Toucan is a 36′ catamaran sailboat, built in 1992 by PDQ, a Canadian boat builder that is known for efficient and fast cats.  We purchased her in May 2014.  She is 18′ wide and weighs 8,000 pounds.  Despite her girth, she is sleek and sassy.

Her mast is 47′ high.  She has a headsail, storm sail, main sail and asymmetrical spinnaker sail.  Four solar panels and a new wind generator give her batteries all the charge we need in sunny or cloudy conditions.

Galley is on the port side hull, with a queen berth and storage room aft.  Head is on the starboard side hull, with a queen berth and nav station in between.

The salon is open and roomy, a place we’ve found nice to hang out in to watch our little HDTV and listen to music during a rain shower.

The cockpit has a hard top and two captain’s chairs.  In addition to solar panels on the hard top, it has a rain catchment system that feeds through a hose directly into our water tank.

We have two 9.9 Yamaha outboard engines, one in each hull.  Our two tanks carry 55 gallons of gasoline.  We have an 85-gallon water tank.  Of course we have extra gas and water cans on the boat for backups.

For our “car,” we have a 10′ inflatable dinghy with an 8 horsepower outboard.  It’s a zippy little boat, will get us around easily.

We have added a new toilet, new cockpit stereo speakers, a new wind generator, new rigging, an extra head sail, lazy jacks to drop the main sail easier, new Raymarine electronics, a TV and WiFi antenna.

As for us.  El Capitan Ed McKinnon is a seasoned sailor, who once owned a 22-foot Catalina he sailed to regularly win races in Southport.  He has his captain’s and pilot’s license, and rides in week-long road bike expeditions across states.  So he knows a lot about wind.

I’m First Mate Kass Fincher, and I learned to sail on a 16-ft Isotope catamaran. I have to say I’m partial to the multihull.  I sailed with Ed to the Bahamas on friend Hal’s Island Packet several years ago, but didn’t do much except make coffee and meals on the long ocean passage.

Crew Member Ziggy Stardust, our 45-pound mostly-Catahoula hound is new to boating, though she has been on a short sail at Brunswick Marina.  She will wear her life jacket when we are underway but she will probably not like it.  She has already laid claim to the salon sofa when her bedtime comes.  We think it’s because when she goes down the narrow hull path she has trouble backing out.

We are looking forward to cruising, meeting new friends, and learning the ropes.  Literally.