Paul and Daphne's Dream

Well, so much to learn! I thought I could post several pictures at once, but just found out that I can't do that in the text portion of a sailblog.

Here I am on our 27' Catalina just after we bought it last year. With some pangs, we will be selling Ursa Minor in a few weeks as we lighten our load prior to setting sail on our grand adventure. Although some people have sailed 27' Catalinas around the world, we decided not to try it ourselves!

Three and a half years ago, Paul and I decided to set a goal of sailing around the world after we retired. Two years ago, it became apparent that we probably weren't going to be able to afford an ocean-worthy boat ourselves, so we decided to sail around the world on other people's boats instead. Just a few short months ago, after much pencil-pushing, we agreed that we could take the retirement plunge in December 2012.

But divine intervention, we met a man named Bob this past January who has invited us to sail around the world with him on his 50' Challenger when he leaves the Seattle area at the end of the summer. At first we said we needed to stay and work for another couple of years, but the siren call soon became too strong to resist, and Paul and I now plan to join Bob when he starts his journey south around the middle of August or early September.

Once we are sailing I hope to be quite decent about writing this blog -- I know my friends will be very surprised if I actually pull that one off! -- but I wanted to at least have a little bit in here for people to read when I initially give out my blog address. As we stand on the brink of living our dream, we want to let our friends and family know how much we appreciate their good wishes and genuine support of our grand adventure. We send our blessings and thanks to you all --

daphne