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Margarita
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Born in the river town of Essex, Connecticut. My sister taught me to
sail on the river and I started dreaming. After 39 years I found a willing and worthy
crew to sail around the world with (actually, we had to make three of them.
From scratch.)
But seriously. . . "What is the best part? Independence? Less
work? Warm weather?" The best part is that the family unit has been
together through absolutely everything for the past 5 years. Good and bad,
laughing and crying. There is nothing that compares with travel for
experience that matters. We are fortunate to be able to do this and doubly
so to be able to show our children the world, to open their eyes to other
cultures. We are a unit, and hope that these memories will help us keep
close as we struggle with the stresses (too many, folks!) back in the "real
world."
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Rootless since birth - born in Mombasa, Kenya, partially educated in England,
and now a green card alien. First leant to sail at the age of about 21.
Traveling is in my blood and I don't think there is a better way to see so much
of the world than on your own sailboat. In addition to seeing all the
wonderful sights and sounds of different cultures it gives us the opportunity to
appreciate simplicity in life, and to work closely together, sometimes in
very intense situations.
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I have spent over a quarter of my life on this trip, which is pretty
impressive if you think about it that way. The other three-quarters were spent
in Massachusetts and Washington. I spend most of my days on the boat doing
school. This was especially true from 99-01, Australia to Curaçao,
when I had a very heavy load. I spend a lot of time writing in my journal and I
play the clarinet. I have really enjoyed all of the travel and have mixed
feelings about returning home.
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I just want you all to know that I didn't pick that photo (it was supposed to
be part of a goofy group shot). Actually, I want you to know about me too. I was
born on June 26, 1987 in Worcester Massachusetts. I was told that I first went
on a boat when I was 7 days old (although I wasn't aware of it), but I learnt to
sail properly gradually. I like to play chess and I play the piano,
clarinet and harmonica. I like classical music and windsurfing or sailing our
dinghy Emily.
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Emma cannot seem to find time to write anything, she is too busy . . .
writing.
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Emily is a 10 ft, Gig Harbor dinghy. We bought Emily from someone who
had found her too tippy. A good boat, we thought, to let the kids
learn to sail in. She has been great for rowing and dinghy sailing, and is
our second car. Douglas and Emma did capsize her in the early days in San
Francisco bay, and Neill capsized her once right next to Margarita.
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Ieuan is a 10 foot long Avon inflatable, our first car, and what we use
for all errands and activities. He gets deflated and packaged up and
stored under Emily on the foredeck for passages. Ieuan has been patched
countless times, and is really showing his age - he is usually the most beat up
inflatable in any anchorage. We are also outgrowing him, and with five of
us aboard it now has to be very calm to plane with our 15 hp Yamaha motor, and
we usually all get a bit wet whatever we do. He gets the job done though
and is a great snorkel boat.
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Our windvane, Athena, has steered us faithfully around the world. She has
only quit a few times, although she has often been fired and hired again and
again. She is a Monitor windvane, very easy to use, but in some conditions acts
as if Margarita is a little on the heavy side. There are lines that run
from the paddle hanging at the back, in to the wheel in the cockpit - so the
wind controls the paddle, which in turn controls the wheel. We do not hand steer unless
the area is congested, or there is very little wind. We have sometimes hand
steered during daylight hours near the end of a passage, just to try to make
opening time with customs and immigration. Sometimes too in very rough weather.
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Revised: 05/15/02.
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