Prequel
COVID saw the cancellation of a planned voyage on a Tall 4-masted ship from Venice to Dubrovnik, which we sorely regretted. The pursuit of other Covid-impacted trips through the Northwest Passage, the Annapurna Base Camp trek, not to mention our 6-month backpacking expedition around the World forced us to postpone our dream of sailing with the luxury and excitement of a Tall Fullrigger Ship.
And so it was that we finally embarked on the Star Flyer for Lynne’s birthday, with a passage from Lisbon to Malaga, with stops in Portugal, Spain, Morocco and Gibraltar.
We loved the drama of sailing on the open seas, starting with a queasy passage in the Atlantic until we reached the warmth and relative calm of the Mediterranean. The preceding sailing crossed the Atlantic from its previous base in the Caribbean, and was apparently so awful that the weather had destroyed three of its sails. But that happened before we boarded the ship in Lisbon, giving us no cause for concern. We enjoyed our excursions but also life aboard, with sumptuous food and drink. Lynne even ventured up the rigging to strike a Crow’s nest warrior pose.
So what enticed us to signup for a 60 foot sloop, compared to Star Flyer’s 366 feet, with 9 other crew members (vs. 74 crew and 166 passengers on Star Flyer), to sail from Iceland across the North Atlantic to Scotland, via the Faroe Islands? This at the end of the summer, with the likelihood of deteriorating weather? Certainly it wasn’t the prospect of glimpsing The Northern Lights, as we had experienced them already in Norway and in the High Canadian Arctic.
Though Lynne had previously crewed a boat in Greece for a week, that was 38 years ago. This voyage across the North Atlantic promised to be a completely different kettle of fish (so to say). Peter was once a registered sailor in his teens, when working as a bar busboy on a Swedish – Danish ferry. However his sailing experience was confined to making Irish Coffees and slicing lemons. He has read all the Master and Commander books; would this be of any help?
So, for Peter it was the experience, dare one say romance, of making one’s way across the surface of immense oceans in a small bubble of a boat.
For Lynne, she’d read about how trying new challenges as one gets older contributes to joy and health in later life. This would definitely test us, outside our comfort zones, but surely would be immensely satisfying: something to be attempted while we were still mentally and physically fit enough.
We’d had a very busy summer, with 9 different sets of people occupying Point de Vue, and the consequent work that entails. We’d also hosted Lynne’s 70th birthday party in June, which was a great success with family, friends and neighbours attending, some staying longer than others!
This new challenge would give us a focal point for the end of the summer. We would have liked to have had a half-marathon in mind, but Peter’s hernia operation in March and a subsequent broken toe had curtailed any training. Unusually for us we had not managed a run of over 5km all summer. We decided to focus on gym work and weights, to be able to maintain our balance aboard and grind the winches.
Lynne’s sole worry was sea-sickness, especially as she can’t take over-the-counter medication. Had these motion patches improved since their bad press on the Hurtigruten ship through the Northwest Passage in 2022? Time would tell… Peter wasn’t worried about anything – either one survives or not…!
