KIM, the 25-year-old host of Elasticwaist.com’s daily Web show, says one of her best assets is her ability to just “roll with the punches.” Indeed, she proved to be the hostess with the most-est stamina, braving a nearly four-hour first date aboard a Spirit Cruise “Romance on the River” dinner sail. Luckily, Kim picked Peter, who’s looking for a “grounded” girl, as a “first mate.” While their date is better described as “afloat,” two out of three ain’t bad!

She said:

When I found out how long the dinner cruise was, I was pretty nervous. Blind dates are one thing, but the prospect of spending almost four hours with a complete stranger was pretty daunting! Truth be told, my first impression of Peter was that he was really intense, which made me even more nervous. But after a glass of wine, his intensity seemed to dim a bit. I also thought his picture didn’t do him justice: He’s really attractive.

We both confessed to thinking of “Gilligan’s Island” when first hearing of our date location. Come to mention it – he kind of looked like the Professor! The boat was great, though. The food was good and the staff was very conscientious.

We braved the freezing February air for 30 seconds exactly: We timed it. Eventually we hit the dance floor, but I must admit, I’m a terrible dancer. Peter, on the other hand, is a great dancer, and if I had any dance skill whatsoever, we would have stolen the show.

Would Chuck Woolery say we had a love connection? I don’t know. It was a first date and a pretty nonrealistic setting, so I’m not sure how we’d fare in the real world. Peter is a cool guy, who seems like he’s had a lot of interesting experiences, and he’s generally easy to talk to. I would totally go out with him again under real-life conditions.

He said:

What a cold night for a cruise! I barely made it to Chelsea Piers with my ears intact! My roommate swore that my date would be ugly, so I was pleasantly relieved to find the opposite was true.

As we boarded the boat, we both admitted to some trepidation over being confined to a vessel together for over three hours. We also both heard strains of the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song ominously ringing in our ears (“… a three-hour tour.”) Fortunately, Kim was a fun companion, and I have to give her props for being a good conversationalist the whole time.

She was game to join me on the dance floor, which was cool, since we were the only couple out there. She was also cool enough to let me network with the musicians working the cruise.

All in all, it was a good time even though I’d never dream of taking a girl on such a formal first date. I don’t know if there were tons of fireworks, but we had fun nonetheless, so I’ll probably give her a call to hang out since we live close by.

Meet-o-meter

(heart) (heart) (heart) (heart) I’ll die if you don’t call

(heart) (heart) (heart) Definitely maybe, baby!

(heart) (heart) We’re better off friends

(heart) I’d rather kiss my super

NO (heart) It’s not me, it’s you!

He said(heart) (heart) (heart) (heart)

“We had fun, so I’ll probably give her a call.”

She said(heart) (heart) (heart) (heart)

“The origins of the date put weird pressure on us.”