The Big Switch - blog now at: www.sail7cs.com/Wordpress/

Well, this is the last post on in the old location - That is, the Sail7Cs Blog has been moved from its old location here at Blogger.com (www.sail7cs.blogspot.com) to its new location in Wordpress running on my  server website (www.sail7Cs.com/Wordpress/) 

My web advisors have recommended this to improve 'search engine optimization', amongst other things. And as we know, The Great and Powerful GOOGLE must be appeased. Ironically, this expediency means moving my blog from Google owned Blogspot to competitor Wordpress, a different technology  - 

For me now it means, "Its all  MINNNNNE!!!. I'm, thank god almighty, free at last!

Join us in the new location: www.sail7Cs.com/Wordpress/

Dont forget to register as new followers.

Cheers
Cresswell

Reflections

I can scarcely believe tomorrow is the last night aboard Conversations. I have been aboard since September 2014 in Turkey, and Irena since early October. Since leaving Marmaris, on Oct 4^th, Irena, ourvarious crew and I have sailed over 13,000 nautical miles. WOW!

In that 7 months we crossed the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Caribbean and a chunk of the Pacific Ocean. Tonight the boat tugs gently at her mooring lines in Kewalo Basin in Honolulu, but at this very nav station, day and night over the past 7 months I have hung on with my knees as we pounded to weather, sweated out the tropical heat of the equator – twice - and passed a 30 day, 4800 mile passage of the clipper ships from Galapagos to Hawaii. In all, over 100 days at sea.

How do I make sense of such a time, of the many, many countries and harbours along the way, the hours and hours alone on night watch, of the many meals and happy hours shared in the cockpit, the expectant departures and the safe landfalls, the storms and the calms, the heat and the cold, the wet and the dry, the breakages and the repairs, the laughter and the tears?

Firstly, it is with gratitude. To make it so far across the wild oceans and customs/immigration tar babies with everyone and everything intact is good fortune indeed. The truth of our survival, notwithstanding all the possible calamities that might have overtaken us, confound my feelings of unworthiness.

Second, it is with wonder. The world is so vast and we are so small. To pass safely over such vast stretches of open water, free and alive in life and will, is most fantastic and incredible.  To experience so much of this magic kingdom has filled me with awe.

Third, it is with humility. In this sail, I have seen up close and personal how we are nurtured and sustained in life by the earth’s thin skin of habitable biosphere. That delicate wisp between land and ocean, surface and sky. I see more now how nothing could ever be more precious to us as living organisms.  Yet, I see how I regarded it once with such indifference. I see how our civilization shows so few signs of waking to this unconsciousness and so many signs of callous disregard. 

Let me take a moment to remember and thank all those wonderful friends and family that shared this journey with us:

Across the Mediterranean: Barb – Irena’s sister and Ellen a good friend – no easier going crew is there to be found anywhere.

Down the African coast to the Canary Islands: Anastasia – Irena’s niece – no more adventurous a spirit has been aboard.

Across the Atlantic from the Canaries to Antiqua: Lyle – my friend and music mentor - no more vigorous or committed a friend; Mitchel – resident music expert – No better music DJ ever sailed with us; Willie – Mr. fix it guy – no more handy a man has ever sailed (remember guys, if the girls don’t find you handsome, they better find you handy!).

Through the Caribbean:

Breanna – my daughter – no more loving and committed traveler has ever sailed with us.

Al and Leona – our dear friends – no more generous people live on the planet.  At the risk of sounding faint of praise - because no land lubber will ever understand – we thank them for their gift of new heads (toilets) forward and aft. They are appreciated daily, even hourly!

Jenn, Anglin and Juna – Irena’s daughter and 2 grandsons. No greater kid energy can be found, for exploring, for learning to snorkel and spit out salt water, for soaking up all the boat ‘terminology and parts’; and no greater determination on Jenn’s part to give her children the experiences of a lifetime.  

Michael and Hane – no more intense, rich and true friends could be found.

Panama to Galapagos: David and Sandey – no more personal and helpful conversationalists have ever sailed with us.

