Where are you going?

August 5, 2011

There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go.
Tennessee Williams

It’s getting pretty obvious that Convivia is going somewhere.  We’ve added a big anchor, a new Quickcover for our main, a life raft, a Monitor Windvane, and most recently four solar panels.  People are now asking us where we’re going. The funny thing is we’ve had this plan to “go out the Gate and turn left” for a decade. We’ve been pretty sure for nearly as many years that we’d head south for the Baja Ha-Ha whenever it was that we went. And that’s all we have actually planned.

When we moved aboard the kids told everyone we met on the docks that we were going sailing to see their grandmothers. That’s true. These dreams were started long ago when looking out over the Atlantic Ocean and imagining and wondering just how big it really was.  Round Pond, Maine is definitely a goal.  When we were boat shopping each boat was evaluated partially on whether or not we’d want to sail it into Round Pond. We’ll drop our anchor there someday most definitely.

We’d like to circumnavigate, someday. Circumnavigating has been Tucker’s goal since he was young. We are pretty sure we’ll complete a world circle, but there may be many stops and starts along the way. Miles asks often, “Is today the day we’re going sailing around the world?” He thinks, I imagine, that our trip will take a day, or maybe a few days to complete. Our start day is really soon but the world is much bigger than he can possibly imagine.

I have my sights set on the South Pacific. This year and last we’ve been watching the Puddle Jumpers blog about their three months in  French Polynesia and their passages and stops all the way to New Zealand and Australia. My calendar for 2012 once had our original departure on it but now it has just a few days in June and July marked for the Tahiti/Moorea rendezvous. We’ll keep watching our “Awesome Routers,” on s/v Britannia for the spots that they love.

We’ve stocked the boat with charts, guidebooks, cruising guides, destination guides, and World Cruising Routes but haven’t had much of a chance to  dig in besides a few peeks at the pictures. We could come up with a plan to follow Captain Cook’s route, or get around quickly, or spend a year somewhere, or head towards Panama instead of across the Pacific, or scoot out to Hawaii and up to Alaska and back.  We have some ideas, certainly, but the real answer is that we’re going where the wind blows.

 

 

(Check out Britannia and Cielydh for some great pictures of 2011 Pacific crossings and Totem for 2010.)

 

 

4 comments

  1. Comment by behan

    behan August 6, 2011 at 12:05 am

    hey guys, thanks for the shout out! We can’t wait to be back underway and posting pics again… hopefully, with a good enough internet connection to also pick up yours!

    Funny how everybody wants to know where you’re going, isn’t it? I used to try and answer by explaining that circumnavigation wasn’t a goal… it was about the journey and not the destination… etc etc. Now I usually just tell people what they want to hear- sure, we’ll go around the world. Who knows, maybe we will!

  2. Comment by Livia

    Livia August 6, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    Maybe I should just start answering “around Cape Horn” and see what kind of responses we get 🙂

  3. Comment by Jenna

    Jenna August 7, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    Victoria,
    I’m so glad to have found your blog tonight! My boyfriend lives on his sailboat on Pier 39 in San Francisco… we met six months ago and I caught the sailing bug immediately.
    It’s extremely encouraging to hear about you two following your dreams and getting things done. I’m excited to continue reading about your adventures, especially post-October!
    My boyfriend and I will most likely be sailing too, possibly to Mexico, by the end of the year… what a great feeling to be so close to it.
    Cheers!
    Jenna

    • Comment by Victoria

      Victoria August 7, 2011 at 9:25 pm

      Jenna, welcome to our blog! Get in touch with us when you’re back in the East Bay! We’d love to swap stories and hear about your sailing plans.

Comments are closed.

Go top