The Dream

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida

[Today, I'll turn the floor over to some guest bloggers.  Tate McDaniel, John Clark, Dave King,  Gary Burton, and Lee Perry.

Tate wrote a very moving post for the Westsail Owners Association site. The others responded to Tate's post on the forum. Their words were very moving.  Then it struck me; I can no longer contribute to that discussion.  Heck, I can barely remember the years when we dreamed about cruising instead of doing it.  That disqualifies us.  Therefore, I'll let you hear from more qualified people.]

The Dream
By Tate McDaniel

I haven't lived the dream yet, but I've already done what you said... I turned it into a goal. I wrote it down, I set a date, and I objectively listed all the things that HAD to be done before leaving. I then listed the "nice to haves". And then my wife and I made a budget. That was 5 years ago. We intend to slip the lines in January. We haven't lived the dream yet, but we've "grown" it.

Growing your dreams

We bought a boat. A W32 that was a worn out old war horse ( 3 circumnavigations) and being neophytes didn't understand how much would have to be done. It didn't matter, we were in love. And so we've labored for years, spent many dollars, and countless hours on her rehabilitation, or at least as well as we could as amateur carpenter/painter/mechanic/riggers/etc.

As the time to leave approaches there is a mix of excitement and trepidation. We're younger than most cruisers we know of; [definitely] not retirement age. We'll be quitting lucrative careers in the middle of our prime earning age. My wife has never traveled outside of the continent. All we have are photos of far away places and some maps to assure us that this must be okay. Is that photo of a smiling brown face in French Polynesia really enough to turn your life upside down? What about the picture of coconut trees? Or is it the idea that the sea might be able to save our souls from the modern machinations of consumerism in the West and oppression and war in the East? I don't know, but like a moth to the flame we fly.

Rugged map with compass

We're moving out of our apartment and onto the boat this weekend. How will living aboard work for us? We don't know yet. Every day is something new to think about from getting all our vaccinations to handling mailing arrangements to keeping in contact with our families. Its sort of a controlled chaos. Its scary. Its violent. Its part of the "dream".

I don't know what the reality will be, but I refuse to go through life without having found out.

Tate

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The following are replies on the forum that Tate's post stimulated.]

By John Clark

ream(s)

I was raised with strong Asian superstitions so very few of our friends know of our dreams. I wouldn't let John talk of our dream lest it fly away with the wind. Our families have watched us for the last 6 years preparing for our new dream.

Though, I'm sure some of them question our sanity sailing on the open ocean, we proved the WS capability and safety as we bucked like a wild bronco across the infamous Columbia Bar and up the Washington coast last summer,

I was amazed at my own ability to overcome the fear as I steered Konami across the bar all the while repeating under my breath "she can take a lot more than I can".

I recall sitting at the beach when I was 8 years old, watched the sun drop below the horizon and envisioned being in Japan watching the sun rise all in the same hour. My dream to sail to Japan has never left me. John knew he was destined to keep moving when he recognized the intense freedom when he drove away in his first car.
We're so lucky to have found each other and share the same goals.

We've been blessed with 6 sons, 3 grandsons, great careers, chased cows and shoveled the barn, flew airplanes and gliders at 18,000 feet above the desert, and sailed our little sailboats on the lake. We've worked our butts off to achieve everything we have accomplished.

We have lived on Konami over 3 years. We miss the bathroom, the standard bed, the washer and dryer, but some of our hobbies will travel with us.

I retired ahead of John, he has 8 months of nose to the grindstone left. Go Honey!

Dick and Libby have been a great inspiration to us. We want to be in our wisdom years and still sailing. The younger generations like Tate and Dani have been fun to follow, sharing the pride of similar accomplished projects.

All the single handed transpac WS sailors, Dave King on Saraband (twice), Joshua Siegel on Sunquest, Randy Leisure on Tortuga, Gary Burton on Elizabeth Ann have been our heroes overcoming solitude and challenging their skills on the big Pacific Ocean. We continue to follow other WS cruisers in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. Our WS32 will take care of us also.

We are planning our departure sometime next summer. Won't say the date and destination yet, but we're busy getting the boat finalized, spending precious time with our sons, parents, grandchildren and close friends. We hope there is enough of us left to steer the boat!

Please watch for our blog in the next few months.

