Hi all,

I think my situation as the captain of our R22 may be similar to some of yours where you are married to the admiral.  When my wife and I were looking for trailer sailer pocket cruisers that we could enjoy for a long time, the Rhodes 22 stood out as the winner.  At the time, my wife didn't know how to sail yet but we looked at the reviews together.

Since then she has learned a lot and she will often be at the helm depending on what she feels like that day.  When we were in San Francisco, one of the classes we took was for docking (definitely best if both of us understand what's involved, especially on bigger boats) and we used several boats, starting with a Ranger 23 and then moving up in size.  My wife had not been on another boat of similar size to the R22.  She was not impressed with the Ranger 23 and missed the tiller to motor linkage from the R22 as we practiced docking.  The boats we were on this past week were traditional with running rigging at the mast, traditional mainsails, etc.

The admiral indicated that she would not be out on the boat near as much if it took as much work as it did with all the traditional methods.  She is a fan of the many convenient features of the R22 including IMF.  I count this a huge win since it is great to go sailing together.

Just thought I would share this in case there are any potential R22 buyers on the list that may be wavering about what kind of boat might suit both the captain AND the admiral.  It has worked out well for us.

Jesse Shumaker
S/V Zephyr