Once upon a time, on a farm in Iowa, I dreamed of pretty sailboats heading for exotic places. Fast forward to the present where I am planning to make the dream a reality.
When my husband of almost 31 years passed away in 2009, I felt like Rose in “Titanic” when she lost Jack. I went on to do the things we had planned to do. One of the first things I did was a sunset cruise with my church group on a very large sailing catamaran out of Naples, Florida. That was the beginning of the dream changing to reality.
Five years later a friend took me sailing on a 30 foot catamaran. I went on to sail with new friends on a variety of boats. Every boat I sailed on, I tried to learn new things which wasn’t hard because it was all new!
I couldn’t get enough of the water so I decided to get a boat and live in a marina. The sailboats that I could afford at the time were small and cramped. A friend told me to get something more comfortable to live on because 1) I didn’t know how to sail and 2) I had friends with sailboats. I got a 28 ft Bayliner Contessa and moved into Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda, Florida, where I was surrounded by sailboats. I joined Sailing Singles of Southwest Florida, took some basic classes, and met more sailing friends. I also joined the Charlotte Harbor Multihull Association and learned more about catamarans, particularly the Gemini.
In 2018, I had to leave Florida for Pahrump, Nevada, to finish my retirement years in teaching. Living near Death Valley is a strange place for a would-be sailor but I found a new home with the Nevada Yacht Club at Lake Mead. After taking an introductory sailing course with them, I was introduced to the Las Vegas Sail & Power Squadron that has classes through the United States Power Squadron. I am on my way to learning all I can about boating and sailing!
Somewhere along the way, I heard about the Great Loop. What started as a dream became a goal and is now a plan. The plan is to sail the Great Loop in 2022. This is my journey of how that is going to happen.