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I have been sailing most of my life. started sailing before he was a teenager taking CYA lessons at Pigeon Lake in Alberta while racing fireball sailboats with my Dad. With Karalee Greer, we have owned four boats traveling up and down BC's coast. In 2001, we commissioned a sailboat in the south of France and for two years home schooled our three children while sailing more than 5,000 NM in the Mediterranean. I write and present extensively on sailing, passage making, and family living on a sailboat.
Videos:
When we travel, people ask us if we can really sail year-round in BC. If you have good wet-weather gear and a heater on your boat, you can sail BC's West Coast twelve months of the year. Most people (including us), cruise May to October. If you want more wind and bays all to yourself, cruise the West Coast from November to April.
| 1969 | First sailed with my Dad on his Sunfish. |
| 1975 | Raced with my Dad on a Fireball on Pigeon Lake in our local sailing club. Completed introductory and intermediate Canadian Yachting Association (now Sail Canada) courses. |
| 1980 | Bought Fire Dragon a Catalina 27. Completed Jib Set Cruise and Learn. |
| 1981 | Completed Canadian Sail and Power Squadron basic course. |
| 1990 | Sold Fire Dragon and purchased White Dragon our Catalina 34. |
| 2000 | Over the previous two decades sailed more than 5,000 NM on BC's West Coast. |
| 2001 | With a sailing instructor completed my first overnight passage under sail crossing Georgia Straight twice. |
| 2001 | Sold White Dragon and commissioned Dragonsinger our Jeanneau 43DS in Port St. Louis du Rhone, France. |
| 2003 | Sailed more than 5,000 NM while completing more than 20 overnight passages as Karalee Greer and I home schooled our three children and travelled the Mediterranean for two years. Details on our Mediterranean cruise web site. |
| 2004 | Delivery of Dragonsinger from Bodrum, Turkey to Palma, Mallorca covering 1,350 NM with five overnight passages. Online diary of the adventure here. |
| 2008 | Sold Dragonsinger after covering an additional 1,150 NM of cruising BC's west coast. |
| 2013 | Watch leader on Dick Leighton's Prout 39 catamaran Van Kedisi for 850 NM over 8 1/2 days from San Sebastian, Gomera, Canary Islands to Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands. See the videos Sailing Canary Islands to Cape Verde and Exploring Santo Antao. |
| 2013 | Watch leader on Van Kedisi for an 2,050 NM passage taking 15 days and nights to cross from Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands to Bridgetown, Barbados. The videos from this crossing are First Spinnaker Run on Van Kedisi and Sailing the Atlantic from Cape Verde to Barbados. See Dick's summary of the Atlantic crossing in his post Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown, Barbados. |
| 2017 | Watch leader and passage planner on Oriole, a Rubicon 3 expedition yacht, sailing 855 NM from Reine, Norway to Siglufjordur, Iceland. You can see the pictures, view a map of the route, or watch the video. |
| 2018 | Crew on a winter 1025 NM passage from Ponta Delgra, Azores to A Coruna, Spain through challenging North Atlantic Spring Storms. This trip was another Rubicon 3 adventure on their Bowman 57 Oriole. See the pictures. |
| 2018 | A 540 NM coastal passage navigating the tight islands and passages of coastal Norway from Bodo to Alesund as one of six crew members. A Rubicon 3 Passage Making Master Class on Oriole. A series of SW lows kept battering us exactly in the direction we needed to go. See Sailing the Norwegian Coast for a photo album of the entire passage. |
| 2019 | A crew member on board the Clipper 60 Bluejay from Iceland to Scotland via the Faroe Islands. A Rubicon 3 Adventure. I did all the navigation from Reydarfjordur, Iceland to Klaksvik, Faroe Islands a 254 NM passage. After sailing through the Faroe Islands, we completed a 272 NM passage from Torshavn, Faroe Islands to Stornoway, Scotland. See Sailing Iceland to Scotland for the photos of the entire trip. |
| 2020 | We cruised 120 NM in Howe Sound and BC's Gulf Islands on our chartered Catalina 320 Sheila Marie (from Cooper Boating). In December, we purchased Sea Bird, a 1993 Catalina 34 and did a 63 NM passage Delivering Sea Bird from Sidney to Vancouver for a total of 183 NM in 2020. |
Here is a summary of my total mileage by role, boat type, and over night passages:
| Captain | 12,683 NM and 26 over night passages on monohull sailboats. |
| Watch Leader | 2,900 NM and 23 nights crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a Prout 39 catamaran. |
| Watch Leader | 800 NM on a five-day passage crossing the Norwegian Sea from Norway to Iceland, including passage planning. |
| Crew | 1,025 NM on a five-day passage (including five nights) crossing through winter storms from Ponta Delgra, Azores to A Coruna, Spain. |
| Crew | 540 NM on a nine-day passage from Bodo to Alesund, Norway including two over night passages. |
| Crew | 526 NM on two two-day passages (14 days total time on board) from Iceland to Scotland, including four night watches. |
| Total | 18,474 NM as captain, watch leader, or crew including 60 night passages. |