[Rhodes22-list] Stan the Man or Why I bought a Rhodes22

[Mrbabs]

Like many, since I was young, I dreamed of sailing away. Life interrupted the
dream, with children, work, responsibilities etc. etc. and that just made
the sailing dream seem, just that. A dream.Fast forward to June of 2012 when
my significant other and I found ourselves talking about sailing again. I
started reading sailing magazines, looking online, dream weaving. After a
couple months I read something online from another dreamer (there are lots
of us out there) who was looking for the "perfect" boat. An anomymous
someone posted "Just get a Rhodes22".I found the Rhodes22 website and
laughed myself silly reading everything. I didn't know who Stan Spitzer was,
but he was one very funny guy. And I thought, I really like his sailboat! I
traded a couple of emails with Stan and we decided to head south to the
Annapolis Boat Show. This was about as far North as Stan was travelling and
we wanted to see the Rhodes. This was our first boat show ever and boy were
we overwhelmed with boats and equipment. Coming around to the Rhodes
display, I mentioned to the man in one boat that I loved his website. He
pointed to the guy sitting in the other Rhodes and said "Oh that's Stan over
there, he's 86". What???!!!!  Stan is 86 years old!!  We immediately hopped
boats and introduced ourselves as newbies. In our short discussion, Stan
told me he had discovered the secret to immortality - many of his friends
had retired and died. He figured if he just kept working he would live
forever! To make a long story even longer - we hardly slept a wink Saturday
night not knowing what to do. Sunday morning, we figured we would put a
deposit on a boat. On the way over we ran into Stan leaving and I asked if I
could put a deposit on a boat. He said sure, and when I asked how much, he
replied $1,000. When I told him I didn't have $1,000 on me, he offerred to
loan me the money!  Well I emptied my pockets of cash and handed it to him
on the dock and we parted company. When we arrived back home in
Massachusetts, I couldn't believe I had handed $800 to some guy on a dock in
Maryland and walked away without a receipt, no information on the boat,
nothing. He didn't even have our names! Talk about clueless!Over the winter
we satisfied ourselves that Stan is real person and sells boats!  We figured
out what we bought and it appears as though the dreaming is over as we now
own a 2007 Rhodes22.  The last time I sailed was on a Sunfish 37 years ago
so we have signed up for a sailing classes in Newport and will be keeping
the boat on the Narragansett Bay.  We are clueless, but very happy to have
found this group. We are also happy to have met Stan, who happens to be one
of the most remarkable people I have ever encountered. I hope he lives to
186!  It appears from this group, I am not alone with these thoughts.We will
be leaving to pick up the boat in 9 days and we may even learn how to use it
this summer!Cheers



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