The Slocum Connection

Burlington, Vermont

NoLL

Yesterday in Vergennes three small sailboats pulled in. It was Jim and Tauno and Howard. They are three guys we met several years back at the same spot in Vergennes. It turns out that Jim is a long time reader of this blog. These guys also shared my old passion -- to save a part of their vacation every year for a sail on Champlain. Still more important, they are

involved in a project to build a replica of Joshua Slocum's boat Spray.

I'm sure that all the cruisers reading this article already know about Slocum and Spray. For the benefit of the others, Joshua Slocum was credited as being the first man to sail around the world alone. His boat was named Spray. He wrote the book which even today is the inspiration for many people like myself. Sailing Alone Around the World has been in print continuously since it was first published in 1899. I re-read it about once per year.

Building Spray was easy for Slocum to do but a monumental effort by modern men. Read about it on Jim's blog Slocum Spray Sailboat Project. Below is a picture from Jim's blog.

I wish them luck, and I hope to meet up with them another year.