Galapagos to Hawaii: Dennis and Rita – our friends and compatriots in hard sailing and long passages; Trevor – no faster or determined learner ever sailed so far without complaint.

Know that we could not have made it so easily without your company and the richness you all bring to our lives and to our adventure. Thanks for joining.

Tomorrow is my 60^th birthday. I had my 50^th birthday 10 days after we left Vancouver to start this trip. Yes, it’s been over 10 years that Irena and I have been on this adventure. What are the highlights?

Sailing the South Pacific twice – first in our first boat, the Westwind 35 sailing to Australia, then again in the Oyster Lightwave 48, our now “Conversations”.  We LOVE the South Pacific!

Completing a circumnavigation - We didn’t set out to sail around the world, but we did. You might even say it was an ‘accidental circumnavigation’. We set out for Australia in our first boat - that was as far as our plans and our budget would take us. Who would have guessed? (We still have one passage left before we are home to Vancouver, but our circumnavigation is complete).

Working in Asia, based in Singapore – Our professional lives made a giant leap. This is not what we expected while sailing to Australia or around the world. We both now have global professional practices, very different from the Canadian ones we left with, and even though we will be living in Canada for a while, we expect to continue working internationally.

Working and living in Istanbul (Irena) and China (Cress):  Being in Turkey, was the closest to living in Europe that we have had – and it was excellent. The food, the culture, the people were all amazing. Cress in China had an awesome work experience – so great that he is going back for another tour of duty!

Irena – the importance of family and friends – Over the 10 years of being ‘away’, I have grown to appreciate our good friends and family and have missed tremendously. From watching my grand-children, to having Sunday dinner with mum, to sharing meals and intimate conversations with our children and friends. It will be so good to be back home.

Cress - Global consciousness and concern – Exposure to so many countries, cultures, political systems, failing environments, etc. has really cultivated a hunger in me to understand how it works and how I can reconcile a personal life as an individual with my responsibility as a member of this global system. My new curiosity has me reading history, historical anthropology, politics, economics, and science fiction trying to find some answers for our teetering global circumstance.  I persist despite the seeming futility of the challenge ;-)

Let me end this blog entry on a thought to this last highlight:

Sailing around the world has been a visceral experience of the one-ness of our circumstance. I believe if we breathe the air and eat the food of this earth, we have a personal responsibility for its care – a ‘duty of care’, if you like. If we are conscious of this truth, the happy coincidence is this: working for the planet is working for our own wellbeing, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. If we are conscious, we will always feel out of integrity if our actions are out of accord with this duty of care. 

So that’s where we start – creating consciousness. (This is probably not a surprise to most of you, but it’s a new learning at a new level for me, from sailing around the world!)

A boisterous arrival

Well, the next 24 hours, after the last post were the most rambunctious of the passage. The wind rose with the dawn to over 40 knots. We abandoned our plan to do a sightseeing tour through the islands because of the very high winds that funnel between the islands. And so we ran along under bare poles at 6 knots along the north shore of the big island trying to slow down so we could delay arrival until next morning to make harbour in daylight. By dark, the seas were up to 12 feet and we had reached the corner of Molokai where we tucked south under the west coast to get out of the worst of the waves.  But there was no anchorage. In the end we sailed very slowly across the Kaiwi Channel until midnight, then lay ahull, rolling in the seas with no sails until dawn. And then we had a spectacular sunrise sail past Diamond Head into Honolulu.  A gorgeous finish!

Land Ho!

So close we can smell the pineapple!!

After 30 days - we are now 24 hours away from Honolulu and have sighted land - Cress and I spotted Maui's east coast lighthouse at 4:30 this morning (at Hana Bay!). And now at 6:30 we can see the smudge of the coastline only 10 miles off the port beam under heavy cloud.

The next 24 hours will be spent in great anticipation of making our landfall in Honolulu tomorrow morning. We will have to slow ourselves down a little in order to arrive there in the morning. So we are thinking we will take a bit of a scenic route between Molokai and Maui and then up toward Oahu.