John's version:
Our dream is to leave next summer, it really is an awesome boat. No drama, no passionate expressions.
Diane: "Hmmm, must be a Mom thing."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Douglas Tate

The DREAM! When did it start, when did it change, and will it be a reality when I (we) wake up? I remember the moment vividly when my parents' friend gave me the wheel of his 30 foot wooden sloop in Long Island Sound. The electricity of adventure was intoxicating. I was all but 5 years old and had no idea what those previously written words meant. However, I do NOW!

Being raised by conservative non-sailors, the dream took years to germinate, but after the inoculation at 5 years old, it really took hold when my dad bought our family (perhaps me) a $150 Styrofoam Sea Swinger sailboat at the Hartford, CT, winter boat show in the mid/late 60's. While I only sailed a small lake, that boat would take me across imaginary oceans.

The dream grew in slow waves and spent many years particularly during High School and College in remission. A dear, but now passed on, buddy kick started the dream in 1975 by building a 34 foot trimaran. Who knew you could build your own boat! That started the adventure that we now are close to realizing.

I met Dick Newick, Phil Weld, and many other sailors of legend and most gloriously, the Pardey's. I read Ferenc Mate's books until the bindings disintegrated. Multi-hulls, while exciting to sail, didn't pull on the shippy heart strings like the designs of Rhodes, Hess, Colin Archer, and, yes, Crealock. I needed, of course, a world cruising monohull like a Westsail: wanting is such a inarticulate word when referring to sailboats!

The dream was to sail around the world with family teaching ourselves the beauty of the world. How idealistic, but romantic, too. However, the realities of life crop up like speed bumps on the road of life. Living and dreaming often are strange bedfellows, but perhaps its the dreaming that makes our living so rich.

One of my favorite quotes captures the coexistence of dreaming and living: "The fun is in the striving not the arriving!" Beth and I have walked a meandering path toward our dream balancing living and dreaming as best we could. While we haven't released our proverbial dock lines yet, we are closer than we have ever been.

We built our first boat from plans: was it an engagement ring or the blueprints that got her to say yes? A 20 foot sloop that taught us the art and science of boat building. We realized that a 1000 pound piece of foam gets really beat up on Buzzards Bay, so traded up to a Pearson Vanguard and tore that boat apart and rebuilt her into a beloved vessel. While it wasn't a Westsail, it was close enough to move us closer to the dream.

There was a boat that we spied while building our 20 footer some 25 year ago: a Westsail 42 Ketch named Harmony moored in Marion, MA. Beth remarked those many years ago, "maybe we'll have a boat like that someday". Well, life was lived and dreams were chased, but our opportunity to have a boat of our dreams (a Westsail) presented itself when least expected or perhaps desired.

Harmony, that beautiful Westsail 42, was for sale. What to do? Well, of course go look at it, if only for a temporary fix. Sadly, the vessel was a wreck and needed a lot of love. The dream overpowered logical living and we bought Harmony and have spent the last 3 years on a total restoration.

While the project is not done, we sailed her this Fall for the first time and OH what joy! The DREAM lives, although the years have refined the clarity of that dream. Circumnavigation has been replaced with coastal cruising with a planned jaunt to the Islands. We hope to release the dock lines in 3 years or so, once the boat is done and the bank account is full: yes, ever the practical. Dang, we're so close!!!

However, we are still striving and have a long passage to get to arriving. Yes, that path is certainly on the RUM line, if you know what I mean. Seriously, the DREAM has been a motivating and energizing force in our lives. It keeps us striving and away from the lee shore of arriving. We are ever thankful for the energy that Westsail vessels contributed to our dream.

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By David King

Jan. 2, 1981 The Dream

The Columbia's a river of endless flow, and as I sit at anchor,
I dream the day that I may go, to satisfy this hanker.

I picture my boat a sailing, bound for a tropical isle.
Under a full moon paling, drifting towards time's exile.

Together we'd cross the ocean, to anchor off the idyllic shore.
My life would express the emotion, of one who desired no more.

A life of complete satisfaction. That's how I dreamed it to be.
And my boat can feel the attraction, as this river flows to sea.



Oct. 24, 2014 The Dream

Thirty four years have passed since that dream of "81". Much has changed in my life, yet much has remained the same. The Westsail has been under foot now for over 70,000 nm, with 26 years spent living aboard. Three round trips were made to the South Pacific with my wife, Ruth, and 8 round trips to Hawaii, amongst other things. But that "Life of complete satisfaction" has not occurred. Nor am I the "one who desires no more".

