Puddle Hunter

Many Lakers select their boats with the express intent of using them on Smith Mountain Lake. They look for the right combination of hull type, seating configuration, propulsion and amenities to use with family and friends at home on familiar waters.
    For Kevin and Laura Kelly, however, lake residents since 1994, the perfect boat had to satisfy their yearning to cruise distant and unfamiliar waters. Sure, they’d be using it to sail SML, but they’d also be taking it to other lakes, rivers, bays and even oceans – “hunting puddles” as they refer to their favorite pastime.
    The Kellys had a long list of requirements when setting out to purchase the perfect boat: It had to sail well, but also be able to travel by trailer. It had to be roomy enough to sleep them and accommodate visits from three grown children, though not necessarily all at the same time. It had to have a collapsible mast, both for trailering and ducking under bridges on inland waterways. And wouldn’t it be great if it had fast — really fast — motoring capability for getting to where the wind is brisk?  
    They found it all in a MacGregor 26, a “hybrid” sloop built on a planing-capable hull and sporting a hefty 50-hp outboard for a “kicker.” With the sails up and the twin rudders and centerboard board down, it handles the wind beautifully, the Kellys said. With the rudders and board retracted and the outboard churning, it’ll make a comfortable 20 knots.
    “That lets us get to wherever the wind is blowing anywhere on SML or make good time on a restaurant run,” Laura Kelly said. “We can lower the mast, duck under Hales Ford Bridge [the boat is kept in a slip at Bayside Marine in Becky’s Creek], and then cruise the upper part of the lake, too. You don’t see many 26-footers under sail up there.”  
    This will be the Kellys’ fourth season enjoying Puddle Hunter. Last year, they towed it to the Outer Banks, put in at Oriental, N.C., enjoyed a 40-mile sail to Ocracoke and then a 90-mile open-ocean sail south to Atlantic Beach, N.C. The return trip was up the Inner Coastal Waterway.
    “Two very different boating experiences, but we loved them both,” Laura Kelly said.
    The couple is planning trips to Litchfield Beach, S.C., and the Chesapeake Bay near St. Michaels, Md., this summer.
    “Moving the boat from place to place is no big deal,” said Kevin Kelly, clearly unfazed by the prospect of loading a 26-footer on a trailer and transporting it over land.
    The Kellys moved to Hardy from California to be back on the East Coast and closer to family. They’d both sailed as kids — Sunfish, Hobie Cats and a Sea Witch — and wanted to be near the water. Kevin sells hardwood flooring and Laura, who’s taught school since 1999, is an instructional coach at Lee M. Wade Elementary in Rocky Mount.
    “Puddle Hunter lets us live the boating lifestyle even though we don’t live right on the lake,” Laura said. “And we get to enjoy SML as well as other great sailing locations. For us, it’s a dream come true.”  

If you have or know of someone at SML with a clever boat name, we want to hear about it. E-mail the details to editor@smithmountainlaker.com.