We woke up aboard our sailboat in the Tauranga Bridge Marina in New Zealand. My husband and I had arrived in NZ the previous December after sailing across the Pacific. We had no TV and rarely listened to the radio.
Where Were You on 9/11/2001?
Tag Archives: Sailing
Facing Risk
Five years ago, I had an epiphany and a book idea was born. The impetus appeared in the August 13th, 2010 edition of my local paper, the Idaho Mountain Express.
“New York skier’s heirs sue rescuers for $5M
“By ASSOCIATED PRESS
“DRIGGS, Idaho — The family of a New York man who skied outside the boundaries of a western Wyoming ski area and was rescued the following morning but later died of hypothermia has filed a wrongful death claim.
“Sailing to Paradise: Sin, Disease, and Natural Disaster” on CaPC
Fifteen years ago, my husband, Todd, and I sailed across the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to New Zealand.
About a month ago, Christ and Pop Culture (CaPC), in their online members’ magazine, published my article detailing some of our Pacific adventures. What we began as a sight-seeing trip, God turned into a spiritual journey.
“Ellen, come look at this,” my husband, Todd, requested.
We were five days sailing into our first ocean passage from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia in 2000. We expected the 2,800-mile journey to take close to four weeks and possibly a full month of blue water sailing. I sleepily uncurled from the off-watch bunk of our Cal 34 sailboat, Mandolin. Todd presented me with a weather fax he had downloaded via our HAM radio to our laptop. It showed that a Tropical Depression had developed to the southeast in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, the birthplace of Pacific Ocean hurricanes. This weather system had the potential to kill us. It was heading our way.
I had wanted to write an overview of our experiences for some time and I thank CaPC for being the catalyst for me to finally write it down. Today, CaPC published the article on their website.
I think I might start a #RomanceOnTheHighSeas Twitter campaign. Some choice quotes: Continue reading “Sailing to Paradise: Sin, Disease, and Natural Disaster” on CaPC
The 5ive Guys invited me to play
Making lists and checking each other with snark is what the guys at The 5ive Blog are all about. Each week they choose a topic, publish their lists and then give each other “yeah, whatever dude” commentary back. They invited me to play along this week and even let me pick the topic. The winner: Top 5ive Personal Sports. As in, what sports do we enjoy participating in? Being *ahem* gentlemen, they let me go first.
Did my husband and I really sail across the Pacific? We did. Read more about it…