Undersail Alone
In August 1999 Ziska slipped her mooring in Falmouth Harbour, England. My friend Dave and I had a blustery crossing of Biscay as our first offshore trip. Dave flew home and another friend joined me to sail down the coast of Portugal to the Algarve, then it was off to Gran Canaria where I worked for a month on visiting yachts. We set sail from the Canaries in mid-December in the company of three other boats but by the following morning we were out of sight of each other. After a Christmas at sea and a comfortable 21-day crossing we made landfall in St Lucia on the eve of the Millennium. I spent winter sailing up and down Windward Island working whenever I could to support my traveling.Ziska never lost a race in class in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. After the races I sailed to to Grenada where I picked up Tim Severin and Trondor Paterson. Author and explorer Tim Severin had chartered Ziska for a 3 week passage.We sailed along the north coast of Venezuela up to the Sarrana Banks off Central America, ending at the Cayman Islands. Tim wrote a book and filmed a documentary en route. After dropping Tim and Trondor in the Caymans I made my first offshore solo trip round the west end of Cuba and up the east coast of the United States to Beaufort N.C. I spent three years sailing between Maine and the northern Caribbean. In the winter of 2001/2002 I took a job at Gannon and Benjamin building a 65' wooden schooner, and in my spare time built the Sally B. After one last winter in the Caribbean working on the 115' schooner Mariett, Ziska was sold and we delivered her to the Chesapeake Bay, U.S.A. We hired a car in late June, loaded my tools and set off to rejoin the Sally B, who had been left on a mooring off Gannon and Benjamin's yard in Martha's Vineyard.
Sally B left Martha's Vineyard and lots of great friends in August 2003. We sailed her down the coast putting the finishing touches to her as we went. After a hurricane and exhibiting her at the Annapolis Boat Show, we met up with Ziska and her new owner Mike Pumfrey, loaded the last of our possessions and headed on south. We cruised the Bahamas, then sailing alone once again, I left the Exhumers Islands and sailed against the prevailing weather to the Dominican Republic and then with a lull in the Trade Winds, Sally B sailed for Antigua. Arriving two days before the Classic Yacht Regatta, where she took line honours in two out of three races in class.
In mid-May 2004 I turned Sally B seaward and set off on what was to be an uneventful 34 day crossing of the North Atlantic from St Martin to Falmouth, England, stopping for just 3 hours in Flores, Azores.
In the 5 years traveling on each of my engineless cutters, I visited 19 different countries and logged over 20,000 miles sailing. I encountered two severe North Atlantic winter storms and both boats looked after their crews well.
Summer in North East USA
Winter in the Bahamas
Entering Brest under tow of Eye of the Wind
Friends met along the way
