North Channel SWS Cruise 2000
Page 0 - Friday
Preparations

 
       After sailing for a week on our father's Shearwater, True North, during last year's Magnum Opus, my sister, Ellen, and I were really looking forward to the possibility of borrowing a Dovekie for this year's cruise.
       As the starting date of the cruise approached my father, Nick, called to let me know that we would be able to borrow the Turnstone from Robert and Jane Clare of Glendale, Wisconsin.  I could hardly contain my excitement!
      The Turnstone was the original Dovekie our family had purchased in 1982, and now I would have the opportunity to sail it again with my sister.  This cruise would be the first Dovekie experience for my children, Roby and Gabrielle.  Nick and his wife, Gayle, would be joined on True North by my brother, Dave, for another big family-reunion cruise.
      I was looking forward to the extra room afforded by having two boats this year, but also nervous for us to be cruising on our own this time.

 
       Our excitement was running on high and sleep hadn't come easy to any of us the night before.  We awoke early and prepared to go get the old girl.  As Dave drove, I couldn't stop thinking about the trip to Massachusetts 18 years earlier.  Dave was 15 and I was 12 when we got the Dovekie.  I wondered what Gabrielle, age 6, and Roby, age 9, would think of her.
       It was about 9:30 am when we arrived at the home of Robert and Jane Clare.  There she was, the black and white Dovekie we had named so many years ago the Pilgrim Pelican (referred to as Pil Pel).  My son summed up all my feelings in one word, "Cool". After making sure that we had all the equipment that we needed for the boat and agreeing to return her in the same condition, we returned to Dave's.

Click below or select a Day

Next Page     SWS Home