Greetings~! You have discovered the Gordon family sailing website, which will be the best way to figure out what we’re doing for the next year to five years.
SPRING 2006 (updated in April):
Mark’s ‘last day at work’ was April 14, though he will be returning for three days in May to train in his replacement. (is it possible to ever really LEAVE Thistledew?) With a lot of work and a lot of help and lingering colds, we successfully closed on the house on Monday April 17 and drove to Washburn, where we now reside in a cute little house just blocks from everything we need. Our boat is only 19 miles away! This is our spring home, which we will leave only once in May to take one good-bye trip through Minnesota and visit Katya’s parents in Wyoming.
June 26 is our departure date. Please feel FREE to visit us in Washburn during this interim period anytime!
THE FIRST YEAR:
We will be sailing through Lake Superior, stopping briefly to visit friends and family in Houghton, MI and Big Bay, MI. Our next longer break will be in Grand Bend, Ontario, on the east shore of Lake Huron where the Goodenough family owns a cottage and where all Katya’s family will be staying for one more visit. This will take place at the end of July or the beginning of August. We hope to be transitting the Erie Canal in August and reach New York City by the end of August. Then it’s down the eastern seaboard (past the Jersey shore, again stopping to visit Katya’s hometown in Bryn Athyn, PA) and the Chesapeake Bay, reaching Beaufort North Carolina by the end of October. We then wait for a weather window that will promise (not guarantee) us good weather until we get through the gulf stream. We will then sail down to the US Virgin Islands. This trip usually takes about 12-14 days and will be our first ocean offshore venture with our kids! We will have a third adult on board for this section, Dean Einerson, one of Mark’s faithful talented instructor therapists at Thistledew.
Once we arrive in the USVI, things get a lot looser. We have about 6 months to leisurely sail the eastern Caribbean, reaching Trinidad/Tobago (off the coast of Venezuela) by June 2007, the start of the Hurricane Season.
So that’s the Plan—but if you want to see what really happens, follow this website!
VISITS:
We would absolutely love to see friends and family while we are sailing. We have learned however that such visits need to be carefully planned with realistic timelines. Short visits (under a week) are unlikely to happen as planned. Our boat is too small to have guests stay overnight so finding your own accommodations is a must. Given these limitations, f you are interested in pursuing a vacation in the Caribbean and would like to cross paths with us, please let’s start talking about it!
CONTACT:
Our temporary email address is[email protected]. We hope to check email once a day while in Washburn.
You can mail stuff to us directly in Washburn at: PO Box 841, Washburn, WI 54891. Our cell phone is now our sole phone: 218-290-7276.
CONCERNS:
We are aware that you love us very much and may have concerns about our safety. Please please ask us questions—we would love to talk about how we are doing this safely, especially if it will ease your minds. We want to feel, as much as possible, that we are going with your blessings and approval.