Hello and welcome to our new sailing blog!
Our dream is to sail across the Pacific Ocean this year starting in Costa Rica and finishing in Australia.
We are writing this blog for a number of reasons 1 being that we want to keep both of our mothers in good health (you know, keep the stress levels down a bit, mainly so that there is not a back-log of e-mails every time make port) and 2 because it's fun writing blogs, but also, as we have found in recent months, these blogs can be alot of use and inspiration to other sailors (or non sailors) thinking of or doing something similar to us. So if anyone has any questions, or requests on an aspect of sailing life you would like to know more about, be sure to send us a line.
See you out there on the deep blue!
Isabelle and James
Something Extra:
As we have been told by fellow sailors, when you live at the mercy of the elements plans are like "Jello and Sand"- wobbly and unsteady like Jello (jelly for us aussies) and when you write something in the sand often it will be washed away with the tide. It is for this reason that we didn't finish the trip last year as planned, it got too late in the season and Cyclone season was beginning- not a good time to be sailing across the largest ocean in the world.
So we decided to wait it out and spent an amazing time sailing from Panama to Costa Rica. You can see our blog of that trip at
sailingthepacific.wordpress.com
Our boat in a Cal 39. Designed by Bill Lapworth in the early 70's, the Cal 39 won her division at the prestigious SORC in 1971. Ours was built in 1977 by Jensen Marine. Moderate, encapsulated fin keel, spade rudder, hand laid fibreglass. She has a warm teak interior and traditional layout. We are very pleased with the way she sails. She balances very well and will sail herself to windward most of the time with the wheel locked and no autopilot. Even broad reaching with poled out headsail she can be made to steer herself. While she can carry plenty of sail in a breeze, we usually reduce sail for more comfort, but with hardly any cost to speed. A great boat for a couple to cruise.
'Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.' -Mark Twain
