A cruise downeast around the Cranberry Isles aboard a restored Ray Hunt 25-footer named Hornet or a toot around Boston Harbor on a 23-foot Mako named Finn, it makes no difference to Riptide. She’s just happy to be on the water, with the salt breeze in her snout and her people, Kellie Walsh and Sam Madden, nearby in case she needs a pat. Named after the hero hound that rescued swimmers off Cape Cod in the children’s book Riptide, written by Frances Ward Weller, the real-life 4-year-old Australian cobberdog hasn’t performed such heroics yet. But she does enjoy leaping overboard when her people take a dip, and she’s always ready to chase and retrieve a tennis ball. Last summer, Riptide and her crew ventured to Roque Island aboard Hornet, where the pup had a time of it digging in the sand. After a long day on the beach, on the paddleboard, or just chilling on Hornet’s bow with the spray whisking by, Riptide enjoys a dog’s life: napping below on a good comfy berth.
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