Big Sky
51.5 feet; 15.2 metres
27 ton Nauticat sailboat
Cutter-rigged sloop
Hull #9, built in Turku, Finland by inventor and designer Kai Gustafsson.
6,500 person-hours to complete construction and finishing.

Link to the Nauticat website and specs



Custom built in 1999, she saw very few nautical miles before being stored in dry dock in the Nauticat yard, Turku, Finland. Con found her on the internet. The search for the "exactly right" boat was a two-year task, taking us to Tampa, Miami, Seattle, Boston, Holland and finally Turku.

Karen, my friend says "what a way to start Barb, with the Finnish!"

Naming Big Sky was a major undertaking, requiring the consultation of our four daughters, their spouses, friends, thesaurus checks, language checks, definition checks, and then finally availability checks.  When we both moved to Calgary, we were overwhelmed by the size of the sky, and that it's always blue. Big Sky reminds us of home.