Alice in Red in full sail
Once upon a time, there was a boat. Not just any old boat, but a beautiful, rare, English boat, a Northshore Vancouver 36, number three of only eleven ever built, lying far, far away in Cape Coral, Florida. In the 1990’s, still a pretty young thing, she carried a family comprising of Mum, Dad, Uncle and young boys all the way across the Atlantic. Built in 1990 in Chichester, the boat was named ‘Belvedere’ (very British!); the American family renamed her ‘Jomary’, a mish mash of their sons’ names. When Matt, one of those sons, grew up, he restored the boat and went sailing to the Caribbean with his girlfriend Laura, whose grandmother was called Alice, and liked to wear Red, which is how she got her current name…
Thanks to brother Chris &Viv for finding this mini-me 🙂
Once upon a time there was a mermaid called Ianthe, who lived in the warm seas near the islands now known as the Ionians – but that’s another story…(not for the faint-hearted, so published separately straight after this blog – don’t read if you’re easily offended!) Her great, great, great, great granddaughter, a land-dweller called Dawn-Maria had all but forgotten her watery origins until she met a man called Martin (for ‘mariner’, but he didn’t know that yet). This meeting began the slow awakening of the mermaid soul still buried in Dawn’s city-loving self. Long before she discovered their mutual destiny, she wrote a poem for Martin called “Mermaid”, promising to follow him across the seas… And so, it came to pass…
Martin took to sailing like the proverbial duck to water. Five years ago, his sailing experience was zero (as was Dawn’s), five days ago, he finished an Atlantic crossing with over 5000 miles under his belt. The boat that sparked the biggest part of his sailing adventures so far was the heroine of this tale, Alice in Red, calling from across the ocean via the wonders of the world wide web. Martin’s eyes lit up when he first saw her advertised and Dawn soon came under her spell when 
she arrived in 
Florida last July to check her out in person. The deal was done and the name was kept, partly because it’s so pretty, and partly because it reminded Dawn and Martin of their lovely old dog, Alice, who passed away at the amazing age of almost nineteen, still wearing her beloved red coat. Dawn began this blog, Mermaid Tales, and sadly, must now bring it to a close…
We arrived in Fort Myers, where our newly purchased boat was stored, in January 2013. We were dewy eyed, excited and nervous in equal measure. The furthest we had ever sailed in an unbroken journey was 90 miles, but most of our sailing had been on day trips of 30 miles or less. Looking back, it’s a miracle we didn’t encounter more problems, given our inexperience and the unfamiliar territory. We ran aground just off Bonita Bill’s on our first day out, but were rescued pretty quickly and made lots of new friends as a result. Key West was our first major trip and we were thrilled with our progress, and with the magical place itself. Seafront performances, stunning houses, and the beginning of our Ernest Hemingway trail…
Sunset, Key West
Next stop, Cuba! It was a hard journey, with big seas and a difficult entry, 
but we were rewarded by welcoming locals, stunning architecture and a glimpse of a country on the cusp of modernising change. The Gulf Stream, quite rightly, gets a bad press for the difficulty many sailors encounter when navigating it. It can help in terms of speed because it runs so fast in places, but when the wind is blowing against the flow, it’s hell on earth. Forecasts are only moderately reliable, so we got caught in a long passage from Cuba to the Bahamas where we felt like were being thrown about in a giant washing machine. Thankfully, we arrived safely in Bimini and the Bahamas were beautiful, relaxing, and we should have stayed longer!!! Despite a fairly big storm where our anchor was dragged forcing us to relocate in the middle of the night, our abiding memories of the Bahamas are of delicious fish suppers, smiling Bahamian faces and sharing Kalik beers while trading tales.
