Why do I cruise in a powerboat? As with any simple question, there are two answers ­ a short one and a long, more definitive answer. The short answer I like to use is "my wife made me do it." This gives me the opportunity in the future when anything goes wrong with the boat to assign blame, but in reality it was the right thing to do.

Now the long answer. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. My father's side of the family was from the coast of Maine. I spend my great summers on Peaks Island. Only recently have I found out how deep my roots were in Maine and on the coast. In 1785 a Frances Grant is on record settling into Hancock, Maine, at the head of Frenchman's Bay. He was fourth-generation Grant, originally from Marblehead, but that is another story.

After high school, I spent four years with the U.S. Coast Guard, then headed west. I spent 20 years in the defense industry in New Mexico. At the end of the cold war, with the defense cuts looming, my wife, Donna, and I were faced with having to move to find jobs. Several times over the years Donna had been to the Boston area on business and visited with my brother just outside Boston. My brother drove her along the coast of Maine, showing her the places where we had spent many summers. During those visits she fell in love with the Maine coast. Donna was raised in Indiana and had never been around the ocean at all. She suggested we try and find jobs in Maine and move there.

In the spring of 1997 we found jobs and moved to Maine. Out west we had owned an 18-foot runabout that we used on the lakes of New Mexico and Colorado. That just did not hack it here in Maine. We bought a 1986 31-foot Irwin Citation. Experts said this beamy boat would be good for novices.

Well, Donna took to boating. She absolutely loves it. She enjoys the beauty of being out on the water, the scenery and the wildlife. She does not enjoy the work involved with sailing. She also has a fear of heights and a heeling sailboat does not help that.

I did not realize how lucky I was to have a wife that enjoys boating until I was confronted by a gentleman at the annual marine equipment sale at Defender last year. After watching the enthusiasm that Donna was showing, he said, "You're a lucky man." The long and the short of it is Donna likes boating and a powerboat fits the way we want to cruise. The Irwin is on the market. We have had many fine adventures and summers on it. Yes, I did run it aground in Casco Passage. It was my navigational error. We just purchased a 36-foot Albin Trawler that we delivered from Rhode Island to Penobscot Bay, its new home, in May.