CHANGES N
obody rolls with the punches better than cruisers. So although COVID-19 rages on around the world, those who live and travel on sailboats have adjusted, coped or substituted as necessary — oftentimes enhancing rather than detracting from the cruising experience. With reports this month from Walk On's extended stay in the Pacific Northwest; Atea's almost 6,000-mile sail up the Atlantic; Tulum V's enhanced family time in Mexico; and a locker full of properly sanitized Cruise Notes.
Chad and Carolyn have started their circumnavigation with a quick detour — to Alaska.
August 18, 2019. After a final bon voyage party with friends and family at the beautiful San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere, we added our two crew, Francis and Pontus, headed out under a fog-draped Golden Gate Bridge, and turned ... right! Our plan was to explore the San Juan and Gulf Islands through fall 2019, winter in Washington, and then head to Alaska in summer 2020. Then this fall, we'd head south for the more traditional (sane?) start of a westabout cruise around the world. Our voyage finance plan was/is to supplement my monthly public school retirement check with our second career: helping nonprofits with gala fundraisers. (These events auction off goods and/or services to benefit the nonprofit.) Carolyn manages the business aspects and I'm a benefit auctioneer specialist. We figured we would park our boat every March and April for a trip back to the USA to hit the two busiest gala fundraiser months —
and visit family and friends. Our dreams of a nonstop bash up to Washington were dashed on day four when a long day of big waves and heaving-to south of Cape Blanco, Oregon, caused our steering cable to fray badly, so we fell off and down to the small town of Brookings, Oregon. It worked out just as well, because Francis and Pontus both had work issues come up, so the stop allowed us to board our two backup crew, David and Mark, for the second/final leg. Since there appeared to be no way to repair or purchase a new steering cable in Brookings, I took a bus down to Crescent City, borrowed a chandlery's shop and gear for an hour, and built a new one myself. I also solved the alignment issue that had caused the fraying in the first place. On August 28, we were ready to ‘smite the sounding furrows' once again! Our final four days of motorsailing proved uneventful, with the most exciting bits happening at night, dodging huge fishing fleets whose crews either did not speak English or did not keep a watch on channel 16, or both. Turning the corner, we sailed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca under a brilliant rainbow and alongside humpback whales. After so many years of dreaming, it was a very emotional moment for us! Our fall 2019 months were everything we had hoped for! We spent glorious months exploring the San Juan and southern Gulf Islands, a month in/ around Port Townsend, a month in/ around Bellingham, and Christmas in Victoria with our visiting parents! We participated and won honors in two lighted boat parades, ate fresh crab and oysters harvested right from our boat, and made many new friends. In January 2020, we started hearing stories about a flu-like virus in China, Seals in Discovery Harbor. In the PNW, wildlife is everywhere — in the water, on land, in the trees and even in the air.
WALK ON
WALK ON
Walk On — Devilliers 43 steel cutter Chad and Carolyn Carvey A Blessing in Disguise Sausalito After nearly three decades, Carolyn and I finally set sail on our long-dreamedof 10ish-year circumnavigation voyage on
just as we were enjoying snowy winter sailing through the Gulf Islands on our way to the slip we had reserved in downtown Vancouver, BC, and our first annual back-to-work trip to California. We were happy to have found the best cruising couple, Sten and Rita, to stay on our boat and watch our young Wheaten terrier, Spinnaker, and our cat, Stays'l, while we were away! Bringing our ‘old' Wheaten terrier, Jib, with us, we drove a rental car back to the Bay Area. That's when the COVID-19 news started becoming more and more serious, and we began to nervously watch the Canada border, worried that we might not be able to return to our boat/home! In mid-March, with large group gatherings being discouraged or banned, Carolyn and I quickly formulated a workaround: We created what appears to be the first Virtual Live Gala in the world, with guests bidding and donating in the