going on 16. We live in East Greenbush, NY. I own an information security and computer networking company. My wife works at the local YMCA and takes care of our kids. Our kids? We put them in a dark closet sewing clothes and feed them moldy bread and dirty water. I'm just kidding! Sheesh! They go to Genet Elementary, and are in 5th and 1st grades respectively.

That's all for now. The picture above is of our current/old boat - our wonderful Precision 23 - Anticipation.