Great to be here - it has been a challenge on many levels and we are looking forward to all the delights of land. It's going to be a busy 10 days now getting the boat cleaned up and getting ourselves ready for the summer.... Cress in China and me in Canada. Quite a few boat jobs on Cress's list and prep for leaving our precious 'Conversations' for the summer.

All is well with our world!

Irena and Cress

The Hat Trick

The 'Hat Trick' - written on April 16th, 2015

A 'Hat trick' is known as an accomplishment where 3 achievements are made within a short period of time. I have always associated it with sports - so when a hockey player scores 3 goals in one game, or a soccer player scores 3 goals in one game - it is referred to as a 'Hat Trick'. Our collective wondering today is whether or not this term comes from a nautical reference. In the navy, the officers wore 3 cornered hats. Unconfirmed sources on board Conversations, tell us that this age old triangle design with one corner at the forehead, ensured that rain, (as it inevitably fell relentlessly on any sailing venture) would run down the sides of the hat and out the back - rather than into the sailor's face. So there you go - 3 cornered hat?.hat trick - it's not too farfetched a conclusion. Right?

Now you are probably thinking - these guys have way too much time on their hands to be thinking about stuff this - or too much rum consumed during the Hat Trick celebrations!!! And that is likely quite true - since?? we have just accomplished a 'Hat Trick' of our own! Within the last 24 hours we have crossed our half way point from Galapagos to Hawaii; we crossed the equator; and we have crossed our outbound track from 2005 - thereby officially completing our circumnavigation!

Pretty cool I think! And to have done so over the last 10 years with so many family and friends and especially with one another's support - has been the privilege of a lifetime. From New Zealand to Singapore to South Africa to Istanbul - we have many new friends, worked on the most amazing projects with talented and engaging people and have hosted many visitors including our parents, brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren. What an awesome time it has been - and still is!

We are not home yet - after landing in Hawaii in a couple of weeks we will take a break from the boat while Cress goes off to work in China and I have some much needed family time back in Canada. In September we will return to Hawaii and get ready for the next (and surely not the last) leg of this journey.

In the words of one of my favourite heroes - Buzz Lightyear - 'To infinity..... and beyond!'

Galapagos Islands - March 29 2015

 It is with mixed emotions that Cress and I are about to begin our passage back to North America. First stop will be Hawaii (which is sort of North America) – at least as close to NA as we have been for a long time.

Our time in the Galapagos Islands has been grand. We have been swimming with sea turtles, the occasional ray, penguins, sea lions and many amazing sea creatures. The land travel was equally great, and the giant tortoises and marine iguanas were the hallmarks of these tiny islands. 

We now have 5 on board for our longest passage ever – 4200 nautical miles – to the slightly larger islands of Hawaii!! While we are on this passage, we will cross our outbound track which we passed in June of 2005 – almost 10 years ago. This will mark our circumnavigation!!! WOW.  We intend to savour every sunrise and sunset, every slow wind day and every fast wind day, every easy meal and every rocking and rolling challenging meal, and the wonderful time to reflect, relax and enjoy our time together.

Life is good!

Irena

Galapagos Rocking

Time to reflect. Time to explore. Time to sleep. Time to be with friends.
Conversations seems to at home here in the Galapagos. David and Sandey, Dennis and Rita, Irena and Cress have had the pleasure of many leisure hours chatting, walking about, and simply sharing the magnificence of this place.
Presently we are on San Cristobel Island of the Galapagos. Its a dry, scrubby shoreline, cacti and thorny scrub. Higher up in the interior, tropical vegetation is lush. Lots and lots of bird life. I am enchanted by the Frigate birds. Wonderful flyers. We made a short climb to of one of the low volcanic cones on the island to walk around the rainwater lake within. Above, a storm of Frigate birds soared in the mid day breeze, taking turns diving past us for the surface of the lake, never landing but washing their winds in a low level fly by of the lake surface. Then they would climb back overhead to do a flutter dive, shaking the water from their wings before repeating the cycle.

