Sailing the Dream

Some people would think twice about sailing long-term on a yacht. I thought about it often, even thru a period when all appeared hopeless. Most of the world's people don't think about it at all.Yet, many men I meet, tell me I'm living their dream..!!

My earlier dream was to build an 85' Long-Range Trawler and cruise the Mediterranean for two or three years. Sheri and I met with the manufacturer of the Motor yacht we decided to buy at the September 2000 Newport Boat Show,just prior to seeing the Schooner Tree of Life.

The "Tree" was on display next door with other "Previously Owned Yachts,"
the Used Boat Show if you will, at the Newport Waterfront hotel and Marina.

The ship caught Sheri's eye when we were in the Old Port Launch, going from the dock at Bonniecrest to the Boat Show at the Yachting Center. She looked like an 1800's Pirate Ship..!!

She was a beasutiful tradition filled work of art, surrounded by modern day whispsof white plastic hulls of various lenghts..!! Our first walk around the deck captured us. The detail in the wooden masts and the gaff-rigging, the schrouds with rat-slatsheld in place with heavy black line thru thick dead eyes, found us looking at one another, trying to decide if what we were
feeling was real..!! We were taken back to another time. This wasn't "Just another ship at sea, this was indeed a special vessel!!"

Something about the Schooner Tree of Life made our insides twinge and tingle..A tour below deck, the warm salon and companionway to the fo'cle is paneled in rare Hawaiian Koa. The aft cabin is full beam in teak and mahogany. It features large portlights just beside the headboard with a clear view to the water astern..!! We were swept away by huige waves of emotion. The feelings continues still..!!

"This is it..!! Look no more..!!"

My focus then was to secure the Schooner Tree of Life for our cruising future.It was after speaking to the Captain on board and the Boat Broker, Brian Commette, did we realize the range of our cruising would be "unlimited ." We no longer needed to be concerned about miles of travel due to limited fuel supply.A new option, to "Sail Around the World" was born that day..!!

I felt a rush of excitement run thru me..!! Fifteen years in and out of three boats, a 27' Catalina Sail Boat, the "Rising Sun" that became the "Mon Cheri," purchased from Fred Levinger in 1984, in 1988 a 44' Tollycraft Power Boat, the "Sweet Retreat" and in 1990 a 60' Jefferson Motor Yacht also called "Sweet Retreat." I always felt that someday, I would be a long-term cruiser..!!

Our Newport to Florida trips and the Bahama's cruise were "Trips in the Park" compared to what we were about to undertake..!! With no open ocean sailing experience, I knew we would need a superior crew. The six young men and women aboard the Tree of Life are the "GREATEST..!!" Every day out here can bring a new adventure or a new question to which the answer is unknown. I expected there to be challenges to solve with the skills I've gained in a lifetime of learning from my father, Rene Laramee,a little ingenuity, perseverance and just maybe, some plain dumb luck..!! I am determined, however, to learn as much as I can about the sea and sailing as time allows. At the end of six years, when we expect to complete our
circumnavigation, I trust there will be some "Real Sailor" in me..!!

There are reasons I've heard, not to go crusing around the world..!! Some said it's wasn't practical, it seems too ambitious a goal, it isn't logical, it's not the answer you're looking for..!! And still others, their opposition became obvious by their absence. All of these reasons are subjective arguments that not only keep people from taking a risk and sailing around the world, they also keep them from having a "Creative Life" no matter what they do..!!

You don't have to be a radical to believe that some changes could be made in your schedule of events to enrich your life. Yet, many of us abandon the option to accomplish innovative new concepts for our own lives. You don't have to sail across oceans to change your life..!! But, go on an "Adventure" that seems a little out of the ordinary..!! Treat yourself while
you can..!! We all know the horror stories. As mortals, it is guranteed that nothing lasts forever, at some point in time, all our opportunities will be behind us.

Crusing the oceans as I have for the past nine months is a glorious and challenging adventure. My "Ship's Log Updates" are but a fraction of what goes on out here on a day to day basis. The realization is, that when we were five miles off the coast of the United States, we were only five miles away from 275 million people and yet we were very much alone. When we were 50 miles off the coast, we might see a few other boats during a week and they are most likely to be . At 1,000 miles off the coast, your perceptions of yourself and of the journey become very singular..!! I described several storms and their aftermath in past
"Updates." We experienced vicious seas and severe winds south of Bermuda and again west of Bonaire. It isn't always a luxurious "Picnic in the Lilly Pads" out here. But, it is GLORIOUS..!! It's an exceptional mix of disipline and high flying freedom, somewhat risky, but predictably divine. The sea takes over all worry..!!I learned, as crusing sailors, we live and breathe weather..!! The weather is the topic of every cocktail hour and dinner conversation.

We stand in awe of the weather and respect its mystery because it determines many of our decisions, our very lives are at stake..!! Sailors talk about the weather, but we rarely complain about it, at least not too loudly, because it's the weather that takes us where need to go. It is also true that more often than not, the hail, the thunder, and thecrashing waves
never come.

