Prior to living in Daytona, I had one experience with sailing during Summer Camp on a Sunfish sailboat in a mud pond in Kansas. Still this memory was the amazing feeling of the wind speeding us along. It felt like flying.
When I moved to Daytona I was talked into buying a used Hobie Cat. Later I joined Fleet 80 and had some great memories sailing mostly with Dave Vaughn, a local obstetrician. My favorite story was when a Mana Ray got caught up in the Buoy ropes and headed out to sea during a Hobie Regatta. All of us unknowing sailors headed towards that buoy and continued to sail and sail and sail without the buoy getting closer. Finally the committee boat whizzed past us to cut the creature free and call off the race.
The Captain I will sail with was hired as a new reporter for the Company in the late 80's. His experience was sailing boats at his Alma mater: Stanford. We started sailing the Hobie and taking friends out. Our biggest drama was getting caught in a massive squall off the coast. Too far out, we tried to make it to shore, the wind screamed as we had the boat on one hull with both of us leaning back in the trapeze harnesses. Lightning was striking all around us. But then, about 1/4 mile from Snack Jack's Restaurant on the ocean, the storm ended as quickly as it had hit, only to give us a dead calm. Stiff with fear from our ordeal, we had to swim the boat in!
He is one of the most goal oriented individuals I have ever met. During these Hobie-days, a plan formed in his mind and he set out to get his Captain's licence, giving him the knowledge and the ability to rent "real" Sail Boats and go off shore. With the Captain's lead, a group of 20- somethings would rent 36 to 42 foot boats out of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami and head to the Keys. Then we started doing Golf Stream crossings to Bimini and Walker Cay. After that they rented in the Virgin Islands. During this time, a plan started to form in his mind.
One of my best friends met him. I did not set them up but I am responsible for the mini skirt and putting them in the same room! They fell in-love and the plan developed; They would buy a boat, take sabbaticals, sell everything and take a year to sail the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Friends would join to sail legs of the voyages and long passages. I was one of those friends.
I met them in the Azores Islands, 800 miles off the coast of Portugal. I was there to help crew to Gibraltar on their 36' Southern Cross named "Sounion". Cape Sounion, 43 miles from Athens, Greece, is noted as the site of ruins of the ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology. This Sounion, had left Cocoa Beach, sailed to Bermuda, then the Azores.
One thing about the Captain is his demand for safety and preparedness. We used to joke that there were so many spare parts on board that it would be easier just to pull an extra boat behind us! Before I left, I was to obtain an 8 foot extra tiller from a storage unit in Cocoa and bring it with me. Have you ever tried to pack an 8 foot tiller? ...once I got there I found out this was the back up to the back up tiller!
The passage took us 10 days. With 4 people, the shifts at the helm were decent. My favorite shift was the 3am to 6am. I saw the most amazing Moon rising followed by the Sun rising in the same shift. After days and days of no signs of human life, arriving in the Strait of Gibraltar was amazing. All Cargo ships from every direction were heading to this 7.7 nautical mile opening that separates Europe and Africa. And the tiny likes of us, were sailing beside the towering tankers.
Then there it was, the Rock of Gibraltar. A sailors sign of safety and dockage. I left them a day later to continue their year abroad. After a day trip to Africa I backpacked 5 more countries via Euro rail for another 2 weeks and headed back to Florida.
They continued there adventure as planned...well, as planned as you can be when you are at the mercy of the Wind Gods. I'm not sure when the NEW plan was formulated, I think during this trip. They would get married, have kids, live life until the kids were older, buy another boat, homeschool the kids and repeat the adventure. 15 years later, this is EXACTLY what happened.
And this is the trip I am joining soon.
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