Sailing

Photo by Claude Desjardins at Cook’s Bay, Moorea, PF 1984 with Genevieve and Turlutte le chat, aboard “Pere Peinard” at anchor. Not making an appearance in this photo is the 4th crewmember, Alexandre le Bienheureuse (the very happy) cat.

Adventures under sail include…

“Triffid,” my father’s Piver Nimble built by Cox Marine on the Hamble, one of the first production built trimarans in Europe, which carried us across the English Channel and eventually (without me) to Gibraltar, where it was smashed to toothpicks in collision with a fishing boat while sailing quite fast in the harbor. Everyone escaped unharmed, and my father’s dream of sailing trans-Atlantic was not to be realized. The rest of our family made the crossing aboard the somewhat more capacious ocean liner “United States” in 1966.

“Triffid 2,” another Piver, 25′ with a cabin and hinging floats, which the family built in the barn in Jericho Center, VT and sailed up Lake Champlain, the Richelieu, St Lawrence Seaway into Gaspe, Prince Edward Island, and later cruises on the coast of Maine.

“Shan Tien,” a 19′ wooden Lightning class was my first boat which, with a dhyer dhow dinghy, my father gave me to fix up and sail around Lake Champlain in the early 70’s.

“Luana,” a Craiger 40′ Catamaran we cruised to Bahamas and Florida waters 1974-75 and up the coast to Lake Champlain and back down the Hudson River to NY. Many weeks at Riverbend Marina learning how to carry out heavy duty repairs!

“Taruma,” 48′ racing Catamaran, Peter Spronk design of St Maarten’s, cruised from Miami to St. Maartens and the BVI in 1975.

“Carapace,” 35′ Dutch steel-hulled flush deck Valentijn Max G design my father rescued and we rebuilt in Jericho, cruised from Burlington VT to Palm Beach, FL, 1978.

“Sea Goat,” my first boat of my own, a 23′ hard chine plywood sloop with a Star keel, that I salvaged off the beach of a spoil island in Dinner Key Anchorage, Miami, 1979. I sailed “Sea Goat” up the coast to Daytona Beach and back to Miami, and Soldier Key. No engine, no electric, super simple.

“Hollario,” 40′ ferro-cement, doublehanded delivery from Miami to NY, 1979, dismasted on bridge!

“Citti,” 28′ Wharram catamaran (no cabin) living aboard and sailing Biscayne Bay.

“No Name,” a little daysailer I fixed up for friends to commute to Soldier Key and back for provisioning out of Dinner Key.

“The Prowler,” my gutted classic Prowler Forrest E Johnson 28′ liveaboard (once a power boat) in the anchorage.

“The Golden Hinde,” replica Sir Francis Drake’s, paid crew from Cowes to Poole with Peter Hayward as Captain. Learned to skip up the topmast and what it’s like to get hung up in irons off the Needles in a calm…

“Neriad of Menai,” Taiwanese built Choy Lee, Peter Hayward Delivery from Poole to Liverpool, 1980.

“Terranga,” 35′ Jeanneau Delivery with NCowan from Las Palmas, Canaries to Port Leucate, France in December, 1980. Very cold and rough passage at that time of year. I think the owner might have intended for the boat to go down enroute.

“Penny Royal,” 35′ Ted Brewer design, delivery from Miami to Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, 1981.

“Pere Peinard,” 18′ cold-mold Bruce Roberts design, with my husband Claude Desjardins, Miami to Australia, 1982 through 1986.

“Nacra,” 19′ catamaran Claude and I refurbished to sell and had fun sailing, too.

“Dory,” 20′ fiberglass dory hull that I bought and converted to sail with ballast, lug sail, centerboard and cabin to sail on Biscayne Bay, which I sold in 1981 and paid my tuition for a time at St John’s College.

“Swan,” 48′ delivery Bermuda to Stamford, CT, 2001.

“OWL,” 1966 Columbia Contender 24′ sloop, years of great sailing on Lake Champlain, which I sold in July 2009 with some sadness but quite happily getting out on the water with friends.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of his Pacific crossing as, “…the unforgettable, the unrememberable…” I am delighted that my own glad passage from Miami to Australia with 18′ Pere Peinard is remembered in William Longyard’s book, “Speck on the Sea: Epic Voyages in the Most Improbable Vessels.”