Sherry of Sherry’s Beach Bar and me enjoying a drink 🙂
Our next long trip, back to mainland America also proved to be uncomfortable. More lightening and rain and this time, and no help from the gulf stream as promised, so very slo-o-ow. Nonetheless, we landed safely in Port Canaveral and soon embarked on our final trip in the Americas – up the east coast visiting the prettiest places imaginable: Charleston, St Augustine, Bald Head Island… It’s small wonder that so many Americans don’t bother to holiday anywhere else – they are absolutely spoiled for choice at home! Once we joined the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) we were able to enjoy the camaraderie of lots of other boaters, both sailboats and motorboats, all making their way up and down this incredible stretch of largely protected water. It runs for just over 1000 miles from Norfolk, Virginia to Miami, Florida, but we were heading up through the last 300 miles to Norfolk, where we would embark on our transatlantic journey via Bermuda and the Azores, and be joined by our salty sea-dog crewmate, Doug. Special mentions to some of those we met on the way: Julie, Art and Bailey – bless you for being so hospitable, Debbie and John(who were going on the ARC too) for the fine dinner in Wrightsville and to Drew and Stephanie, for tools, baking and your warm company…
Our Atlantic crossing began on May 4th and ended on June 27th. As part of Arc Europe 2013, we enjoyed the security of knowing we were being tracked (many of you followed our progress, we know – here’s a link to a short film of the complete journey: http://youtu.be/1ZXK9lzKJ74), but being the smallest boat
Happy boys leaving Bermuda
meant that we rarely got to sail in company and we missed out on a lot of the social activities. However, we had a great time with all the ARC boaters and staff in Bermuda, which is an incredibly pretty island, and we met up with them again briefly in Faial in the Azores before they left to cruise the other islands. After that we were on our own.
Azores dreaming of home…
A quick stop in Terceira convinced us that we would love to return to this remote group of islands, but having decided not to follow the ARC to Portugal, it was time to set sail for Ireland. The trip to Cork was exhausting – we had wind on the nose most of the way (as indeed we did on the longest stretch, from Bermuda to the Azores) and then, just when we were only 200 miles from Cork , we hit a force 9 gale that raged for 27 hours – not an experience any of us would choose to repeat… but in a way, I think we’re all proud of how well we coped, and glad to have been through it – once! (God bless Guinness, the gift of good Irish whiskey – thank you Seamus and Mimo,the locals’ great humour, and Eve for coming to see us.)
Doug discovers the delights of Guinness 🙂
After a smooth crossing to the Bristol Channel, we made a brief stop in Cardiff, where Doug managed to add to his growing collection of fridge magnets for Karen, and then it was time to go home. The trip up the River Avon to Bristol was very emotional for Martin and I after such a long absence. Hopefully, it was also a lovely first sight of the beauty of this great city for Doug; it may have been founded on slaves and tobacco, but it is now home to cycling, the green movement and the arts. It
was wonderful to be welcomed back by a group of family and friends, keen to see the intrepid explorers, and equally wonderful to have the boat crowded with more family and friends a couple of days later. The sun shone, the boat lapped up all the praise, and Martin, Doug and I revelled in sharing our stories. Unbelievably, we’ve also got ourselves a new dog, a handsome beast called Buzz – quite a handful, but already a happy new member of our family.
So, it’s time to bid farewell to these Mermaid Tales and say goodbye, thank you for coming along, and wherever your life may blow you – I wish you fair winds…
Family and friends aboard Alice in Red in Bristol
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- The Sanibel gang 🙂
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- Pretty Patti
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- Bonita Bill’s
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- Bahamas bliss
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- Bimini, the Bahamas
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- Cuban countryside
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- Loading up with Bahaman beer…
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- Storm!
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- Our favorite hangout, Bimini.
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- HOT ribs
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- Sleepy head…
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- Eeenie, meenie…
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- Some of our dolphin friends
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- The sea at rest – almost…
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- Anchorage on ICW
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- Bailey, beloved pooch of Art and Julie aboard ‘Captain’s Choice’
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- Doug, Karen & Abbi join us aboard Alice in Red at Ocean Marine, Portsmouth
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- Dawn with gourmet dinner – and a beer!
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- Hot off the press! Thanks to Mia, Arc Europe for this pic of us, just arrived
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- Pirate Party, ARC Europe, Horta
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- Leaving Bermuda
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- Happy at sea – Doug 🙂
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- Martin ‘Beardyman’ Whitfield
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- Hope the varnish holds!
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- A peaceful moment with Pico
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- Pico as seen from Faial
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- Atlantic crossed!!!
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- Cork – safe and sound
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- Skipper No.1 Doug
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- Skipper No.1 Martin
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- Thank you Jon!!!
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- Happy Crew – Doug and Dawn
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- Spot the difference…
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- Stiggy and Tazz happy I’m home
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- Cuban cool
aliceinred2013 