Cruising World

Five years ago, racing sailor and offshore fisherman Todd Berman came up with a novel idea for a new kind of boat: a hybrid vessel that would combine the pure, clean power of the wind with the comfort and convenience of a highly efficient, easily driven motor yacht—sort of a high-seas Prius that would give its owners the best of both worlds.

To get to Victoria, we had to come up the relatively desolate Washington coast until we could make a right turn into the strait that separates the United States and Canada: the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is all new and exciting geography for the crew of Del Viento.

Call it fate, karma, or kismet. Call it whatever you like, but some encounters, and the sails that turn up with them, are meant to be. From our October 2012 issue.

70-year-old British solo circumnavigator Jeanne Socrates left Victoria, BC, Monday morning to begin her third attempt at an unassisted, non-stop solo circumnavigation of the planet via the great southern capes.