An Adventure In Retirement
Took this one in spring 2016 near Balfour, BC. The mist and fog create an eerie feeling out on the water, which I didn’t capture very well. Good memories of our sailboat on Kootenay Lake though. That is another story, for another time.
Even after all these years, this still amazes me. The contrast in color between the Atlantic and the Caribbean is amazing, and the waterfall effect on the reef was something I will never forget.
Some very raw and rough footage I took of a reef off the coast of Barbuda in the Caribbean sea. What we are seeing is a reef where the Atlantic Ocean (dark blue) hits the reef, waterfalls over it and becomes the Caribbean Sea (light blue). Very loud so turn down the sound. I apologize for the bounciness of the clip, but a sailboat, or any boat for that matter, is not a very stable platform to shoot a video from. We had anchored in this vicinity overnight, and enjoyed the sights and sounds through the evening and morning. Pretty impressive.
This week’s challenge, One Love. As a recent love, we are into sailing, the sheer joy of being at the whims of the wind, and the acquiring of an ancient skill. No noise except the wind in the sails and the water moving along your waterline. The picture I have chosen is of our first solo sail on Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, Canada.
As the title implies, we are going to fill you in on our maiden voyage as sailors, and how we got to here (the video) from basically nowhere. Check out the video (and subscribe to the channel, I’ll get better as I do more, I promise) and I’ll tell the tale below.
I hope you enjoyed that, it was a great time. I promised you a story though, so here goes.
The premise of our various sites is to give the scoop on what we are doing, have done and are working on doing on the path to retirement. A few years back, 2011 to be exact, we shared an epiphany. We were looking for a way to combine many wants and wishes into a fairly neat package. Lori came up with, “Why not a sailboat?”. We want to see things, and in retirement we wish to do so without dragging our suitcases. The thinking with a boat was that it doubles as your home! All your stuff goes with you and you never have to pack. A home away from home so to speak. A;so somewhere to store all the touristy crap that someone I know buys at every opportunity.
This all well and good, except for one tiny detail, not knowing how to sail. The ocean is a pretty big place and a 40 foot boat requires a bit of know how, especially the part about not killing oneself. That drove us to begin researching and the the end result of that was that we needed certification and some hands on training, culminating in the purchase of an actual boat.
Once we figured that part out, we then had the question of where and with who, not even thinking about what we could, or should buy.. The answer ended up being reasonably easy, combine it with a vacation. Thus we discovered the Miramar Sailing School on the island of Antigua. We registered in the Royal Yachting Associations course for rookies, Competent Crew. We would be live-aboard on a 40 foot Beneteau sailing vessel, SV Miramar, for 5 terrific days of intense learning in the beautiful Caribbean.
That settled, we booked our flights, accommodations and the course and then anxiously awaited our departure date.
To be continued. (My apologies for this, got tired).
We ran across this article recently that highlights the types of tools and paraphernalia that one should have in their tool box aboard their boat. We learned this one the hard way, basically starting from scratch. Very good read, and one that is quite important to the novice sailor.
The Article is linked here.
When one envisions sailing, one thinks the Caribbean or the Mediterranean. This is something both very different and very special. A beautiful and eerie sail through the ice and snow of Antarctica. Pretty amazing stuff. A helpful tip, watch in full screen.
One of, if not the first, around the world, single hand sailing race is returning in 2018. The one and only race was run in 1968, ending in 1969. Nine started, 6 retired at various stages, 1 sank, 1 committed suicide and 1 finished. The winner, Robin Knox-Johnston.
How safe is the Caribbean. Saw this video on Yahoo, and the headline had some immediate value to me. Coincidentally, Barbados and St Lucia are two places on the itinerary for our next adventure. Timely? I think so.
In reality, we have never felt anything but safe anywhere we have been. Likely a combination of naivety and good practices. Every little bit helps.
I ran across this article a few months ago and wanted to share it. It outlines the many benefits associated to sailing. The link can be found here.
The maiden post for this site will have to be the maiden voyage of the newly purchased 25 foot O’Day sailboat. The boat was formerly owned by some very good friends in Saskatchewan. They delivered the vessel to our location near Balfour BC on Kootenay Lake in the Canadian Rockies. Took a quick video as we did a shakedown sail on Sunshine Bay.
The sailing is something we will touch on quite often, as this is something Lori and I have tossed around for several years now as a potential retirement thing, or at worst, a leisure activity.
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Isn't Life Grand
Who've we lost
A Monthly Music, Lifestyle, and Cultural Magazine
Art Towards a Happy Day
Ominous The Spirit is an artist that makes music, paints, and creates photography. He donates 100% of profits to charity.
JOHN LORI'EH 