Todd and Susan grew up sailing small boats on inland lakes in northern Michigan. Separately, both had dreams of one day living on a sailboat. They met in 1996 in Benzie County where Todd grew up and Susan's parents lived after retirement. Todd was a grad student at Michigan State and Susan was a ski instructor in Telluride CO. Susan wanted a "Michigan summer" to play on the water and spend time with her young nephews, so she moved in with her parents on Platte Lake for the summer. They met working at Northern Delights (now the Roadhouse), a great vegetarian restaurant in Benzonia. Their first date was sailing Todd's Hobie Cat on Crystal Lake and the rest is history! That first summer they borrowed Liz and Peter's (Susan's sister and bro-in-law) small sailboat and sailed to Old Mission Harbor and Suttons Bay. On that weekend adventure, they had some of their first conversations about some day becoming live-aboard cruisers.