"Egret" N4674 - Scott and Mary Flanders
Ed. note: On February 10, 2011, Scott and Mary Flanders, on board their Nordhavn 46, Egret, arrived in the Canary Islands. In doing so, Egret became the eighth Nordhavn to circumnavigate the globe. It had been four years, five months since the couple departed Gran Canaria, intent on seeing as much of the earth as possible, although not necessarily with an end goal to circle the globe. Voyage of Egret documents the Flanders’ entire trip, an endless adventure that has put them in touch with the most fabulous places and interesting people. Much route planning and forecasting was required in order to get to some of their ports of call. But the days of detailed planning are over…for now. “Egret” is now back in Fort Lauderdale, the place the couple called home for so many years, and, ironically, the starting point of their world wide cruising escapade that began with the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally in 2004. They currently travel hither and yon, sometimes by boat, sometimes not. Here, the latest update from the Flanders as they keep us continually apprised.
September 30, 2009
Position: Somewhere in Bangkok’s eastern suburbs.
Sawaddee mis amigos, we have been busy little bees (picture 1). The Egret crew is in Bangkok visiting our youngest son, his wife and of course, the LRP (little rice picker – almost 4). After the usual tedious plane trip one of the first things we did was go on a boat ride. What else? We got an early morning start and drove to the floating market, an hour or so southwest of Bangkok. We hired a long tail boat* to take us thru the narrow fresh water canals jammed with boats doing business selling their goods to shoreside homes. It was even more jammed with boats full of touristas looking at boats selling their goods. And like in any capitalistic society, a number of shoreside homes have been turned into curio shops adding to the chaos. (picture 2)
*long tail boats are unlike any boats we have seen anywhere in our travels. The boats are built of wood, are long (perhaps 25’ – 8m) and narrow (perhaps 3’ – 1m). What is most unusual is their power. These guys use small 4-cylinder automotive truck engines on a gimbal bracket and a straight shaft connected to the transmission output shaft. The shaft is a direct drive to a small prop at the end. Usually the shaft is HALF the length of the boat. Turning and backing is a bit different. Kinda weird to say the least.
Shoreside vendors have a little trick they use. If you show ANY interest in their goods (like make slight eye contact) they have a gaff like hook they use to snag your boat and pull it to the dock. Riding thru the canals was interesting but what was even more interesting was watching the goings on from the second floor of a building above. The boat folks go about the business of selling their wares or hauling red faced tourists with kindness. Boats are continually rubbing together, bumping into each other, head on collisions and so on. They just smile and gently move each other along. Road rage in the States would have the canals running red. Floating bodies would replace water lilies. Rampant typhoid. You get the picture.
Another thing Thailand is known for is their food. You can stop and eat every few blocks any time day or night from street vendors. Thais aren’t big people but it seems eating or serving food is a national pastime. AND the food is great. Just last night we had takeaway. The main dish was chicken and rice. The rice was boiled in chicken broth and was IT good. Then there was the pork, veggies and rice dish. We had leftovers and the tariff was a gentle $6 USP for everything. This and a great fresh fruit salad made it a special meal (company was the real key like most meals). The only thing missing was cute little squirty designs on the plate and plant life you don’t eat.
The LRP goes to private school. The school has an interesting program taught at the earliest level. The program involves planting and harvesting rice in a kid size plot. The big picture lesson for the kids is to teach them not to waste food or anything else for that matter. This hard work lesson starts with a ceremony of planting rice seeds blessed by the king, nurturing them to harvest, then the harvest itself. The older kids help the younger kids during the process. So, our one and only grandson is going to be a little rice picker just as we predicted. The LRP is a mutt; quarter Thai, quarter Chinese, and half American ethnic soup *. *On our side it is a bit of English, Scottish, Irish and a smidge of French Canadian Indian. He is of course, the best looking RP in Bangkok and perhaps further afield. And the smartest. Just in case you didn’t know. (Picture 3)
We got some great news today, that is if you are an N owner or signed owner to be. PAE is holding their traditional N owners get together Friday night at the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show. The informal gathering will take place dockside at the site of the N display. Like a mini-rendezvous, these boat show gatherings let N owners meet one another and share stories. Some NAR alumnus will be there along with at least one of the Sushi Group. Just one more reason to take up in the ‘I’m gonna have a great rest of my life’ business. It makes sense. Waiting, if you have the ability (I’m talking financial ability here, not other excuses), doesn’t make sense to me knowing what we know and have been preaching the past few years. After all, how much more than ENOUGH do you really NEED, not want? Big difference. When you and we are tottering down the dock years from now does it really make any difference how much you or ourselves have or don’t have, or is it more important what we did with our lives vs accumulate? Simple answer to a simple question mis amigos. Mary and I are thankful we took the BIG step and gave it a go over 8 years ago and are not starting this year. Or, horror of horrors…ever. We didn’t have the information you have now so it was a major decision in our case based on a LOT of faith.
