How did it all start?

Well, as my close friends will tell you, I am a serial hobbyist.  What that means is that I immerse myself in one hobby at a time and become obsessed with mastering that.  Once done, I move on to my next obsession.

Water has always had a special place in my heart, ever since I was a young boy riding my bicycle to the local pier with my fishing pole, sitting for hours looking out at the boats going by.  Later in life I got the opportunity to spend one year at a Maritime boarding school, and I was hooked. Fast forward and I found myself living in San Francisco with several sailing and boating friends.  Every time I brought up the idea that “maybe I should get a boat…” they would shake their heads and remind me that boating is like taking a cold shower “in your clothes” while flushing Ben Franklins down the toilet…  And instead, they  advised me to call them up to go out on the water whenever I got the urge to get a boat.

A few years later, due to various circumstances, my lovely family and I relocated to the Pacific North West – specifically, Seattle — and the boat bug started stirring a bit.  As I looked at local maps, it became evident to me how many places could be explored by boat, and thoughts of getting a boat of my own started swirling around in my head again. I always knew that if I was going to buy a boat, it would have to be an economical little cruiser that, not unlike our trusty little WV Vanagon camper, could get us around in some comfort.

Things are rarely static in my life and suddenly I found myself in a new position within my company, plenty busy, and one afternoon the conversation in a co-worker’s office turned to boating. I sat back and talked about my dream (albeit only a dream due to the high cost) of an American Tug — and with a sly smile, my colleague pulled up a picture of a Ranger Tug R-29, HIS Ranger Tug, and from there on out I was SOLD.  This was the boat I had been looking for — I just didn’t know it until I saw it. From that day forward, I consumed every piece of information I could find about Ranger Tugs, and I had begun my new “Current Obsession”