Sunday, August 21, 2011

Swallowing the Anchor

is the term for a sailor moving ashore.  We’ve now swallowed ours after almost 23 years aboard our little 31’ cutter.  We’re three weeks into life on Island Girl, our new yacht.  Three hectic weeks, especially for Brissy the cat and me, but thankfully Pam has made an easy transition.  It is a necessary change for us, but it is a big one.

The boat will soon be for sale, but I am so lucky that we were able to do so much more with her than we ever dreamed.  Pam was able to experience all of a sailing voyage around the world and I have my memories of it.

1

First winter aboard in 1988.  Nothing worked.  We knew nothing.

13

Tracy Arm in Alaska, 1996.

16

Baja, Mexico, 1997.

24

On passage to Galapagos, 1998.

27

A very dirty hull after a 30 day passage to the Marquesas, 1998.

31

Paradise on Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, 1998.

37

Pago Pago Yacht Club in American Samoa in late 1998.

85

Approaching South Africa, 2002.

88a

Haulout in Richards Bay, South Africa, Christmas, 2002.

Zebras at water hole

The fabulous game park near Richards Bay, 2003.

P1010003

Thousands of dolphins passing by us in a feeding frenzy as we near Cape Town, 2003.

128

The best sailing in the world, South Atlantic, 2003.

136

The crew that helped us through the Panama Canal, 2004.

* * * * * * *

photo

And the new home is going to be just fine.

7 comments:

  1. Steve, Looks like you and Pam have had quite the adventures, I can't imagine what that would be like. It would be great to sit around a campfire with you and here about them some time! It will be quite the change having to keep your Yacht between the white lines. If you ever get to Wisconsin, stop on by.
    Happy and safe travels
    Doug

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  2. A wonderful retrospective, Steve. The voyages you two have shared, wow. What great times and memories. Can't help but notice that you traveled along the migration paths of one of my fav animals, the humpback whales. How cool is that!

    You are a far cry from "nothing worked, knew nothing" in 1988. What a beautiful and well functioning land yacht you have now. May Island Girl continue to speed you two on your journey.

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  3. wow, that stroll down memory lane got me all choked up!!!!

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  4. Respect ! I've travelled a lot but you've REALLY travelled. Very glad to see that your land-lubber travels will continue in style.

    Good luck with the 57

    Chris

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  5. Thanks for the comments everyone. We really are fortunate that we were able to wander around like we did. Had we waited three more years to leave, Alzheimer's would have happened anyway and we wouldn't have been able to do it.

    Doug, I've flown into Oshkosh for the big airshow, but I'd love to do it with the Airstream, so Wisconsin is on the list.

    Dacia, sailing with the humpbacks on the West Coast was so cool. We saw the same whales in the summer in Alaska that we saw while entering Magdalena Bay on the outside of Baja that winter. We've had them go directly under the boat.

    Frank, I've been getting choked up emptying stuff out of the boat. That's really a trip down memory lane, good and bad.

    Chris, I'm guessing you've seen more that we have. Lots of cool places for us for sure, but there is a lot of water in a circumnavigation.

    cheers,
    steve

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  6. thanks for sharing your adventures! happy trails to you in the years to come!

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  7. What Frank said!

    I've been missing your updates. May your adventures in Island Girl be just as marvelous!

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