OK, we’ll get off The Box (soapbox) and give you a break. Perhaps we’ll see you there.
Our next stop after leaving BKK (Bangkok) will be visiting British sailboat friends in London we first met in Argentina. This couple is the Real Deal. They cruise 7-8 months of the year spending the rest of their time in the UK. While in the Deep South they trekked north to Uruguay in the fall and back to Ushuaia, (Arg) at the beginning of each summer. Another long season was spent cruising the Chilean Channels. During those winter months they left their boat in Puerto Montt, Chile, at the head of the Chilean Channels. This Deep South adventure was a 4-year endeavor. The past year they sailed their boat back north to the UK for a 10-year refit. Of course as good friends we rag on them to give up sail and join us taking the easy way around. We tell them all we do is push this button (pointing at the autopilot button) and when the alarm goes off we have arrived. This and the fact we tell them our foul weather gear has never had salt on it is another stake driven into their ragbagger hearts. The truth hurts. Great fun. And of course we get it back as well.
So there you have it. A few more days in The Life. Ciao.
September 23, 2009
Position: S41 15.62 E173 16.86 Nelson Marina, D27, Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
Crikey dix mis amigos, the Egret crew has been busy with boat chores and local travel. First, the boat chores. The wing engine is back in after a proper hone job and new rings. It turns out the problem was the hack mechanic in Argentina (el hacko in Spanish) honed the cylinders with a circular hone but with no cross hatch. Bottom line was the pistons were turned into an oil pump pumping oil out the tailpipe (exhaust). We pay the bill tomorrow.......again......groan. This should never happen again (getting sea water into the engine) because NOW we have a 2" PVC ball valve on the discharge side of the exhaust elbow to stop water entering the engine thru the muffler in ANY conditions.
It's a long story but now we THINK we have the SSB radio working for the first time ever. It had installation issues from another hack (HACK in English) jerko electrician who installed toy transistors in line that apparently blew out the first time we keyed the mike. We don't plan to use the SSB to keep in touch with boats because we use e-mail. It is just for emergencies in addition to the Iridium phone. In the process of testing the SSB we blew up the anemometer with RF so now that has to be sorted.
However, there IS a lighter side to cruising. While living on The FAT Yellow Cord (TFYC is an acronym for Marina Queens) we try to maximize our time ashore. First it was attending the Mini Cooper gathering. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Mini Cooper. During 2009 there are celebrations around the world commemorating the longevity of these little cars. The New Zealand gathering of Minis was held in Nelson. Over 200 Minis from around the country attended. We saw everything from beautifully restored original Minis to Mini race cars to Minis with turbocharged Honda engines stuffed in front. One thing we learned, Minis used to be built in Nelson as well as Australia. Mary and I used to be car people before boat folks so we could appreciate the event and the restoration efforts.
Along those lines, next it was a weekend Austin trials event with Austins from the 20s and 30s. Trials events were imported from the UK when during the 20s the Austin folks would take their 7HP monster cars and see what they could do on an obstacle course of stream fording and other near impossible low speed maneuvering. In this case, every car had to negotiate a water challenge then an uphill/downhill course. Top speed was not over 10mph but we will say it wasn't easy for anyone. It was surprising all the cars kept running, even with deeper water obstacles, plus the cars were all over 70 years old. It was an interesting day. Mary and I photographed every car (there were about 15 drivers) in different parts of the course. Today we received a list of every competitor's mailing address so we'll mail individual picture CDs to each competitor. What we will send is a bit different from your typical snapshot. (Picture 1.)
Nelson has a local camera club. The other day we went on a club outing where we were given 10 different photo tasks within a short walking distance. There were 4 locations where we had to take at least one picture. Tomorrow night we will be "gently" judged on our efforts. In all there were about 20 club members on the outing. This will be interesting. The next night was a general club meeting where THEY were judged on a recent outing to a west coast beach. The photos were stunning. The photos were shown on a screen and critiqued by a professional photographer from Christchurch. We learned quite a lot from his critiquing.
