Overpacked
Three hours into the flight to Faro, Portugal, it still hasn’t hit me. For months this trip has been a hypothetical, far-off thing. When I go sailing. That time in the future when I won’t be in the office. When I won’t be updating the website, or putting together the next enewsletter. Luckily, when you work for a sailing magazine, everyone understands the need to go sailing. So this is it. Live from 39,209 feet, I have cast off.
It all started back around New Year’s when my friend Ben mentioned his family’s Valiant 40, Apogee, would be in North Africa around August and he was looking for crew. What followed were emails and Skype dates and tentative meetings at work to float the idea. Then came plane tickets, guide books, a very jazzy instructional Arabic CD and one very late night of packing.
The crew will be Ben Morris, Nate Merrill, and myself, Eleanor Lawson, your friendly digital editor. Our plan is to sail from Portugal across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco, bounce down the coast and then cut across to the Canary Islands. If it all goes according to plan, this should take us about two and a half weeks. I will post pictures and updates from our trip as often as I can find wifi, Insha’Allah (God willing). Welcome to the new blog.
