Mark
October 2, 2011, 10:36 am, Wickford RI

Hello and welcome to our new blog for At Last and our upcoming voyage to the Caribbean and then around the world. This blog site is still under construction so please be patient as we start posting content and learn how to refine the user experience.

Stay tuned, there is much more to come. Our estimated departure date is Friday October 28th when we will be adding regular posts to the "Our Journey" section of this blog. The posts also update our location on the maps on this blog. Click on "Current Position" to see where our boat is right now on Google Earth!

You can follow our trip and the other boats in the rallies on the web sites for the Caribbean 1500 Rally and the World ARC via the favorite links on our page. You can also be notified of new posts by subscribing to the RSS feed.

About The Gorrell's

Comments [0] | | More

October 2, 2011, 10:30 am

Hi, this is our family, Mark Janet and Grace Gorrell. We are most recently from East Longmeadow, MA. USA. Grace is working and living in PA. Janet has worked as a kidney transplant social worker and psychiatry department manager in at Baystate Health for the last fifteen years. Mark has worked as a IT professional in health care most of his career and has been at Baystate Health as VP & CIO for the last fourteen years. It was a very difficult decision for both of us to leave a very fine organization and very rewarding positions.

However, for many years we have been learning all we can about sailing and long-term cruising in order to pursue a dream of cruising around the world. Four years ago we purchased At Last with the thought that maybe, someday we would be able to do this. We have been preparing for such an adventure for the last several years. Now that we feel we are prepared and the timing is right, we are taking a two year break from our careers to fulfill our dream and to learn and grow from this experience.

About The Gorrell's

Comments [0] | | More

October 2, 2011, 10:29 am

This is our first sail boat (except for Janet who sailed a sunfish on Lake Alexander in North Eastern CT where she grew up). We looked for the perfect sailboat for more than a decade. We purchased At Last, an Island Packet 465, hull #2 and the first US delivery, four years ago. Her maiden voyage was a test sail with Bill Springer of Sail Magazine just before the 2007 Newport Boat Show where she was on display. After the boat show, she was sailed back to Hellier Yacht Sales of New London CT by Andrew Burton of Cruising World. You can read the reviews of our IP 465 in the December 2007 issue of Sail Magazine and the February 2008 issue of Cruising World.

About The Gorrell's

Comments [0] | | More