Our intro to the club was by a high latitude long distance Dutch sailing couple who washed ashore here in Nelson after their sailing days. We contacted them to learn more about a few places we plan to visit in the future and this in turn lead to the club. (Willem is VP). So you can see the links. Also there is something we should mention here. When you first start cruising your immediate concerns are the boat, weather, navigation and so on. In time you become comfortable with these issues and look to broaden your interests as well as destinations. You may look to VofE for learning the beginnings. We make every effort to give you this information but we also look at a bigger picture and hope to show you more of The Life than simply getting from here to there by boat. So if we ramble on about pictures and cameras, please indulge us. Many long distance cruisers evolve from snapshots to photographs. We cruisers are all interested in beauty that comes in many forms. We capture these visions on 'film'. Even some of the poorest long distance sailors will uncover their 'big' camera and delight in showing their latest snaps.
In a nutshell if you are interested, get a head start by buying this super starter kit: Nikon D90 camera body, Nikon 18-200mm VRII lens (vibration reduced), spare battery, spare 4GB SD card, UV filter, circular polarizer filter and a camera bag. You are WELL on your way. (This is Mary's basic setup) B&H Photo is a good place to start (in the U.S.). At the same time buy The Digital Photography Book, and same, volume 2 by Scott Kelby. These books are simple to read without boring technical details and will give you tons of basics. The package will cost about two boat units.
Later, after camera club judging. Oh ho hum, MS (My Sweetie) won two of ten categories in the camera club judging, a second and a merit. AND best overall photograph. The overall winner was in the portrait category. The task was to get a stranger to pose for a portrait. Mary rounded up this teenager, tried to get her in good light and ultimately snapped this photo as she (what else) was looking at her cell phone. (Picture 2) I am so proud of her. YT (Yours Truly) won a couple seconds. Yea, I know, you want to hear about salt on the pilothouse glass, AG (aquarium glass) and the CCOM (Coffeecarryometer). Get over it, its all part of the deal (The Life). Egret will have enough salt coming up.
We leave in a few days on our yearly trip to the States. VofE will slow down while we are away. We will however, give you a synopsis of the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show. Incidentally, there are two great U.S. East Coast boat venue's coming up. The first is Trawlerfest in Solomons, Md, and the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show. Trawlerfest has an hour and a half program hosted by Milt and Judy Baker, Bruce and Joan Kessler and Jerry and Wendy Taylor. You will learn enough from these well traveled cruisers in 1 1/2 hours to make the entire event worthwhile. Both are great places to learn about boats, perhaps even do the deal at the Lauderdale show. A boat show is a great place to write the check then work out the details with your salesman over time. It's time, mis amigos. You have been reading this drivel long enough. You know who you want to call. It's time to start your own boating memories as the Egret crew did some years ago. It isn't rocket science. We are no different than you except we did the deal and threw off the docklines. Nothing more. AND the clock is ticking. Tick, tick, tick. Ciao.
September 9, 2009
Position: S41 15.62 E173 16.86 Location: Nelson, New Zealand
Crikey dix mis amigos, it's time for a good rant. Now that our wifi blocking neighbor has left we spent some time catching up on the N owners site and the N dreamers site among other things. Both sites were full of experts howling at the moon about Bagan and their NW Passage trip. So let's start at the beginning. No, Bagan wasn't ideal for the job, Sprague simply used what he had. A Canadian, American, Russian or Scandinavian icebreaker would be better suited. However, Sprague spent two years doing research before leaving. He knows more intimately, with good reason, about the passage than the naysayers. He knew his chances for a first year passage were slim but decided the risk was worth it to him. He KNEW this going in. And was prepared for the consequences. This can not be denied. In the end the Bagan team did what they had to do to break thru the ice. And they made it.
Now let's look at the big picture. There are few real boating adventures left these days to those few who shake tough salt vs talking about it. This team lived one of those great adventures. Nothing can ever take away what they did. Whatever records Bagan set or didn't set really doesn't matter. This group of adventures know what they did. My hat is off to them. And to the Sushi group, the Diesel Duck guy going the other way, Arcturus, Ice Dancer II, Kanaloa and everyone else out there doing their deal. Not talking about it. Let's all back off a bit, look at the facts (mission accomplished) and wish this group our united congratulations. After all, we'll all in this water world together.
