About/contact

Madsu is a Catalina 22, swing keel, Hull # 8253. You can contact her skipper, Robert Ouimet, via email.

I purchased her in May of 2007 and set about making her a proper pocket cruiser for exploring the South Coast of British Columbia and the Gulf Islands.

She is based at Thunderbird Marina in Fisherman’s Cove, West Vancouver.
N  49 21.451   W 123 16.252

I named the boat after my sister Madeleine and my friend Susan. Both of them loved sailing, and both of them died of cancer much too soon in their lives.  I think of them every time I take Madsu out.

You can also find Madsu on Flickr.

Skipper

Born on the prairie, I fell in love with salt water sailing after taking a keel boat Cruise and Learn course in Vancouver.  I had an exceptional instructor, Byron Caine, who taught us how to sail, but more importantly, how to be a sailor.

I went back to Manitoba and sailed a Laser 1 on my local lake and put together groups of friends to charter on the west coast.  After moving to Vancouver in 1987, I certified as a CYA Learn to Cruise Instructor and taught for Cooper-Blue Orca sailing on Granville Island.

I enjoyed that work, taking novices out on lovely 30 foot keel boats and watching them ‘get it’ over the course of a few weeks.  By far the best experiences came when sailing with the Morse brothers aboard their 51 foot Spencer Feel Free.  I can’t even begin to thank them for all the incredible times we had, my love of night sailing, and particularly full moon overnighters, is all their fault.  “Humour, heavy at times”.

A Website For Every Boat

In my perfect world, every boat would have its own website, showing off her character, her gear, and the places she’s been.  Ok, maybe even a few shots of the skipper and family.

Madsu.ca was created to show just how easy it is to accomplish that goal.  Upload a photo, write a few words, and the clever Autofocus theme and content management system in WordPress does the rest.

If you’d like to create a website for your vessel, contact me by email.

– Robert Ouimet  info@bigsnit.com