I vividly remember that dark night, south of Bermuda, feeling "a bit insecure..!!" Add 40 knots of wind. Take away familiar surroundings like the ground you stand on and replace it with a boat the size of a large Living Room..!! Now add motion, LOTS of it..!! Up, down, left and right, pitch and roll...!!! Add to that, an empty stomach. Ugh..!! Right Lora Lee..? My
Mother-in-law, she sailed from Newport to Bermuda with us last october ) Stare into the black night and see the white froth curl around the caprail of the ship. The roar of the ocean and the howling of the wind is all you hear..!! I was thankful for the crew, the newest members of my family.

When the sun does rise, the ocean is peaceful like a large lake with a gentile breeze blowing across it..!! We stopped the Tree of L:ife, 1,000 miles east of Palm Beach at noon the day following that stormy night for a "General Swim."

Everyone was off the ship and in the water.. 1,000 miles at sea..!! We headed south to freedom, where palm trees line white sandy beaches, warm water and balmy weather awaited..!! I find life out here as a crusing sailor is a special life..!! It is filled with a special feeling that is hard to explain. When you live on the ocean, you sort of become the ocean.
It is certainly helpful that I had a love for sailing and the sea before beginning this journey. I think about the nights we sit in the main salon, and being struck by the absurdity of the motion, tossing heavily this way and then that..!! I was also struck by the uniqueness of the room I was in..!!

I think about Sheri and me in our cabin with "Lee Cloths" up, keeping us from hitting the sole, (floor) and the "Divorce Board" firmly secure, running the length of our bed..!! It keep us from "crashing" into one another when we're heeling over. It is all part of the adventure..!!

I suddenly have a new sense of the world that surrounds me. I'm aware of everything I see, I hear and I smell..!! It reminds me of the natural world outside of me. There is no way to
separate myself from the experience..!! On land you might imagine that you are outside of or separate from nature... At sea, I've learned, that inside yourself there is another universe, one that also has sequences and weather that seem to vibrate of their own accord.

You learn "hope" because it is the hope of seeing the sun the next morning that gets me thru the stormy nights. You learn 'faith" because I witnessed myself, having faith that the stars would return when the clouds move away. I continue to see that hard work and laughter aboard the "Tree" make me happy..!! I've learned to "love life" itself..!! And I know that the
"love of life" is for me, a very real thing..!!

This adventure has delivered me from the tedious sameness that tends to trap us all. I readily admit my sailing experience was limited. My life's experience is far greater. I believe I understand the basic principles of sailing, some of the principles of science and of humanity.
And I do admit to being an incurable romantic..!!

I have been "at sea" as they say, for nine months. We're leaving Pitcairn Island in the morning, headed toward Tahiti and home for the month of June. Pitcairn Island is the
most isolated island in the world..!! Fletcher Christian hid here with his fellow mutineers,12 Tahitian women and four native men following the mutiny on the Bounty. There are less than 40 people on the island today, most decendants of the mutineers. Pitcairn is half way between Tahiti and Santiago, Chile, there is no airport, a supply ship visits every six months.

You think sailing is an lonely life..! Some of us look at life from above thru a huge
magnifying glass. Now, I feel that view misses the everyday features of our exisitance.
I found getting back to reality means what it must have meant originally, living in a world of "mystery and surprise," rather than what we think, that we have successfully orchestrated our lives..!! My life today requires me to keep the wind in my sails, while moving in a different
direction. We are all truly sailing thru the universe, there is nowhere else to be. My biggest drsire is to share these new found gifts in my life with Lesley and Jeffrey.

Not a day goes by that some event, some happening, something new I've experienced doesn't bring them iimmediately to mind..!! They too, should be afforded the opportunity for a "Creative Life," filled with "mystery and surprise..!!" A piece of that life is here, waiting. on the Schooner Tree of Life..!!

It's a place where life has its roots as in Darwin's "Theory of Evolution," deep beneath the water's surface. A place to feel the strength of her wooden hull as it supports the massive Spruce masts that stretch high into the heavens, that enable the sails to capture the wind and carry us along life's incredible journey..!

There are two options in a person's life.. "Reflection and Action..!!" One is the opportunity to "Think about it." The other is the opportunity to "Live it.!!" Jacob Licht, Lesley and Jeffrey's Great-grandfather taught me that lesson more than 30 years ago.During one of our many conversations, I complemented him on his success emigrating from Russia as a young man, penniless, to a strange country and becoming a respected leader and a sucessful businessman in the community.

He humbly offered that he wasn't "So special..!!" The difference between his success and his friends who were not as successful, he said was "The others talk about what they could have done with their lives.. But, I did it..!!" He had the courage to take what he called, "well thought out risks..!!"Not all of his venturers were winners. There were, however, far
more successes than not..!! But, he said, without the courage to try, to take risks, he'd be like the others, talking about what he "could have done" with his life.!!Thanks, Zada..!!

Many of us still talk about what we'd like to do with our lives.. The miracle will be, in reflection, not having to talk about, "What I could have done with my life..!!" I am eternally grateful for this opportunity,I'm sailing around the world.!!

John G. Laramee