On a lighter note, the Egret crew just returned from a 3-day trip down South Island's east coast to the coastal village of Akaroa. We had been to Akaroa twice before by boat but just for a few hours at a time. Akaroa deserved more time so off we went. We started the trip early morning while the grass was still frosty and the fog was rolling in thru the mountains. I felt a bit guilty having sold MS's camera before replacing it...however we did have to stop and snap a few pics along the way. The trip thru the mountains was beautiful as always as well as the dry coastal areas paralleling the Pacific. Tradition called for a stop in Havelock (the green lip mussel capitol of the world) at our favorite bakery for a heart stopping breakfast. The trip with stops took 7 hours.
Akaroa is where the French tried to colonize New Zealand. It is located on the south side of the Banks Peninsula, a thumb like projection mid way down South Island's east coast. The area has an easily entered, long and deep entrance channel with a bay to the north (Akaroa) and another village at its head. There is a plaque near the water where a British captain planted a flag for mother England. Six days later the French showed up to plant their flag.......a bit late. Nevertheless, the French gave it a go. What remains is a small village surrounding an inland bay off the large entrance channel. A number of the French colonial homes remain along with street names in French. Fortunately, like so many places in the world, Akaroa hasn't lost its charm by being loved to death. So again we ate too much and walked all day in and around town. During the late afternoon we took the MBE out for a spin on the local (4WD recommended) roads seeing the sites. Today's couple pictures don't tell much of a story but lets just say Akaroa is the real deal.......in nice weather. A local told us they had just gotten thru with a 3 week spell of nasty weather. This was while we had great weather up in Nelson.
We left the next (Monday) morning to return to Nelson via Arthur Pass, crossing the mountains then dropping down to the west coast road before heading north. We stopped in Christchurch (capitol of South Island) at a SUPER camera shop. This shop had everything, not just a few point and shoot cameras, but ALL the pro stuff. The pricing was right so in the end we loaded up. Mary got her new camera and a couple bags full of stuff. Guess who got his carbon fiber tripod? Now we need to get to work on magazine articles to help pay for this extravagance. We're about 22 articles behind.
One reason to recross Arthur Pass was to see the local Kea parrots. Universally we read they are 'curious'. In all fairness it also said they would eat the rubber windshield gaskets out of your car. That is an understatement. These beaked raiders will eat ANYTHING that is not stone or steel. As soon as we pulled into the parking place, one jumped on top of the car looking for something, anything to eat/destroy. Mary wuz freekin and I wanted to beat it with my new tripod, but couldn't. The tripod is worth more than the car. AND my camera was in the trunk. As soon as we managed to get the trunk open the Kia wanted to jump in. This took a while. Then the dirt bag wanted to eat my camera bag. In the end we snapped a few pics while shooing it away from the rubber windshield gasket, side window gasket, rear window gasket, camera bag and so on. When it was time to leave Mary wouldn't get in because the #@^$##^*%$ marauder was on the roof. Then it left its last meal (digested) on the windshield as a farewell gift. So after a bit of fast starting and stopping to shed the guest, Mary finally got in and off we went. The rest of the drive back to Nelson was a bit easier.
We have weather coming that will last a few days. Its time to get back to boat work getting everything done we can before leaving on the annual trip to the States.
On the N.com website, Latest Updates, there is an updated list of Egret's anchorages/locations over the past months. We don't usually check them ourselves but in this case we opened a few and WOW did our eyes get opened!! The anchorages in Stewart Island were VERY accurate. For example, in Seal Creek you could see exactly how we would have set the three shore lines and why there were current issues. If you zoom up a little further you can see where the winds were funneling from the west and giving us such a hard time. Google Earth is truly an amazing feature and a good learning tool. Ciao.
September 4, 2009
Position: S41 15.62 E173 16.86 Nelson, New Zealand
Crikey dix mis amigos, we're still fixin. The fridge is up and running. Water heater is doing well. The batteries are doing even better*. The rudder arm to steering ram ball joint isn't in as yet. The wing engine seals are not in. We had a laptop crash after trying to hook it up to a HD monitor we planned to use for photo editing, navigation, e-mail and so on. It is at the computer repair. The first try didn't work so we'll see if the next try will be successful. If not its a new hard drive. And so it goes. *more to follow.
