Around the World in 1,854 Days! - Rodney Bay Marina, St. Lucia
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Tue 26 Feb 2013 13:13
| 14:04.440N 60:56.978W February 5, 2013 - February 20, 2013 "You mean you want to sail across an ocean?" I asked Don, incredulous that such a normally rational and responsible person would even suggest such an obviously reckless venture. That was about ten years ago when we were discussing retirement plans. At the time, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could handle the trip down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida, and then on to the Caribbean, as long as we returned home within a year. That was our original contract: down the canal from Lake Ontario to New York, into the Chesapeake, the Intracoastal to Florida, and on to the Caribbean for a short stay before reversing course and returning home. But then Don bought a book written by a guy who sailed down the Intracoastal to the Florida Keys. I quit reading it about halfway through. At the time, I blamed my failure to finish the book on the author's poor writing (it was an exceedingly boring book). Maybe it wasn't the author's fault the book was boring though, maybe it was the trip itself - a bit too safe with all that motoring and sailing on flat water with land within sight on both sides of the boat nearly the whole time. Then we bought Harmonie in 2005 and spent a week with the previous owners while we brought her up from Baltimore through the canal system to Lake Ontario. They had sailed around the world, even around both capes (South America and South Africa), and seemed no worse for the wear. But wait - let's talk about Harmonie for a minute. Don, in his infinite wisdom (I mean this sincerely), decided it wouldn't do to take a semi-reluctant wife on a sailing trip to the Caribbean for a year on a boat that was too small. As much as we liked our previous boat with its beautifully classic lines and lovely teak trim, there was nowhere to hang our paltry boater wardrobe, let alone do laundry, entertain guests or install a microwave. After months (or was it years?) of research, Don selected the Amel for many reasons, not the least of which was its tried and true construction and four watertight bulkheads (if we ram something with bow or stern and hole the hull, we can seal off a bulkhead and carry on - the sealed compartment will fill with water, but the boat will remain afloat). We have not tested this particular feature, but like knowing it's there if we need it. Anyway, I will admit I had very little to do with the process of choosing our boat (aside from the final looking and buying), but have always felt it was the perfect choice for us. Huge kudos to Don for realizing I needed a microwave, and then choosing the perfect setting in which to put one. After we purchased Harmonie, Don bought me another book called Changing Course written by a woman who had interviewed at length one hundred 'boater' women (women living on sailboats). When asked the all important question, "If you had it to do over again, would you still leave home and go sailing?" Ninety-six percent said yes. The other four percent were in the middle of divorce proceedings (ok, I'm kidding…I can't remember what the other four percent said - I was too overwhelmed by the overwhelmingly happy 96% at the time). After that, we went to the Annapolis Boat Show and listened to Beth Leonard (author and longtime sailboat dweller) talk about she and her husband's sailing voyages. Of the hour-long session, I remember only one sentence, which went something like, "I have compiled all the data, and in all the time we have spent sailing in the tropics, we have only encountered winds higher than 25 knots (or was it 30?) for less than 1% of the time." Aha! I thought. It's not that hard to sail in the tropics. Then we read more books about blue water cruising, and then Don told me the British company World Cruising was organizing a round-the-world rally based on Jimmy Cornell's routes. Imagine Don's surprise when I said we'd better sign up (and this even after learning the hefty deposit was non-refundable), which we did. Just like that, the one-year contract turned into 2 1/2 years and included several ocean crossings. A few months before we retired, we went to the Toronto boat show and attended a seminar by a woman in her forties, Tania Abei, who had sailed around the world, alone, starting when she was 18. This took place back in the days of real sailing - before GPS, internet, satellite phones, etc. She left Lake Ontario, went through the canal system to New York, and set off for Bermuda without really knowing how to take a position with her sextant. Quite a few years later, she returned triumphant. After the seminar, Don and I had the same thought - if she could do it at 18, alone, with none of the modern day instruments and tools, then it should be a piece of cake for us. And it has. Sometimes. Other times it hasn't. But, the truth is, if someone asked me now if I had it to do over again, would I still leave home and go sailing? No question about it - yes!, or maybe YES! is a better way to put it. Round the world in 1,854 days. So here we are back in St. Lucia, just over five years from when we started off for Panama with the World ARC Rally on January 23, 2008. Yes, we are a bit late - nearly four years behind our original round-the-world schedule - but who in their right mind would trade those years for anything different? Not us. It's all been too marvelous. Even the nasty bits. When we arrived in Rodney Bay at daybreak last Wednesday (2/20), we were surprised to find there was no brass band waiting for us. There were plenty of sailboats anchored in the bay, but not a one of them hailed our arrival with a toot of an air horn or a chorus of 'Congratulations!' on the radio. Nope, it was dead quiet, just like any other day at 6am in a Caribbean anchorage. We put the anchor down (a relief after a nasty upwind sail from Grenada with a quick stop in Carriacou…whose idea was it anyway to make landfall in Grenada and then sail 140 miles into the wind to St. Lucia??) and looked at each other. 'We did it! We sailed around the world!', we said, but we didn't feel triumphant. We just felt tired after a night of little sleep and an uncomfortable sail. Breakfast and a shower helped, but it wasn't until we tied the dock lines in the newly renovated Rodney Bay Marina that we started to feel good, like we had 'arrived' - with a capital 'A'. Then, the perfect thing happened. Don walked down the dock and saw someone who looked familiar. As is often the case, he saw a boat that looked even more familiar. Talulah Ruby. Don spun around and headed back toward the familiar face - it was Paul. Talulah Ruby Paul. He and his wife Andy were in the World ARC with us. Unlike us, they finished the rally, sailed back home to the Canary Islands (off the northwest coast of Africa, belonging to Spain) for the intervening three years, then crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean again this year. They plan to sail around the world again, this time more slowly. They will be sailing with another World ARC boat, Just Do It (which is also here in Rodney Bay, although owners Ian and Annie are at home in the UK at the moment). We might have been four years late for the big World ARC celebration in Rodney Bay in 2009, but we feel our evening with Paul and Andy, her four visiting sisters, and lots of champagne in the cockpit of fellow World ARC boat Talulah Ruby was a perfect ending. Ending? Did I say ending? No, no! We're not done yet. We look back on all the crazy and fabulous places we've been and sometimes can't believe it. How can we seriously think about packing it all in when there is so much more to see and do out there? Yes, we've finished the round-the-world thing, and it's safe to say we won't be crossing the Indian Ocean again any time soon, but the Pacific Ocean continues to beckon, and there's always Alaska, right? Was it really only ten years ago I thought Don was off his rocker for suggesting we sail across an ocean?? More from the Caribbean after we party for a week with my sister Margy and brother-in-law Rick arriving today (2/26). Happy 50th Brother!! Anne |