Currently Cruising Updates - November 2017

As recently announced, the Currents editorial team looks forward to sharing updates and highlights from the many BCA members who are cruising the world.  Here are the first updates from the Mediterranean, South Pacific and the North American west coast.

Kevin Bourgeois, Ocean Dream III, Fleet of 2017

The photo above was taken at Mandal, Norway on June 18, 2017. This was our last stop before crossing the North Sea to Scotland. As we entered the harbour, I noticed a boat beside us with the Canadian flag! The first one since we arrived in Sweden at the beginning of May. They are Bluewater Cruising members: the Yuill family aboard Fast Tracks!   Small world. My son Richard is on the left. I am next to him. Behind the BCA pennant is little Emily Yuill with her Mom Sara. Deryk Yuill is 3rd from left (back). Also in the photo are Grayson and Pat Connor (Paradise Divide) from Colorado, and their two friends, Elenise and Jacques Berther.  The stern of Ocean Dream III is on the left.  We are currently in Sardinia (early October), headed for Sicily. In November, we will leave the boat for a few months (in Greece?) and come home. Here’s my blog, for those who are interested.

Glen and Mary Wilson, Danica I, Fleet of 2017

Glen and Mary with Danica I

This photo of us was taken in Rhodes, Greece and we are now sailing down the coast to Lindos (late September).  We left Turkey after two months, including a bus tour to ancient sites and natural mineral ponds called Pamukkale. Our plan is to continue to sail the Greek Islands as a shake down cruise. We are preparing for offshore next year. We plan to winter Danica I in Marmaris, Turkey and pick her up in April. We will cross the Atlantic in the fall and spend time in the Caribbean, if all goes well. We are planning a 360 but we shall see.

Margaret Krause and Monty Clemens, Whistler, w/ Fiona McGlynn and Robin Urquhart, MonArk, Fleet of 2015

This photo was taken in September 2017, at Savusavu market, Fiji.

We were in the Savusavu market, and heard a young woman asking a gal at one of the produce stands about what to do with jackfruit.  After she got the cooking suggestions, she responded she would make a “Canadian curry”.  We asked where the couple was from and they responded “Canada”, and we said “us too”.  We asked where from and they said “BC” and we said, “us too”.  They were Fiona McGlynn and Robin Urquhart from MonArk, from North Vancouver.

We asked them to come over for a visit on Whistler, but they were getting ready to leave Savusavu for the west coast of Viti Levu the next day.

We had a brief visit with them on their boat. We discussed when they left BC and found we had all been BCA and Fleet members around the same time. We agreed how valuable being members of BCA and Fleet had been in preparing for cruising.

Neil and Cheryl Turner, Phoenix I, Fleet of 2017

Cheryl and Neil Turner, Phoenix I, with crew Caitlin and Garry (onboard)

We are in San Diego (mid-October), preparing our boat for five months of cruising, departing soon.  We will be in the Sea of Cortez. We would have loved to have taken the Fleet training, but we had to go! We’re learning on the job! Here’s our blog, please share.

Andy and Jill Cross, Yahtzee, Fleet of 2017

Andy and Jill Cross with their kids aboard Yahtzee

Editor’s Note: BCA members Andy and Jill Cross have shared their blog on the BCA website for the past couple of years, but it was still a surprise to read that instead of turning south from Alaska to California this year, they decided to stay put for a while in Seward. Andy explains part of what led to that decision in one of his recent blogs:

. . . When I was back in the Puget Sound area for the Wooden Boat Festival in early September, I talked to a lot of folks about our summer, our plans and cruising in Alaska. Friends and other sailors were overwhelmingly supportive and excited about our latest endeavor. But I also got a few comments and questions about why we didn’t follow the very well worn path south down the coast. In essence, what we were doing was unusual compared to most cruisers from the Pacific Northwest, who literally cannot wait to make the “big left turn”. To them, our decision was utterly baffling.

“Why?” they asked. “The sun, sand and better weather are all south!”

In the grand scheme of things, our decision to stay north wasn’t that much of a surprise. What we shouldn’t have done was tried to plan so far ahead. We know that never works — for us at least.

By looking too far ahead to the future, we risk living outside the moment instead of in it. Fortunately, we caught ourselves, which comes with the experience of doing this time and again. In our years of cruising, we’ve learned that we shouldn’t get caught up in wishing away time to be somewhere else and over-planning an adventure. Because very few real adventures are planned to every detail, years or months in advance. What’s the fun in that?

The reality is that every cruiser has a varied set of goals and plans, and a different way of making them work. No one set of plans is right or wrong or good or bad, they’re just different. That’s part of what makes living and cruising on a sailboat so amazing. And it doesn’t matter where in the world you are. For new or less experienced cruisers, my one piece of advice from this would be: Don’t overdo the planning. Just get out and start sailing and let the plans come later.

Cruising to us has never been a planned endeavor of, “We’re leaving for 1 year or 2 years or 5 and going along this exact route.” It’s a lifelong thing. And it’s a big old world out there. We figure, why put time and place limits on it? Instead, let’s take the time to enjoy life and the places we’re in now, and see what happens next.

Sure, staying in Alaska wasn’t “the plan” a few months ago. But hey, who needs those plans anyway? Not us.

Brian Short and Glenda Wray, Carpe Ventus, Fleet of 2017

Glenda and Brian

Editor’s Note: When Currents first contacted Brian about contributing a photo to the Currently Cruising Updates, he and his crewmate, Guy Gauvin, had arrived in San Fransisco;  Glenda had just arrived. Since then, he has continued down the coast and most recently posted this to his blog:

As most of you know, I am a Unitarian. I have gone to three Sunday services at various cities down the coast, but Oct 22nd I found myself at a different sort of service. I was on night watch from 0400 to 0800. A new moon meant that all the stars were visible. Alone in the cockpit, I see the Milky Way as a thin cloud that stretches from the east to the west and wonder at the countless stars that make up our Galaxy. Somewhere up there, a bit of space dust hurtling through the universe since time began, flashes a brilliant white streak across the sky that lasts for about one second. I am reminded how brief my time here on Earth is, and how minuscule my being, in the vastness of what I see. Let your light shine.

The meteor shower lasts the night and I can see how the earth is turning,  as the constellations stand firm as we rotate ever westward. It is a calm night and we are moving slowly under sail, which allows me to hear the dolphins breathing as they prance around the boat. The first hint of light commences about an hour before sunrise and the new day slides into my almanac. All is well and I am so grateful for being alive, for being here and for moving forward. What a trip.