WINDFARING, WHAT?
Think of it like wayfaring – to travel by foot. Here, we travel by the wind.
“We should buy a boat…”
That was really how it all began.
We spent a long time entertaining dreams and discussion of one day, when the time is right, sailing off into the sunset. That will be the day. When the kids are grown, when the bank account is balanced, when we have the time – we’ll say sayonara to the city and drift away just like they do in all those songs. We did a lot of talking.
And then one day it clicked: why are we waiting? We should buy a boat now. so we did.
While we are still doing a lot of talking about someday, we’re getting our feet wet (sometimes literally) right here on Lake Ontario.
Meet Kate
That’s me! Living and working in Toronto and… well, not exactly loving everyminute of it, but making the most of city life. What can I say? It does have its moments. Craft beer and taco specials, anyone?
I grew up next to the water, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, in a small town named after a bird that nobody outside of the county has ever heard of. After university, I stayed in Toronto to get the office job that everybody said I needed, quickly discovering that it was a miserable existence. It’s just not my bag, y’know? Long story short, I left the cubicle to travel in other hemispheres and, while in Australia, landed myself a six-week stint on a 37’ sailboat named Rock Hoppra.
That was my first time on a boat of any kind, and I didn’t get seasick (disclaimer: that may be a lie), and I was hooked. Line and sinker. This is something to do for more than just a holiday.
Together with my partner, in life and in crime, we’ve been making the most of the moment and steaming full ahead toward our dream of sailing full-time.
Meet Highland Fling
She is a beaut, isn’t she? 1974 Grampian 26. Our first love.
She might look like a total tank, but this little lady is quick on her keel and has a bit of a reputation. Meticulously streamlined by her previous skipper, we inherited her at the height of her racing career, a position she’s now retired from – which gets us off the hook when it comes to any competition. At least that’s what I tell people when they ask how it’s been keeping up with her lustrous racing career. How does she sail? She slips through the water unopposed by friction, defying the surface tension of water molecules, and untying every knot the wind can throw at her. In other words, she’s pretty fast.
All of this in mind, hull speed and PHRF-LO rating (please don’t ask me what that means) are less important to me than the overall comfort that Fling provides. When you ask me to tell you about my boat, the first thing I’ll point out are all of the best places to nap. I can count at least eight off the top of my head, and that includes three configurations in the cockpit alone. She also has storage space for every piece of baggage that your life might carry on, which is essential when it comes to boat life. I’d trust her to take me across the ocean if she had to, but lucky for the both of us, her home is on Lake Ontario. For the time being, it kicks up gnarly enough for the both of us, and Fling handles it with class and grace even when I don’t.
MEET THE DREAM
The dream is a straight-forward one. Cast off the dock lines and travel the world by sailboat. The words themselves are matter-of-fact, but getting there is an entirely different story. Especially when you haven’t even reached the stage of boat ownership yet.
But that’s what this journey, and this blog, are about. The process of transitioning from life on land to a life at sea. While I learn the finer aspects of how to get between two ports of call, I hope to share the lessons and the discoveries made as we venture further and further from the safety of the little bay in Toronto that we call home. I’ve always loved to write, and I’ve always loved a good adventure. Windfaring – travelling by way of the wind – will hopefully showcase both.