Its is, though, a bit overrun by tourists, of which admittedly we are one. We thought this statue of Darwin seemed to be saying to the cruise ships and airline passengers - "Take a Hike"
 We walked with the Tortoises, snorkeled with the sea turtles and sea lions. The giant tortoises were cool and the sea turtles too, weighing what we weigh.
Later today, we will sail for the Saint Isabella Island, 80 miles away. More likely motor.
Every day I work to pause and reflect on our good fortune to roam about this kingdom. Truly we are blessed.

On the Eve of the Panama Canal transit

We are counting down our last hours on the Atlantic side of the continent. Monday, we will do the two day transit of the Panama Canal and find ourselves, again, on the friendly shores of the Pacific Ocean. Amazing, how one of mans greatest projects, a canal across a continent, can take off 10,000 miles of sailing around the southern time of South America, the Cape Horn. We are joined today by Sandy and David, Michael and Hane for the passage. It will be a party!

In the transit, we will be rafted together to two other boats in each lock, trying not to bash into the lock walls and our companion freighter.

And, we make this trip with fresh bottom paint, shiny topsides, a refurbished propeller and a new cutless bearing. We are just back in the water after a one week haul out in a Colon yard, Shelter Bay Marina. Its a great place. We are enjoying the Panamanian people a lot, friendly, easy going and helpful

.

Saint Vincent

Blog!
Well, haven’t we been pathetic keepers of the blog?

Its bloody January and not a sign of us. No pictures, no words, no videos, nothing, nada.
You’d think we either don’t care, or have had way too much Caribbean rum to function. Well, the truth is, the latter!!! But seriously - we do care, and we do say almost daily, “we must do a blog”, but in the moment, there is no internet connection, and when there is, there is no blog because we are ashore, we are engaged in happy hour or shopping for happy hour, or boat parts, or doing boat repairs, or sitting on the aft deck thinking we should do a blog entry.

It’s also true that our lives are not that remarkable to us. ‘Its just another working day in paradise.’ I don’t mean to brag here – its just human nature to adapt to what is, as natural, normal, not that significant sort of thing. Well, let me shake myself out of my lethargy, wake up to what is amazing and share a bit of it.

Firstly, the Caribbean, if you haven’t been here, is vast. Not so much in land area as in cultural, historical places and people. Each island has surprised us with how distinct each is. The origin of its locals, who comes to vacation, the shape and colours of the buildings that line the streets, the currencies, the weather, the shape of the bays and lagoons, the food, the rum, of course, and music, and on. The sense of history here is perhaps the most striking, and in that, how much slavery shaped the peoples. The colonial masters – English, French, Dutch and probably others – each left cultural legacies that live on in the accents, attitudes and all aspects of daily life.

Here is where we have been in our all too  brief survey of Caribbean stops, I recommend a moment on Wiki for each, for each has quite a story to tell:
- Antigua is where we landed after our 21 day crossing the Atlantic from the Canaries – The Nelson ship yards where we moored was flush with history, groceries unbelievably expensive
- Guadeloupe – The French ‘colonialness’ of Iles de Saintes, reminded us of French Polynesia
- Dominica – the poverty and resolute intention of the boat boys to make the most from visiting cruisers as they clamor to help us in the most inventive ways
- Martinique – Port de France sprawling bays and anchorages, busy, friendly downtown, blustery anchorages
- Saint Lucia – Rodney Bay, the centre of yachting in the Windward islands, boats finishing here from the trans-Atlantic rally (race), the majesty of the Petit Piton and Gros Piton, towering volcanic plugs
- Saint Vincent – Blue Lagoon anchorage -  a hair raising reef passage entrance without a depth sounder on deck.
-
And in our micro world of s.v. Conversations, across these places, we had the pleasure of our friends, family and loved ones.  Our transatlantic crew – Lyle, Mitchell and Willy – left us in Antigua and Al and Leona and Breanna came on board for the island hoping south bound three weeks. What fun to cook, eat, and explore together.

