THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408230164
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Stew and Diana Kauffman are having a midlife crisis of sorts.
They've been methodically planning it for years.
Avid sailors for the past 20 years, the Kauffmans are preparing to move from their Norfolk home to live aboard a 40-foot sailboat. Within the next five years, they hope to take leaves of absence from their jobs to sail around the world ``at least once.'' Then they intend to spend their lives as waterborne nomads, cruising from Maine to South America in search of work, friendly waters and peaceful moorings.
In preparation for their adventure, the Kauffmans recently sold their 24-foot sailboat, put their home up for sale and started a part-time business they hope will eventually support them.
The business, called Above & Below Yacht Management and Educational Services Inc., offers a menagerie of services for boat owners, experienced sailors and potential sailors.
``I envision that in the future, we'll be able to do anything for boaters that they don't want to do for themselves,'' said Stew, a 43-year-old former real estate broker who sports a flowing white ponytail, a golden tan and a neatly trimmed mustache.
That would include making deliveries between ports, doing boat maintenance and upkeep - above and below the water - provisioning yachts, teaching beginning and advanced sailing classes and brokering sales.
The Kauffmans patterned their service after ones they encountered in Miami but admit a market for such a business might not exist in Norfolk.
``Norfolk is not like in Miami where people with boats live in Colorado and come in two or three times a year and call ahead for a crew to get it ready,'' he said. ``Our company will change as the market is identified. We see this right now as a sideline that will grow slowly into something for us to do full-time.''
The Kauffmans are already brokering the sale of boats for two clients who live out of the area. They're also doing maintenance and repair work on those boats.
The two are hardly novices around the water. Since meeting in the early '70s, the Kauffmans have spent most weekends and summer vacations cruising the waters of the Bay. Next month, in their first venture overseas, they plan on spending two weeks sailing the waters off Spain.
Stew Kauffman has his Coast Guard captain's license, and both he and his wife are certified scuba divers.
They're also experienced teachers. Diana Kauffman is a sixth-grade teacher in Virginia Beach. Stew Kauffman has taught at Norfolk's Coronado Alternative School for pregnant teens, and served as the sponsor and instructor for the Norfolk-based Sea Scouts for the past five years.
Both are long-term participants in Norfolk's waterfront activities. They're members of the volunteer service group, Town Point Yacht Club, have served as Harborfest volunteers, and helped form the Chesapeake Sailing Association. Stew Kauffman serves on the board of directors of Nautical Adventures.
``My full-time job is really sailing,'' said Kauffman, who spends his workdays developing low-income housing options for mentally ill adults in Norfolk.
``Actually, we're on the water as much as we can,'' he added. ``We get off work at 8 o'clock at night and we're on the boat by 9 and sail until midnight. Where some people go to the gym, and do a few sets of pumping iron, we go to the boat and get our release that way.''
Their love for the boating life, however, has not overshadowed their practical sense. Before burning any bridges, they intend to pay off all financial obligations, including the mortgage on their boat.
``We have a lot of friends who'd like to do the same thing we are, but they have kids to think about and college educations to pay for,'' Kauffman said. ``We have no children. At one point, we tried to have children and it didn't work out. Those were the cards we were played.
``So we made a commitment 20 years ago that we wanted to live onboard full time by the time we were 45,'' he said. ``It's our dream. I don't know if we'll make it by 45, but we'll be close.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
At midlife, Stew and Diana Kauffman intend to become waterborne
nomads.
by CNB