Looking for a new adventure, Patricia Vellinga and her husband buy a boat-a big boat that turns out to be more a yacht kit than a yacht. Their simple plan is to cruise Europe and the Mediterranean for one year. Their journey, however, is far from routine.
As Pat and Ray motor through the canals of Holland, Belgium, and France, then sail to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Spain, they find beauty and danger. Towering locks and feisty barge captains test their boat handling prowess. Forced at gunpoint to cast off into the raging Saône River, they struggle to safety. The treacherous winds of the meltemi in Greece and the mistral in France challenge their sailing skills. They sail into idyllic anchorages and 2000 year-old ports used by Odysseus. Anchoring? Who thought anchoring could be so funny? It becomes the daily entertainment as yachters jockey for position in ancient ports. Pat’s detailed descriptions of Ray’s brush with the octopus mafia and the charter captain who leaves everyone in a wake of pandemonium will put a smile on your face. Salty characters abound.
In the end, Pat and Ray are hooked on the cruising lifestyle. It takes them well beyond their one-year plan.
As Pat and Ray motor through the canals of Holland, Belgium, and France, then sail to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Spain, they find beauty and danger. Towering locks and feisty barge captains test their boat handling prowess. Forced at gunpoint to cast off into the raging Saône River, they struggle to safety. The treacherous winds of the meltemi in Greece and the mistral in France challenge their sailing skills. They sail into idyllic anchorages and 2000 year-old ports used by Odysseus. Anchoring? Who thought anchoring could be so funny? It becomes the daily entertainment as yachters jockey for position in ancient ports. Pat’s detailed descriptions of Ray’s brush with the octopus mafia and the charter captain who leaves everyone in a wake of pandemonium will put a smile on your face. Salty characters abound.
In the end, Pat and Ray are hooked on the cruising lifestyle. It takes them well beyond their one-year plan.