As captain/engineer/boatboy I am acutely aware our we floating home and means of conveyance needs more time than I have had to give her to keep all her parts flying in better and closer formation. For Conversation’s state of repair, I am reminded of a nick name – or maybe it was her real name -  I encountered years ago for a boat I raced against – “Riotess Assembly”. Another name, “Bits and Pieces”, also comes to mind. Head repairs, instrument failures, plumbing leaks, electrical mysteries, outboard carburettor conundrums, leaking inflatables – it’s a daily list of repairs that I deal with on an urgency basis. Overall, the boat is hanging together very well for the miles, it’s the small stuff that is taking the time from leisure studies

As usual, Irena carries the can with our visitors below decks, provisioning, planning, directing meals and treats and booze. And all the rest of domestic stuff - making sure bedding, towels, and stuff are there for everyone’s comforts. Eating three meals a day on board, with all the different tastes, local foods, availability of propane, fresh water rations, etc. plus being the sailing mate is more complicated and demanding than you would guess.

I will be posting this blog, without pictures, because believe it or not, I don’t have time to sort them and put them up! And this is the most significant theme of our lives; incredibly, is we don’t have enough time. You would think not working at jobs, commuting etc. we would be living a life of sumptuous luxury. Yesterday, Al and Leona flew home (Breanna lefts us a week ago) and so we took the day in port to get organised – a rare day. Mustering each day to put to sea, is not a trivial task, and at the grand pace of 6 knots, we don’t cover a lot of the planet very quickly. And we have covered about 2/3 of the 15,000 miles we must sail to reach Vancouver this summer. Lots more to do yet.!

Adieu my friends, adieu. Photos will come. As soon as the shower ends, we sail!

Happy Christmas to all!

Hi there- well it certainly is a Happy Christmas for us! We arrived in Antigua on Dec 20th after 21 days at sea. Fairly good passage, but we struggled with having enough wind even though we were in the tradewind belt.

The 'jock crew' - (4 strapping guys plus Irena) was great - but we managed to make it through ALL of our provisions. We had challenges as well with a fresh water leak and a propane leak, so we were rationing pretty carefully near the end of the passage. We actually ran out of propane 3 days before we arrived in Antigua, but had managed to cook up all the food before hand and use the microwave to heat things up.

Very grateful that Cress held on the that old microwave, that I was ready to toss out before we left Turkey!!! That saved the day.

It is now Christmas Eve and we have a new crew - dear friends AL and Leona from Vancouver and Cress's daughter Breanna - so we are cooking a Polish Christmas Eve meal for tonight and have a turkey thawing for Christmas day. We will be at anchor in a beautiful bay in Antigua before shoving off for Guadeloupe on Boxing day.

Loving the Caribbean people, weather and turquoise water, lots of snorkeling and swimming to be done over the next few weeks as we make our way down the chain of islands to Grenada.

Hope to send photos soon - but internet continues to be a huge challenge.

Merry Christmas to all from the crew of Conversations.

Irena and Cress

Down Wind Sailing?

Well our bags are packed, we're ready to go....
Winds from the north, 20 to 15 knots..... could it be? Downwind sailing at last is here for us?
Been in the Canaries this last week preparing for our passage to the Caribbean. New crew onboard - Lyle, Mitchel and Willy. The five of us set sail this morning in a few hours. We expect to be less than 3 weeks on passage to Antigua. We will be better blog keepers we promise with Canary pictures and the story when we arrive there just before Christmas. Cress

Outta here!

 Gibraltar to Morocco!

Well my goodness- it took A LOT of upwind sailing - but we are finally out of the Med - through the Straights of Gibraltar and on the African continent - in Morocco at last! Once again though, we are waiting out some rainy weather and high contrary winds in Tangier (not exactly yacht friendly!!) before hopping down the coast.

We (the girls - now including my niece Anastasia) did manage to get off the boat for a road trip yesterday while Cress minded the boat - mainly because we are the 5th boat rafted up to a mangy dock behind an out of service ferry! Also, Cress had one of those nasty jobs to do yesterday fixing the head pump - guess that's the price for having the harem crew doting on him ;-).

In any case, we are ready to set sail as soon as possible - maybe tonight or early morning and make time down the coast.We opted to skip Casablanca when we heard the population is 4 million - after being in Tnagier a mere 1 million and being constantly accosted in the medina (not a pleasant experience at all) - but still would really like to see Marrakesh and the desert and the wild, wild, west coast of Morocco.

