It seems like just yesterday! This was our bon voyage party aboard Ortolan, our Maine Cat 41 sailing catamaran 10 years ago at 10:10 on 10/10/10.

Years of dreams, research, planning, calendars, lists, more lists & luck made it all possible, but more importantly a similarly crazy, supportive & loving family!

Benj’s look pretty much summed up everyone’s thoughts on our crazy adventure.  Benj had only started as a freshman at Green Mountain College the month before.  No coming back home – we had sold, donated, thrown away all of our possessions except for what we brought with us aboard & what fit into a 10′ x 10′ storage unit.  Our house remained unsold which was a huge worry & financial drain (especially as the winter of 2010/11 ended up being one of the coldest & snowiest in over 20 years).

The family portrait

Sailing west on Long Island Sound 2 hours later, our beautiful fall day turned uncomfortable with strong west winds making a very wet ride as we headed towards NYC. My first smart decision as Captain was to heave-to, heading back to a marina in Westbrook – I didn’t want Lori to abandon ship on our very first day!

4 years aboard that sailing cat, then 1 year traveling in a motor home & now 5 years on our PDQ powercat, we’re still our there lovin’ life!

Thanks Lori!

Captain Russ