Mark and I are both members of Coyote Point Yacht Club; he was a competitive boat racer, I just enjoyed sailing. In 2015, I joined one of the club regattas as a crew member--Mark was a member of the race committee, and was giving the racers instructions. The very first words I ever spoke to him were "Paradigm [the boat's name] acknowledges." Paradigm, the boat I was on, was his racing rival and competitor. It was a neck and neck race, but we crossed the finish line two feet ahead of Mark's boat. (I still like to joke with him about this!)

I was a regular participant in the club's Wednesday night sailboat races, and Mark put me on his list of potential crew contacts. One sunny morning in August, Mark sent out an e-mail stating that it was a nice day, and that he was thinking of going out sailing. No one on the list answered, and, just as it looked like he would be sailing solo, I replied, "if there is still room on the boat, I would like to go." Mark texted me back saying, "Yes, there is still room, but just so you know, it will just be the two of us!" I drove to the harbor, the whole time realizing that I was essentially going on a date! We got on the boat, raised the sails, and soon the sparks began to fly! The following Wednesday night, I raced on his boat. After the post race dinner, we went back to the boat and chatted. The next thing we knew, it was 3:00 in the morning! We were having such a good time that we lost track of the time!

Labor Day weekend, 2018, we were on a club cruise to Marin Yacht Club on my boat. September 3 is Mark's birthday, so a friend of ours took us out salmon fishing on the ocean. After catching two fat salmon, we got back on my boat and headed back to the harbor. 3/4 of the way home, Mark asks me to stop the boat, because he wanted to say something to me. When he asked me to marry him, I literally screamed for 5 minutes straight before I could even say yes. He had to drive the boat the rest of the way back because I was shaking so much! The wonderful part is that I was still dressed for a fishing trip, so I was covered in fish guts and fish slime when he popped the question.