Interview: Stephen Ladd

An inland voyage

Stephen Ladd and his wife sailed from Florida to Argentina in a 21’ boat along the way they gained a child and many memories as Sam Jeff erson discovers

Wanderlust is a force that always pulls but as long as I satisfy that from time to time it’s not overpowering” Stephen

Ladd re ects. is is a man who has seen more adventure than most, yet when I chat to him he sounds settled and his life almost mundane. In the background the babble of everyday life goes on. is is a man with two kids and a wife; it is morning with him in Duluth, Minnesota and the sounds of kids being prepared for school and breakfast being served are a comforting burble in the background. It’s hard to equate this scenario with the man who recounts a life less ordinary in his book e Five Year Voyage. “It’s a case of managing your wanderlust and satisfying that need when it grows really strong. At present I head out into the wilderness for a couple of days at a time and that keeps things in check.”

Yet when his thirst for adventure comes on, it bites hard. e Five Year Voyage recounts a lengthy trip spent in a 21’ boat which took he and his wife from Florida down to Argentina by way of the Caribbean before heading inland up the river system into Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. Having reached Buenos Aires, the couple then headed back via a di erent network of rivers, exiting at Pernambuco, where Stephen opted to go solo as he coast hopped back up to Florida. Sadly the voyage ended abruptly when the boat was wrecked o the Dominican Republic – but we’ll get to that.

“To understand this voyage, you need to know a bit about my previous one,” Stephen says: “ at rst voyage took place some years ago in a 12’ open boat and covered much the same area. at was a ve year trip and I was on my own.

“ is time I had my wife with me so we needed a level of comfort for two but it also needed to be at bottomed, light and with a decent amount of storage. Sailing a boat of this type takes a bit of getting used to because it’s at bottomed and has good initial stability that disappears to zero pretty rapidly. Kind of the opposite on most yachts which heel early but won’t ip. It’s like sailing a dinghy essentially, you are always on the mainsail sheet and you tend to reef early.”

ABOVE

Below the waterfall of Salto Yacy in Argentina

The voyage

“The first part of the trip we rowed and sailed but by the time we got to Panama we decided we needed an outboard because we were going straight into the trade winds so we got a very light Honda outboard and continued. "We then went up the Orinoco into Venezuela and at the top of the Orinoco found and intersection that actually took us into the Amazon. "We then went down the Amazon to Manaus then up again to the Mato Grosso. We portaged (dragged) boat on 13 occasions. "We eventually found ourselves on the Rio Paraguay and the Parana which we took all the way down to the Atlantic, coming out at Buenos Aires.

“From there we headed back north to the Amazon delta. It was at this point my wife had a baby and it was possible to have a newborn on the boat because we were still in the river system. Eventually though, we were obliged to leave the rivers to get back north and it was at this point that my wife and son left and I carried on alone.

“I nearly made it back but off the Dominican Republic I lost the boat. This came about because the east coast had very little shelter and I needed to stop for the night. "This was where I met my Waterloo: there was a big swell running and I tried to land in what should have been an ok spot but the swell was big and as I closed with land I saw the surf was huge. Unfortunately I pitchpoled the boat and it was badly damaged.

“I was very sad as it was a really nice boat and we had adapted it a lot and in minute detail. I wanted to save it but at the same time I hadn’t seen my wife and young child for five months so I figured I wanted that more than saving my boat.”

ABOVE LEFT

Exploring a dead end trail high up the Rio Negro

ABOVE RIGHT

Enjoying a Belkin beer in Belize

BELOW

The boat was portaged on a number of occasions - this time in Costa Rica

A voyage of self discovery

All this sounds like a splendid adventure but, as always, what I wanted to understand was; why? “Adventure helps us discover who we are,” Stephen explains: “This especially true for youths. A native American youngster might call it a spirit quest. He travels alone through strange lands. Everything is in flux. The only constants are those he contains within.

“Through the trial he realizes his strengths, and develops to his full potential. Older people can also benefit to the extent we are still capable of curiosity and personal reflection. "If an intense experience can still rock us to our foundations it’s not too late for us. We may yet find an unexpected twist in our destiny if we have faith in ourselves and allow ourselves to be carried away.”

The other side to it is the human connections you make, as Stephen explains: “When you are voyaging like this (in rivers) you are generally stopping every night. I did a few overnight passages on the open sea but it’s pretty horrible on a boat of this size. The main thing is you are generally looking for new places to stop off and reprovision. In doing so you generally discover new places and people and the amazing thing is that people are drawn to you like a magnet. It’s strange, it’s like they recognise you for the spirit you are and they want to help you.

“The rivers of this part of South America are particularly special too and there is also a lot to be discovered in some of the less popular countries on the Caribbean coast such as Nicaragua, Colombia and Venezuela. These are not generally recommended to sailors but our manner of travelling made it a bit easier as it was clear we did not have a great deal so people were less inclined to get jealous. "The rivers are remote, untouched and often huge. They are full of nature too and it’s amazing because at times you can sail through partially flooded forests, nature all around.

A new arrival

Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of the adventure was that Ginny gave birth to the couple’s first child while they were in the depths of South America. “We were in the river system at a place called Foz de Iguassu when my wife gave birth.

“This is a famous waterfall but there is also a town of about 150,000 people so there was a hospital so it was fine. After that we carried on and it was absolutely fine.”

All very well, but it was interested to know how such a trip had impacted their relationship. “We never argued. This is something pretty unique I guess. My wife seems quite ordinary and she’s certainly not macho or anything but she has a lot of courage. Her desire to do the trip was equal to my own too which probably helps.”

For now, Stephen’s wanderlust seems to have been satisfied,

ABOVE LEFT AND RIGHT

A new arrival in Brazil did not deter the adventurers and their new son soon adjusted to the environment

Stephen Ladd’s book The Five Year Voyage is out now go to Stephen-ladd.com for more details

The Sea Pearl 21:

The Sea Pearl 21 was designed by Ron Johnson as a daysailer and first built in 1982. The boat is a development of, or at least inspired by, the 1929 Herreshoff Carpenter design by L Francis Herreshoff. It’s a cat rigged ketch, with two unstayed masts. The hull has a raked stem; an angled, canoe transom; a transomhung rudder and the choice of either a centreboard or lee boards. Stephen set about modifying the boat, as he explains: “We added a rigid cabin, water tanks and storage bins secured transversely across the floor to double as ballast, and a sliding-seat rowing station. “The result was a rowable, shallowdraft, and self-rightable boat with a cabin minimally big enough for two.”

although he is aware it will probably strike again. “I don’t want to sail around the world or anything like that.” He explains: “I am building a new boat, a proa, in my workshop but I have no plans.

“If opportunity allows, which is a small chance given my age and family circumstances, it would be to trailer my proa to Duluth, sail the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, then the Azores, NW Europe, a river/canal passage to the Black Sea, then the Med, then West Africa, then cross the Atlantic to the horn of Brazil. Cruise to Buenos Aires and back, then NE Brazil, the Guyanas, Eastern Caribbean, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, to Florida. Cross Florida via canal, and follow the coast to around about Galveston. Which members of my family would accompany me is not known. It doesn’t hurt to say it as long as you know it’s not 'a plan'.”

It sounded like a plan to me. I look forward to updates a few years down the line from as man who, in a very understated way, makes the improbable seem eminently possible.

Specifications (pre modification):

LOA: 21.00 ft (6.40 m) Beam: 5.50 ft (1.68 m) Displacement: 600lb (272kg)