I am taking great joy in tracking what friends Michael and Sheila describe as the slowest circumnavigation on their ferrocement ketch KANTALA. The red dot shows their most recent location as they head for the Azores. The lower set of tracks is their current sail from Florida to Bermuda, the Azores and eventually Europe.
The track above that from Virginia east and then north to Nova Scotia is from last summer, an attempt to cross the Atlantic which ended when their primary auto-steering system failed and their backup system began to fail. So it was north to Nova Scotia then south to Maine, Chesapeake Bay and then Florida.
The have had a variety of sailing conditions on this current passage, the most recent message describing wonderful sailing in the middle of the ocean.
Michael called the evening before they set off from Florida, an enjoyable conversation where we caught up with each other since we got together for an early Thanksgiving dinner while they headed south on the ICW. Michael and Sheila are not big on plans - they tend to live in the moment. Maybe, Michael said, just maybe we would talk again in a couple of years. There weren't quite sure when or where they were going, no need to make any long term plans for their circumnavigation which began in 1989.
Although I don't have the personality type to attempt such a lifestyle, I am envious of those who do, and who DO!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. If you communicate with them again soon, tell them we think of them frequently and say 'hi.'
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