The dream and it's accompanying desires are as intense and debilitating as ever. However, a few technical details are different. "I picture my boat a sailing", is now replaced with "a 72 hour, 8 knot, Screaming, Spinnaker Reach". And no longer is "anchor(ing) off the idyllic shore", good enough. Now the dream is to meet your best friends, with whom you've been buddy boating, and share that anchorage with them. "Drifting toward time's exile", must now be paraphrased to include" with the woman you love".

My blood still runs hot - but a little less so. Some dreams were met head on and some chips were wiped from my shoulders. The sailing will continue but changes will be necessary. Ruth may have made her last 2000 mile crossing with our Raiatea to Honolulu beat last year. She has left a 40,000nm wake though, and has never left any doubt as to her prowess on the boat and ocean.

The Dream still includes those long crossings and all that they demand. The Dream destinations vary little from the "81" era. At present there are no plans. There are, however, no less than 3 "thoughts" that are traipsing around in my dream world. Three adventures that SARABAND is fully up to, are still undone. SARABAND, a Westsail-32, has , so far, done everything I have wanted to do on a sailboat, and will continue to be the boat that continues this Dream.

Dreams, of course, are primarily future oriented. They can also be past oriented. Referencing this dichotomy, I give a special mention of thanks to those in our family that have helped me along the way, and will also be helping me in the future: First, of course, Ruth, and Diane & John (Konami), Shalline & Chuck (Saraband), Anthony & Terry (Gamen), Steve & Carmen (Solstice), Kate & Dan (Mithrandir), Joshua & Becky (SunQuest), Jim & Julie (Worldwind), Duke & Denise (Amable), Gary & Charlotte (Elizabeth Ann), Dan & Jean (Hunter), Randy & Dani (Tortuga), Art & Rose (Summer Rose), Lee (Patience), Bill Andrews (Quest), Just to name a few.

Thanks again, Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Gary Burton,
he Dream... hmmm.

Its always been there in one way or another, break away and live a life free from the grind. This first came true when I worked in the Namib desert in west Africa as a ranger after serving my National service (conscription) in the Marines and then later when I left the country of my birth with a backpack to eventually end up in Oregon after wandering through Egypt, Israel and England. Raising a family brought a demanding job and all the trappings of security, a mortgage, a car payment, etc etc. Life became a race for the weekend when the job could be forgotten and dreams could be rekindled walking the trails along the Oregon coast and wondering about the distant horizon.

The Westsail captivated me, A whole new Dream in a new form, to sail my own boat somewhere exotic. Found in the desert, a kit boat that had never made it past the back yard. Inside was like a time capsule from the Westsail brochure, a new Westsail 32. We had to remove a carport and shovel away 35 years of soil and growth to get her out of that yard.

What followed was many dollars, and hours of work. Lee Perry and Dave King helped to get her in the water.... and then some. I'm sure there were times when they wondered what they were doing helping someone who probably wouldn't get past the bar in Brookings, a complete neophyte. But they did help and I'm indebted to them. I learned a new work slogan

"We will do something even if its not right" hahahahahaha

It must have been frustrating trying to help me sometimes :)

I dreamed of the Single Handed Transpac. Could I really sail to Hawaii on my own? Yes. And I could quit my job and become self employed? Yes.

The Westsail has enabled these recent dreams. It is my Dreamship and my place to dream. My refuge and my sanity.

This winter a new dream has begun. The Westsail will once again feature.

Dreams do come true.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Lee Perry,

Thanks to all for responding. Without our dreams we would all be dull clods just going through the motions.

For me the Dream started in the 70s reading Woodenboat magazine and anything I could find on singlehanded sailing.

In the 80s the dream was forming and kept safe on a shelf. Part of it was to build my own ship to sail in. The south pacific was the place.

In the 90s my Westsail Patience became a reality. Taking a 3 month leave from work to sail to Hawaii was my first taste of total freedom.

Retirement in 2003 allowed more passages- 2 to Mexico and another to Hawaii. The Dream was still there.

2014 forty years after the Dream started Patience arrived in the south pacific. No some of it is not like it was forty years ago. You can no longer anchor in Papeete harbor off the quai and the French do not take kindly to you overstaying your visa. The beauty of it all is still there with unbelievable clear water and green valleys. The Tahitian drums still carry a fast beat and the dancers keep pace with them.

Thanks to my wife Nancy for helping me along the way to keep the dream alive. She is the smart one that flies to meet me at the next port.

Patience waits for my return next spring on the island of Raiatea. Yes the dream was worth waiting for.

Lee