Stuart and Susan Richman

Boat Name: Sparkle Seas
'78 Chrysler Buccaneer
Sail Number 3426

We live in Maryland about 20 miles south of DC and mostly sail in the Potomac River. We have been sailing for about 4 years and racing for about 3 years. We have been attending about 4-5 or so regattas a year. We consider ourselves advanced beginners/intermediate sailors. We would like to get our more, but our young family and their activities keeps us very busy.

How I got my Bucc:

I decided I wanted to learn to sail as another activity I could do with my kids in the summer. I found someone locally selling a 18' boat of unknown vintage and brand. I decided to go and take a look at it. Like a lot of old Buccs, it was buried under a pile of leaves. The owner then told me I could have for free. I said "a free boat why not", so I took it home and began to learn about the boat. It did have a mast, rudder/tiller , main sail, but was missing the jib. It was also missing all of the running rigging and side stays, but it was very solid with no soft spots. I found the Yahoo Bucc and began to learn a lot about the boat. The more I learned and followed the postings on the Yahoo Bucc site, the more I enjoyed the enthusiasm of the other Bucc owners. The first year I spent rigging the boat to a minimum standard to be able to go out and sail. I sailed a few times and even went to a regatta with little sailing experience. The more I learned, the more I wanted to bring the boat up to some modern rigging standard with improved blocks. lines, hardware, etc. This would make handling the boat easier and enjoyable. Last year I added all the spinnaker hardware and have enjoyed learning how to sail a boat with a spinnaker.

My family enjoys the friendliness of all the Bucc sailors and their willingness to help out everyone no matter what their experience level is. We look forward to more times with other Bucc sailors this summer and meeting new ones.