When the Northern Hemisphere calendar officially flipped from spring to summer earlier this week, we caught up with a few CW contributors and asked them where they were headed this season. Where will the wind take you this summer?
Ann and Tom Hoffner plan to cruise their Sabre 30 Ora Kali from Down East Maine to Campobello Island and Passamaquoddy Bay just across the border in New Brunswick, Canada, while David Kilmer’s summer waters are the lakes and islands of the Pacific Northwest. Kilmer runs the 60-foot daysailer Sizzler on Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and regularly races and cruises on Lake Pend Oreille and in the San Juan Islands.
After a season in the Bahamas, Amy and David Alton sailed their Fountaine Pajot 44 Starry Horizons north to Rhode Island. With an eight-year circumnavigation behind them, Starry is ready for a refit. New sails, more solar and a few creature comforts are on the work list.
“This summer I hope to circumnavigate Vancouver Island on our Jeanneau 509 Kāholo,” said sailor, writer and professional photographer Tor Johnson. “We did that a few years back, and visited some incredible places, particularly on the West Coast. These are places only accessible by boat, full of hidden coves and deep fjords, interesting settlements and abundant wildlife. A cruiser with a modicum of knowledge can catch all the seafood he can eat nearly any day. It’s a cruiser’s paradise.”
John and Tadji Kretschmer have a mix of serious sail training passages and (slightly more) laid-back cruising planned aboard their Kaufman 47 bluewater performance cruiser Quetzal this summer.
“The late-May, early-June training passage took us from Bermuda to Luneburg, Nova Scotia,” John said. “Next, Tadji and I and a few good friends will make our way through Bra d’Or Lake and onto Newfoundland. The south coast of Newfoundland makes the list of my favorite places.
“The July sail training passage will be challenging. After visiting the Viking site on the north shore of Newfoundland, we will sail up the wild Labrador coast.”
From there, Quetzal will cross the Labrador Strait to Southern Greenland. “Hopefully—depending on ice—we’ll head through Prince Christian Sund, a stunning fjord that bypasses Cap Farvel, and into the Denmark Strait,” John said. The passage ends in Reykjavik, Iceland, where John and Tadji will enjoy some cruising before the August sail training, a passage that will take Quetzal to the Faroe Islands, the Shetlands and Norway.
“We’ll have a month of exploring Norway before making our way to Gothenburg, Sweden, where the next passage begins,” John said. “This late-summer leg will take us down the North Sea to Denmark, where we will stop at the island of Marstal, the setting of one of my favorite books, We the Drowned, and through the Kiel Canal. After a stop in the Frisian Islands (part of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark), we’ll carry on to Southampton, United Kingdom, concluding a very busy and super exciting summer of sailing.”
Behan and Jamie Gifford, of the Stevens 47 Totem, recently took delivery of their long-awaited new diesel engine at the Cabrales Boatyard in Baja, Mexico. Unfortunately, hurricane season arrived before the Beta 70, making it too late to head for the South Pacific this year.
“That’s okay,” said Behan. “We’ve taken on a host of optional boat improvements while waiting, making the most of having the nexus of a solid shipyard with affordable skilled labor in Mexico, with access to goods from the US. The border is only a 45-minute drive from this northern Sea of Cortez port.”
For now, the Gifford crew is thumb wrestling over whether to head south or west. Either way, they’re looking forward to putting miles under the keel of a much shinier Totem. The postponed departure also afforded the Giffords the opportunity to attend the college graduation of their boat-schooled son (and circumnavigator), Niall. Some challenges are blessings in disguise.
Fair winds, and drop an email to editor@crusingworld.com and let us know where your sailing plans take you this summer.