New Paige has a local cabinetmaker doing projects while they are back in Canada. When he is finished with New Paige we showed him a few projects for Egret. In the pilothouse there is a pull out berth above and behind the settee. We use it for storage as do most every N46 owner. During a recent killeration the berth spit out a few pieces onto you know who. This wasn't any biggie however, even though we have everything behind the navigation laptop strapped in well we decided to remove the cushion and have an open teak containment cabinet fabricated. We wouldn't be happy if a group of catalogs decided in a moment of fore and aft pitching to pay the navigation laptop a visit. He is also going to make a new storage cabinet in the salon that butts up to the wet locker just inside the salon door. We would LOVE to have a full length settee (with tons of storage below) between the TV and wet locker but couldn't give up the Ekornes captains chair and ottoman. That is MY seat Mary has taken over. Grrrr, the wench.
Today we made plane reservations to circumnavigate. This is the cheapest way to circumnavigate by FAR (around the world tickets). And a bit faster than 6 knots. Nelson to Christchurch (NZ), to Sydney, to Bangkok (to see our son, his wife and LRP (little rice picker - 4)) to London (to see a yachtie couple we knew from Argentina/Chile) Miami, then up to Ft Lauderdale for family visits, doctor visits and the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show, Miami to La, to Auckland and back to Nelson. We'll be gone from home 6 1/2 weeks. In South America we were once gone for 7 weeks. It about killed us to be gone that long. Hopefully this time we will be so busy time will fly. We will leave with a suitcase each (large duffel) with an empty duffel inside for spares we will buy in the States on the return. This return trip will be child's play compared to the 350lbs (160kg) we trotted thru the Nothing To Declare line in Istanbul. Thennnnnn had to get it to the bus station a half mile from the airport bus drop off, thennn had to endure a 14 hour bus ride to Marmaris (Turkey), thennn a taxi to the marina, thennnn down the dock. Geesh. Included in this bundle was our Dickinson diesel heater, piping and so on.
After a rain day delay we were off in the MBE (Mister Beach E) to Fairwell Spit, the northernmost point in South Island (On the NW coast - Nelson is in the middle of N S. Island). It is a beautiful trip thru the apple growing area, vineyards, cherry trees and so on to the mountains, over 25k's of mountains into valleys that lead to Fairwell Spit. We stopped here and there snapping a few pics ending up on the bluffs above the west coast beaches. Here you hike thru fields of sheep, opening and closing gates along the way. The high tide, wind driven surf pounding the cliffs was spectacular. Mary and I were in a huge cave with a local tramper taking pictures when a fur seal came scooting out from a low shelf cave behind us making her way to the water. She was freaking trying to avoid us going behind and above we three looking for a way down the steep bank. We in turn freaked as well not knowing which way to go. Just like racing cars or boating, the overtaking race car,vessel or freaking seal has the responsibility for the pass. She did well. Unfortunately VR (vibration reduction or image stabilization) couldn't overcome shaky hands for the snapshot. It was well after dark when we returned home. It was another good day. Ho hum. Just another good day in NZ living The Life.
Later. The steering ram ball joint is remounted and perfect again. The primary navigation laptop is Tango Uniform (TU). The motherboard is shot. The computer repairman ( a good guy who knows his business) has bought a small hardrive reader (the harddrive is still good) and will hook it up to the new laptop we will buy in the next few days. This way we will still have our navigation, e-mail and weather software as always. We were concerned it wouldn't work on Vista but it worked on his computer with Vista. The laptop includes the 2 months from now free upgrade to Windows 7 so he will do that as well. He was so funny. Typical of a jumping bean tech. So we had to settle him down and tell him HE is going to get all this working including hooking up the new HD monitor we have for photo editing. None of this of telling us how to do it. Not this kid.
