September 2016 “GOOOOOD MOOOOOOORNING, SAVUUUUSAVUUUU!” blared a jovial voice over VHF Channel 16. We startled awake, passage weary and bleary-eyed from a few days at sea. The sun had hardly graced the hilltops, but nothing scrubs fatigue from your bones like the excitement of a new country to explore! Savusavu is a cruising haven and […]
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September 2016 I wiggle my toes into the sand, wedging my feet into the course granules of earth. If I don’t, I’ll topple over! I’m squatting beneath the branches of palms and scrub—spending a penny, if you will. On the evening breeze drifts the harmony of a sun-kissed, booze-primed chorus of sailors somewhere down the […]
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August–September 2016 Anchor by numberWe said goodbye to David, Hika, their daughter, and their now-operational outboard and motored away from Vaka’eitu through the picturesque mosaic of islands that is Vava’u. The anchorages are known by numbers, rather than their Tongan names, probably to make it less laborious for westerners to make sense of the place, […]
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August 2016 “The Conduct and aspect of these islanders occasioned my giving it the Name of Savage Island.” It was 1774 when James Cook inscribed those word in Resolution’s logbook. The Niueans had managed to intimidate the explorers onward from their tiny island. And it would not be the last time they would succeed in […]
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August 2016 Splashing alongside Red Thread’s hull raises my attention, and I pop up to investigate. A most colorful fish swims alongside our boat, a grin spread across its face. “Hi there! I’m Betty-Ann. You can call me B-A, as in bad ass.” “I like her already,” I thought to myself. Every morning, B-A climbed […]
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July 2016 The near-full moon casts an eerie shadow over Maupiti’s stately backbone tonight, and I can hear the roar of surf pounding against the reef. Although lights blink red and green to mark the channel through the narrow reef pass, the beacons are hardly an invitation for vessels to enter or exit this dicey […]
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July 2016 “Today is my 33rd birthday, and my greatest gift is a wildly good sail with my love. We are absolutely racing between these islands!” -Jessie, logbook, 12 July 2016 We raced across the stretch of water that separates the Taha’a and Raiatea, tickled to fly full sails in 12 knots of breeze beneath […]
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June 2016 Sailors are enticed to major urban ports for four reasons: airports, repairs, parties, and clearance procedures. We were lured to Papeete, the main city in Tahiti, by the first three: the impending arrival of friends, Mark and Helen; the Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendezvous; and our desperate need to resolve our battery problem. Our batteries […]
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May 2016 “Seven, six, five, four…we’re aground!” Neil shouts from the helm, as he counts down in feet the rapidly diminishing water beneath our keel. Fortunately, the grounding was but a gentle kiss from a sandy seabank. Steadily we scooted off the shelf and back into deeper water, where we’d been trying very unsuccessfully to […]
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May 2016 Perhaps it was because our arrival came at the end of the most tranquil ocean passage we’d ever experienced, a far cry from the guttural relief we felt at the end of our passage to the Gambiers. Or perhaps Raivavae is just that beautiful. A more spectacular landfall can hardly be imagined. Raivavae […]
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May 2016 We hoped the overcast morning sky would clear as the day warmed, but even if it didn’t, we would not be deterred by a bit of drear today! We had a field trip planned – we were off to visit the pearl farm we’d learned about during one of our long walks on […]
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April & May 2016 Mike and Gill on s/v Romano arrived a few hours ahead of us, and despite the exhausting challenges they dealt with en route, they invited us over for dinner. We mustered the energy to bathe for the first time in nearly two weeks, to pump up Miss Sassy, and to row […]
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"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
Author, Poet, Satirist, Social Commentator
follow our family on our sailing adventure.
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
gad·a·bout ˈɡadəˌbout/ noun a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure.
Story telling with data and pretty graphs
A publishing project of SF Creative Writing Institute
Sharing stories about how the pandemic is affecting you.
Musings and tales from the high seas
Sailing in Search of an Endless Sunrise
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
The Adventures of SV Cariba and her crew.
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
A family of four traveling the PNW aboard our 40-foot sailboat
Sailing adventures and photography
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
Sailing around the world, can't open a tin!
Nomads. Full-time RVers. Former cruisers.
Sail with the Flo - from England back to England - via the rest of the world
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
Sailing the world with kids
The adventures of Mia, Jon and Teo on Itchy Foot
Life is too short to say later. And winters suck.
s/v The Red Thread 