Otherwise, all well on board!

These photos are from the blue town we visited called Chefchaouen - on the mountains about 2 hours east of Tangier.

Safe in Gibraltar!

Update.

Fabulous sail today. Having beat our brains our short tacking the coast of Spain day and night,against 20 and 30 knot headwinds, (under power and sail), this morning we hit the far western end of the Med and caught a break with a long single tack beat down to the rock! Gibraltar! We did it Turkey to Gibraltar. We left Turkey, October 4th, arrived here November 8th. One heck of a lot of upwind sailing!

Tied to seagull-shit festooned dock for tonight, too tired to care or go ashore! 

Details to follow.

C

The Harem Crew rocks

Ahem…..

…….

…Ahhhemm! 

Which one is the squash? (hint - none of them, its a carved Halloween melon
Ask Barb)

.........

Testing…testing one, two, three….. four.

Hmmm, well it still seems to work….

……

Well, Hello!

Some of you may have been wondering where is Cress's voice in all of this on the blog. Where is the Captain!?

Indeed, maybe you haven't noticed, and that's okay, but I certainly have been wondering!

You see, I am the lone man on a boat load of four. All three of our crew are, shall we say, 'mature' women, each quite practiced in being in command all on their own. And taken together on a boat? Well, they practically don't even need a captain!

Ellen, Barb, Irena, left to right

They are impressive. They show up for watch at every ungodly hour and in every kind of weather, on time and in good spirits, dressed sensibly no less. Like a trio of Broncos they hang on and steer without complaint while the salt water runs down the back of their jackets and the boat bounces through the short Mediterranean chop. They take sailing orders without complaint or question, and learn quickly which of the endless ropes to cleat, release, pull, wrap, coil, etc… And -- this is what separates them from the more macho crew we have had the pleasure of - they also clean, tidy and organize below until the boat is in Bristol shape. And each meal from their galley is a feast fit for any time or place. They plan and shop up all the food, organize it in our fridge and freezer, and serve it up each meal with wine and we practically eat off white table cloths, almost.

And they get along. They stand watch together, cook together, clean together, do their toe nails together, talk, talk, talk, even sleep together (well not in that way of course, but you know how much more comfortable women are bunking in together). They flow. Doubtless you have pondered how seamlessly a school of fish cohere and move as a singularity, or the wondered at the way a flock of birds fly together, as if a single intelligence. And so we have it on Conversations. I suppose it helps that Irena and Barb are sisters, and that Ellen and Barb go way, way back, and that all three then share a common life history of Winnipeg winters and Whiteshell Lake cottage summers.  They practically finish one another's sentences! And, they are, perhaps, the best crew I have ever had!

Can one man manage?

Wuat's a guy to do?

So boys, a new standard has been set. Lyle, Mitch, Willie, the bar is high. The challenge formidable. When we go from an all-woman crew to an all-male crew to sail across the Atlantic in December from the Canaries

Irena will be there to witness our glory or our ignominy. Let’s show them how men!

Malta

We have been in Malta since Sunday afternoon - loving it here! Earthy, gritty (but in a charming way), rich with so much history. We will be here until Friday/Saturday waiting out high winds and stormy weather coming from the NW. Once it has passed we will make a dash for Sardinia.


The following was written by Ellen during our passage and approach to Malta......

Sunday Oct 19th 12:00  We are about 25 nautical miles out of Malta.  We are passing through the gauntlet of about 18 ships of all sizes anchored in the open sea waiting for their turn to enter Malta.  This is day 5 of our passage to Malta.  We have been fighting a strong head wind from the west for 3 and a half of the 5 days.  For most of the time our sailboat has been heeled {tilted to one side}.  So life has been interesting with regard to eating, sleeping, cooking and going to the head.  The stove "floats" so we can always cook.


We take turns doing night watches, Cress and  I (Ellen) from 9pm to 2am then Irena and Barb till 7am.   Barb and I have moved into to the salon to sleep.   The v berth {in bow} is too rough for sleeping and also we have a leak coming from the forward hatch from the spray of salt water coming over the bow.  The weather has been great but the nights and star gazing have been outstanding.  Barb has an app on her iPhone to help us figure out some of the constellations.  There is always the milky way and the big dipper no matter where you are the world.  Last night Cress put out a lawn chair on the aft deck so we could watch the meteor shower show.  I relaxed and had my feet up in the lawn chair gazing the sky. 

