Spring is here, which means it’s time for my annual bout of wanderlust. As the weather warms, I get antsy to cast off lines and cruise somewhere off the grid. But if commitments at home or work make it difficult to put a solid travel plan into action, I find pleasure living vicariously through the salt-water adventures of others.
Romy Olaisen is one person who inspires me. She recently told me about the incredible journey she took with her husband, Keith, last year aboard their 47-foot Nordhavn, Roam. They left their home in Vero Beach, Florida, last spring and did the passage to Bermuda. Then, they crossed back over the Atlantic to make their way up the East Coast, where they traveled through New England and eventually up into Canada. “Aside from a few business trips, Keith and I had never really seen the Northeast coast before. We both fell in love with it,” Olaisen says.
For years, the couple had done most of their cruising near their home, aboard small to midsize boats. But when they retired more than a year ago, they invested in a seaworthy trawler with good range and made serious plans to visit the ports they’d always heard about, but had never seen. That cruise up the East Coast was their first big adventure on their new boat. They were gone for six months and traveled 5,000 miles. “We wouldn’t trade that experience for anything,” Olaisen says.
I’m always impressed with boat owners who act boldly when the urge strikes to throttle up and point the bow somewhere far away. Writer and photographer Tom Zydler is another one of those people. In the story “Force of Nature”, he shares his experiences circumnavigating Newfoundland, where miles logged along the southern coast of “the rock” gave him the chance to be surrounded by what he describes as breathtaking wilderness.
If you prefer to find adventure a little closer to home, then read “Victory Lap” by Gary Reich . For this story, he traveled to Maine to board a historic schooner in the windjammer fleet. Or, check out Wendy
Mitman Clarke’s story on Chestertown, Maryland. Her reporting will give you many reasons to cruise to this colonial seaport on the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chestertown story is the first installment in a new department of the magazine called “Journeys,” which is devoted to the coverage of cruising destinations. The addition of this section, and a few others, is one of the changes you’ll find this month; you’ll also see our refreshed design. We’ve updated our layouts so that each page offers more visual impact and creates just the right environment for the words and photos that tell timeless stories of moments spent on the water. And of course, the magazine still contains the departments that you look forward to reading each month. I think the combination is a winner. If anything, time spent paging through this issue could be one way to cure a case of wanderlust.
This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue.
