Many moons ago, in February of1986, there was a youngish married couple named Lane and Lynn living in a small California bungalow. Both worked as professionals in the SoCal aerospace industry, and Lynn was 8 months pregnant with their first child. As is so often the case in modern life, their choices seem to have led them to a pass where they had more money than time -- although it must be said that in the LA area, a lot of money goes a little way.
Lynn's demeanor was well suited to professional life, but Lane chafed at its bonds and yearned for adventure. One day this yearning, which had been nicely restrained by the simple fact that he did not believe his bonds could be broken, broke free of them when he read these simple words in a magazine about cruising under sail:
"People don't understand how
simple going cruising really is.
First you say you're going to
go. Then you go."
Lane's world wobbled on its axis for a millisecond or two, and he saw that the simple fact that had been restraining him was in fact a simple fiction, and that it had just vanished. What there was left to do was persuade Lynn that going cruising was a good (or at least tolerable) idea. How that happened, and the nine years that followed, including two years cruising with two small children aboard a 40 foot cat ketch called Daybreak, need not concern us here, as they have been addressed elsewhere (Sailing Toward Daybreak - see link below). What does concern us is that during that period, from November 1992 to September 1994, from Los Angeles to Washington DC via the Panama Canal, through nearly 10,000 nautical miles of sailing, many of the places they saw remained in their minds and hearts and begged for revisit but only one demanded it. The Bahamas said to them, "If you do not come back here before you die, you will have failed in life. And bring your children."
A planet said that. When a planet speaks, mortals are wise to listen. They listened. And after looking at each other for confirmation, they said, "We're going to go."
Ten years later, they went.
Through this web site, you can come too.
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Sailing Toward Daybreak - a voyage of discovery (book, 285 pp, RTF format, 1 MB)
Origin and description of Wind Song
Bahamas cruising plan 2004-2005
Sep 28, 2004 -- Wind Song
leaves the Pacific Ocean and heads for Florida!
Sep
30, 2004 -- The Beach Reporter newspaper does an article about our trip
October 1, 2004 -- We move out of our condo
October 8, 2004 -- We fly to Florida, meet Wind Song, and get ready for launch
October 16, 2004 -- Our first five days of actual cruising continue to challenge us
October 30, 2004 -- Blackburn Bay to Marathon, FL
Bahamas report 01 -- Marathon, FL 10/31/04 to Morgan's Bluff, Andros Island, Bahamas, 11/15/04
Bahamas report 02a -- Tania reports on our explorations of Nassau city
Bahamas report 03 -- Nassau, New Providence Island, 11/29/04, to Hawksbill Cay, 12/5/04
Bahamas report 04 -- Warderick Wells, Exuma Cays, Bahamas, 12/10/04
Bahamas report 05 -- Warderick Wells to Georgetown, Exuma Cays, Bahamas, 12/31/04. Happy New Year!!
Bahamas report 08 -- Itinerary? HAH! "Man plans, God laughs." We're BACK IN GEORGETOWN!!
Bahamas report 09 -- Wind Song completes her Bahamas sojourn and returns to Florida
Wind Song report 10 -- The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW): Vero Beach, FL to Savannah, GA
Wind Song report 11 -- The ICW to the Chesapeake Bay: Beaufort, SC to St Michaels, MD
Wind Song report 12 -- We're in Annapolis, and the end is near!
Wind
Song report 13 -- We're still in Annapolis, and the end is here!
Sat photo of our "as-cruised"
route, St. Petersburg, FL, through the Bahamas, to roughly Cape Canaveral,
FL
Aug 11, 2005 -- The Beach Reporter newspaper does a follow-up article about our trip