We are looking forward to about 3 or 4 days in and around Malta.  Have you noticed that I have been using sailing terms?  Yes!!  My education of the language of Sailing is expanding.  It started before I stepped onto the gangplank onto the sailboat.  O silly me, it's not a pirate ship.  I was thinking of the grandkids. The parisole is the correct name for the gangway.  Cress and Irena have been so patient in showing us the ropes and there are a lot of ropes on board but they are not called ropes but rather "lines". Sometimes they look into our eyes to see if we understand but they see only the "deer in the head lights" blank stare.   We have 3 sails; the Mainsail, the Genoa and the Staysail, all of  which in turn have there own lines.  The line to pull up the Mainsail  is called the halyard.   Good thing I knew where port and starboard are MOST of the time. 

As I walk around the deck of the boat I hold onto a lifeline which encirles the boat. The most important rule? "Do not fall off the boat, DO NOT FALL OFF THE BOAT!!!  From reefs, boom ,vang ,windvane, backstay, topping lift, dodger, and list goes on, good thing there is no written test.  When I am at the helm, Cress asks me to sail high (he does not mean on drugs!) so I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.  I have warded off Alzheimer's for at least a few more years with all this new knowledge.  As we zig and zag (Opps I mean tack) across the Med, I am looking forward to every new moment.  Land ! I see LAND!!!  Malta here we come.

Onward - to Malta and Beyond!

After 11 days out we are just about to begin our first overnight passage - from Crete to Malta. The past 10 days have been very busy getting ourselves organized, getting everyone used to the routine, provisioning and squeezing in a bit of sight seeing in both Rhodes and Crete. Barb and Ellen got a real taste of all different points of sail, especially with the 5 days of upwind tacking in 25-35 knots of wind. Now that was work! But now even Ellen's stomach has adjusted and all of us feel quite ready to move on.

The high winds have subsided and it looks as though we will be in for a pleasant, albeit slow passage to Malta. This will be a first for Ellen and Barb - sailing all night long, taking turns on watch and trying to sleep while underway. They are doing great though - our meals have been fantastic and all photos are courtesy of these 2 fine women. It is a real pleasure having them on board. And Cress gets lots of 'well done!' looks when everyone sees his all female crew! He just keeps smiling and letting them wonder how in the heck he managed it!




We are now tied up to the seawall in Chania in Crete, loading up with water and fuel and as soon as we pick up our laundry and a few more fresh veggies, we will be outta here.This 400 NM passage should take about 3-4 days depending of course on WIND :-).

By the way, I am truly having a hard time being without a phone!! No texting, no facetime, no instant emails.... but am slowly adjusting (NOT!). But mostly I am missing contact with Jenn and Krissy. Cress has managed to get a wireless working on the boat now, so we can all connect whenever we get a data cardin each country - so that will help!

Out for now,
Irena

Farewell to Turkey

 I guess I don't really believe it just yet! We have actually left Turkey and have landed in Greece - Rhodes Island is our first stop on the long journey 'home'. It feels just like any other weekend so far, it is Sunday and my mind is still filled with work related 'stuff' and I find it strange that I don't have a phone that I am checking every 2 minutes, or a computer with skype that is making noise - calling me to respond. I am still feeling the pressure though - I imagine that will take a little longer to let go of! Sort of restless and uncomfortable- like I am between worlds. Not quite left the work world and not quite arrived in the cruising world.

 But the adventure of sailing back to Canada is slowly going to take shape.  We have an excellent trip planned with many family and friends joining us along the way. First up is my sister Barb and a friend from 'The lake' - Ellen - who will be with us until mid-November - all the way out of the Med to Morocco. So we are starting off slowly, cleaning, provisioning and just getting ourselves into the sailing frame of mind. Cress has been here for the past 2 weeks already getting Conversations' prepared, so much has already been done.

