I am writing this first blog entry 25 miles off the shore of Cape Fear, headed ultimately from the Chesapeake Bay to Abacos, Bahamas.

Why do I write? To share our family sailing experiences with family, friends, and others who may be interested in learning about our adventures.

What will I write? Mainly about the unique experiences of owning and operating a long distance sailing vessel and our family's journey together.

Who are we? We are a family of six (Mama, Dad, and 4 kids, ages 8 and under) traveling on our Oyster 485 sailboat, named Aghavni, hailing from Easton, Maryland, USA. Aghavni is an Armenian word meaning Dove, which for us has many special meanings. It is the symbol of the Holy Spirit at Jesus' baptism, it is the deliverer of the life-saving sign of new life promised to Noah after the flood, and it is the name of our dear neighbor, Ms. Agnes Chapman, who passed away peacefully at age 98, and finally, the dove is a universal symbol of peace.

Why do we sail? To share time together in a meaningful environment and to share in the splendor of God's creation.

From the beginning: I grew up sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, owning and sailing a number of small boats including an O'Day 8ft rowing/sailing dink and Santana 20. I have been sailing and racing for much of my life and I wanted to share this love with my family. As life happened, we moved to DC and did not get to the water much until we purchased a Catalina 30 (Margalo) for the family to begin our sailing journey. Good news that Mama absolutely loved it so we continued with planning and enjoying much time visiting the typical Chesapeake Bay locations such as Annapolis, Oxford, Tilghman, St. Michaels, Solomons, Friday night family races, etc and culminating in participating with the ARC DELMARVA 2015 rally. This was a big deal for us as the 450 miles included our family's first ocean passage from Norfolk, VA to Cape May, NJ. We had a great time, overcoming challenges and having a blast! After the completion of this voyage, we decided that "...you're gonna need a bigger boat..." and we began our search for a cruising yacht. We were sad to sell our darling Margalo, but you can see a snapshot of our experiences on Margalo on a separate link on this website. Also, I helped deliver her to her new owner, Stan, whom I am sure is enjoying her as much as we did!

After our fun and successful travels on Margalo, we decided to purchase a boat for longer distance cruising and found our Aghavni in Newport, RI with the help of RogueWave Yacht Sales. We purchased her from her wonderful owners, Doug and Linda Garde and can't thank them enough for the experience and many conversations about her inside and out! I delivered the boat from Newport with Doug and a good friend Miguel, and we spent the past few months with some shake down cruises on the bay with the family. I am now delivering the boat to Charleston, so that the family can sail to the Bahamas over Christmas! I decided to break up the trip from Ches to Bahamas in two phases for a variety of reasons. Primarily for weather, as a 3-4 day window is about all that is predictable through OPC.

I am currently sailing with Pastor Jeff and Erik and we are in the final leg to Charleston, expecting to arrive tomorrow for lunch. We just responded to a Coast Guard request to mariners for assistance to a location about 15 miles from our proximity, but unfortunately, our draft is too deep to assist at this time. We are praying for the boater in distress' healthy recovery! As a side note, I felt proudly rewarded on my decision to take the long way around Cape Fear. There was an opening marked on the charts that would have saved us an hour in travel time, but thankfully, we took the proper course.