Days later. Techno stuff. The new expensive laptop will NOT load the navigation software. So we have an expensive photo editor dedicated laptop. We will also add Ocens e-mail and weather as another backup. Now we are down to three really good navigation laptops with a couple iffy ones in reserve. Things could be worse. The wing engine seals didn't do the job. Next week the wing comes out for a cylinder hone job and new rings. A travel agent took care of our Australian visa requirements and found to enter the boat all we have to do is notify them a few days in advance of arrival. We will do this by e-mail before we leave and while at sea. (we are flying thru Sydney on our way to Thailand (home of the Little Rice Picker) so we used that opportunity to get a 12 month multiple entry visa. The woman from the Australian embassy in Auckland (NZ) said we will be able to easily get an extension in Hobart, Tasmania (Tas is an Au state) for continuous stay in Au)
In a rare moment of wifi access (the large power catamaran berthed next to Egret is killing our signal) we were perusing the N.com website and came up with a surprise. On the Latest Sites Update from 8-27-09 we saw there is an Egret screen saver and wallpaper available for download. (actually this should be a picture of your boat, but if not you are welcome to this) So, lets bring the picture to life (taken from the dinghy). Egret is anchored in Bahia de Pescadores*, Chile during her 7 week winter cruise in 2007. *Bay of Fisherman or Fisherman's Bay in Inglis. We had just come from Estero Coloane, about 3nm away. We left Estero Coloane on a plunging barometer with severe westerlies predicted. We waited a half hour to long. We got killerated (over 50 on the beam) on the way across Cooks Bay to Pescadores. Guess who was in the flybridge for the 'short hop' across. Duuuh. Once in the wind shadow of Pescadores, anchoring and taking lines ashore was no big deal. There were five memorable events in that anchorage during this visit (we had been there before in the summer). One was the snow in the trees. The anchorage was williwaw city* in the afternoons when the sun was taking heat off the mountains (*8-10 seconds of windblast followed by relative calm). The snow would build on the trees behind the anchorage then the williwaws would blow it all away. The next event was the sustained wind trying to blow snow in the corner of the bay (where Egret was anchored). As you know you can't spray paint into a corner. The spray comes right back. In this case, Egret's port side was being rocked by wind and snow. At the same time the stbd side had snow gently falling down as if a vacuum. Next was tying to hike in the mountains out of view on the port side. It was difficult in the summer to climb a steep bank before the easier hike up. In the winter it was near impossible. To make a mistake and slip was a greater risk than we wanted to take. While returning from shore side a single dolphin chose the CIB (catamaran ice breaker dink) as its play companion. We chased each other for a half hour with Mary hanging over the bow talking to her new friend. And lastly, just before dark Mary spotted movement on shore. There were a family of rare otters living in a cave directly behind the boat. At first all we saw was dad, but in time mom and the wee one came out as well. So there you have it, it was not just another pretty picture to us and now you know the story.
And last, on sunny days with no ties to boat chores we get in the MBE and just drive. Yesterday's loop thru the mountains was great.
Egret's reported wanderings are meant to be entertainment and a source of inspiration and technical education. VofE is designed to give you the big picture so you may make educated decisions. Below is the biggest picture of all and why Mary and I are here (cruising) at this time of our lives and not in perpetual motion of earning and accumulating.
On the tough side of cruising we received an e-mail from super author Beth Leonard we did not want to receive but knew it would eventually be sent. Our mutual friend from Ushuaia, Argentina, Ken Murray died recently in Greenland. A copy of the e-mail is below.
Thought you'd want to know that Ken passed away a few hours ago in a hospital in Assiaat in Greenland. He has been battling prostate cancer for the past five years. He and Eef (Ken's wife) sailed up there on Tooluka and spent several months cruising among icebergs and whales. He died doing what he wanted to do and living his dreams to the very end...
Love,
Beth
Ken first came to our attention when his coastal cruiser trawler appeared on the cover of Passagemaker Magazine. Among other things Ken and his wife battled* the Argentine coast for 30 days straight before arriving in Ushuaia. They later rounded Cape Horn, the first production power boat to do so. During Egret's winter in Barcelona, 04-05, we were able to contact Ken and started an e-mail correspondence that ultimately ended with our meeting in Ushuaia two years later. We could go on about Pelagic's exploits but that is for Beth to do either in a book about his life or at least powerboat magazine article. (* you can't possibly, possibly imagine the difficulty Pelagic faced on that trip) Ken was sick when we met him. Nevertheless in the mornings he would be zipping around the harbor in his dinghy making the rounds of friends laughing and joking all the while. He rested in the afternoons. This went on for another 2+ years, 1 1/2 years beyond the doctor's best guess. Here is our point. Ken never gave up. He lived his life his way, a trip with Eef to Antarctica aboard her sailboat, a trip north up the Chilean Channels, off to Holland (Eef's home) to ride motorcycles last summer, back down the Channels and ultimately up to Greenland. Guests aboard this evening (another story) received an e-mail from Eef just 2 weeks ago and all was well. Ken's determined goal was to LIVE his way, not with tubes and desperate measures to buy a few more weeks or months of meaningless (drugged) life. And he did. Ken was one of the Good Guys.
(days later) Just this morning Beth sent an e-mail with her well written memorial to Ken. Please follow this link to Beth's memorial. http://bethandevans.com/ Updated blog, 09-03-09
Ed. Note - The glossary of Egretism terms will be posted on the Captain's Log home page for easy reference.
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