 In many respects I feel that I am already 'home' - just being on the boat. Cress and I have all the comforts we need and we love being in nature and being self-sufficient and having the freedom to 'boldly go' where ever we want to go! The route we have chosen takes us from Turkey to Greece, then Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Balearics, Gibraltar, Spain, Morocco, Canary Islands, Caribbean, ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) Islands, San Blas Islands, Panama Canal, Galapagos, Hawaii and finally Vancouver. We expect to get to Vancouver sometime in June - almost exactly 10 years after we left there in 2005.

But that is just the plan! Who knows what will happen along the way! We try not to get too attached to 'plans' - they have a way of changing on you when you least expect it. And that's ok - we will be open to anything that comes our way. The one thing Cress and I do well together is this. We support each other, we allow one another to do what we are good at, we respect each others' talents and limitations and we both get enjoyment from sharing our experience with our friends and family.  This is what we have, this is who we are - it is our gift and we intend to keep sharing it as long as we possibly can!

Out for now
Irena

How did five months go by so fast?

Jackson Hole, China

Four days from now, I will pack up my belongings in this wee house in China, and climb into the car for the 2 hour drive to the Beijing airport to the south. I will miss this place deeply. Since April, night after night, I have pleasured in the sound of crickets outside my bedroom window, the sweet smells of mountain air brushing the fragrance of trees and flowers into my sleep. Morning after morning, I have had my coffee at this desk, watching the sun come up very early over the trees and mountains, contemplating the day’s work. And tonight, I am typing nearly my last words at this window’s ledge.

Art Creation Workshop

In Custody, the question is who?!

I know these last months will be remembered as amongst my best days ever. It has been a time of contrasts – unbelievable frustration with things not being as I expect them to be; ecstasy of being in the flow of what I do best, and most of all, being in love and connection with so many people all at once. For surely I do love them all – the staff of the House of I, with whom I have been teaching, learning and sharing almost all my waking moments. Equally, I have had the joy of connecting and learning from the other

Play Nice!

leaders, Lyle especially for his gift of encouraging me back into making music with others.

Hmmmmm they feed us well

The Interpretors

And it has been hard. I have been separated from Irena who all this time has been on her own journey, working in Istanbul. Daily Skype has made it survivable. It has allowed us to connect our two
separate lives, despite the great distance in geography and circumstance between us.

What have I been doing here? I was invited here as a ‘leader’, a teacher really, to help launch a new
personal development business in the luxury residential
community nestled at the foot of
a mountain across the valley from the Great Wall of China, visible from here on a rare clear day. Named Jackson Hole after its USA counterpart, it’s a bizarre blend of east and west, of modern western mountain villas, and ancient Chinese laborers driving soot belching three wheeled trucks down the streets day and night; of wealthy Chinese business owners, and peasant farmers.

Rayne and Shelly Momma

 Fun bunch!un bunch of girls!

In my work, I have had a chance to polish my ideas and enjoy working with passionate talented people. I have had the gratification of people’s excitement hearing some of my ideas, knowing I am making a difference for them. The 7Cs have found especially fertile ground here (excerpt from a workshop description):

“In China, the matter of “Courage” is a core. The modern people of China have ever increasing access to the freedoms and opportunities of the global way of living, but their up-bringing, culture and experience has not prepared them to take full advantage of this opportunity. There is much to benefit from learning to be more courageous. But how?

How can I overcome my cultural conditioning and be free to explore and express my true self?

Where do I find the courage to live the life I want to live, not the life I have been condition I should live.

In short, how do I find my way to more courage and happiness?”

The farm and  my summer steed

The wall around our garden....

Good questions for all of us. I have learned here, in turn. My new Chinese friends have shown how unequivocal commitment can live on even in the face of the storms of difference that blow here from time to time. Oddly, I know a different meaning of grace, and am just beginning to see the shape of inscrutability, yet still far from understanding it. I am fulfilled from making a contribution and I am honoured by their willingness to so love this barbarian in their midst.


Much to learn and do here yet.

To my friends of Jackson Hole – Thank yo.

Adieu dear ones