Crossing the Pond - Part 1

Since I wrote about crossing the Gulf of Mexico in three parts I figured I owed at least that much to crossing the Atlantic Ocean.  So, here is the first of three.  Hopefully I can have them done in less time than it took me to actually make the crossing.

I knew I wasn't going to find a boat to cross the Atlantic in Colombia and needed to evaluate my options to conquer this next leg of my trip.  I was going to have to fly somewhere but where to was the question.  I wasn’t even exactly sure where most boaters start a west to east crossing from or even if there was such a collective.  As you have probably noticed by now my planning and research during this trip has been minimal at best but that was my plan.  I did gather enough info to know that the latest boaters leave is early-July to steer well clear of the beginning of hurricane season.  It was already mid-April so I needed to find a boat rather soon.

As fate’s story unravels in the present let’s take a look to the past before we try to figure out the future.  Exactly 40 years ago this last April, two 20-something year olds decided to get hitched and a few loving years after that, this same couple became known as my parents.  Now back in the present my dad thought it would be a nice idea to fly me home to surprise my mom as an anniversary gift.  The World Wide Web looks the same in Texas as it does in Columbia so searching online for a boat wouldn’t be any more difficult and getting to be with my parents and celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary sounded great.  Having home cooked meals and a nice comfortable bed before spending a month at sea was quite enticing also.

Crazy kids

Crazy kid

Once the partying was over and my mom had recovered from her shock, I had to get down to business and find a boat.  As it turns out, what seems obvious now, is that most boats depart from the northeastern most island of the Caribbean chain, which is St Martin.  There is a website I have used before to match crew to boat and there was no shortage of skippers looking for crew to help in their crossing.  Now with my previous years sailing experience in open waters I knew the minimums for a boat I wanted to feel comfortable and safe in for a crossing of this duration.

After getting in touch with a few captains and seeing their boats (online), one stood out as just what I was looking for.  A 54 ft Hallberg Rassy named New Dawn, owned and skippered by a distinguished European gentleman named Paul Donnerup who had plenty of experience and multiple crossings under his belt already.  He was wrapping up his time in the Caribbean and taking his boat back to his home in southern France.  A beautifully maintained fast mono-hull with all the amenities we could want to make the trip as comfortable and safe as could be expected on the open ocean.

Paul Donnerup:  Master & Commander of
Sailing Vessel New Dawn

Now one would think flying from Texas to St Martin wouldn’t be too difficult but trying to find both a semi-direct and cheap flight proved taxing even for a seasoned traveler as myself.  Turns out it is cheaper to fly via Canada, specifically Toronto, and then fly down to St Martin than it is to fly from Houston.  Also, Crystal was still in Toronto and that may have persuaded my decision a bit.  It was great to meet up sooner than expected and have a personal tour of Toronto and the surrounding countryside.  Although the few days I was there flew by, it was better than nothing.  On our way to the Buffalo Airport, Crystal kept singing her favorite Boyz II Men song, "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday", and even though it was a horribly rainy and cold day, we still swung by Niagara Falls before crossing the border so I could check it out.  I was glad I had my foul weather gear I use for sailing easily accessible as it came in mighty handy, but we made the most of it and did what anyone would do when it is raining at one of the wonders of the world.  Head indoors and play glow-in-the-dark putt putt.

Maybe airlines know something I don't but Houston looks much closer to St Martin than Toronto to me.

The iconic CN Tower stands tall over the Toronto city-scape.

Not sure who was wetter:  The tourists on the boat beneath the falls or those up top in the rain.

There's a giant waterfall somewhere down there.

Staying close for warmth.

When life gives you lemons, paint the walls neon yellow.

An old work colleague joins in.

So we said our goodbyes once more and I left for St Martin on May 7th.  Paul met me at the airport and after introductions and getting settled into the boat, he informed me of the good news that we had two more joining us for the voyage.  I had double-handed across the Gulf of Mexico and could tough that out for the 5 days it took to cross but wasn’t looking forward to a month’s long crossing with just the two of us on board.  Paul had come across these two young lads, Filip and William, on the internet as well although their initial correspondence with Paul was a bit different from mine which I’ll get to in a minute.  They were currently in Florida selling the small bought they had bought the previous year with three other friends after graduating high school and sailing around the Bahamas in the interim.  Now they were looking to get back across the pond in a slightly larger, more capable boat and begin university in the fall.  Obviously a bit green in years but their time in the Bahamas had served them well and they both proved quite capable.

As they will both be looking for career opportunities in the near future they wanted me to include a short bio on each of them in case a potential employer is interested.  Just remember, no matter what William tells you, he isn't a good cook.

Filip Peters

From:  Sweden

Date of Birth:  February 12, 1992

Degree:  Bid-nass

Hobbies & Interests:  Hopes to one day be a business mogul or gangsta rapper.  Enjoys drinking second cheapest wines.  His life goal is to build the third largest reef system off the coast of Florida using only rocks from Swedish waters.  He likes to come across as a douche-bag at first so we had that in common.  





William Hallstrom

From:  Sweden

Date of Birth:  January 27, 1992

Degree:  Undecided

Hobbies & Interests:  William enjoys playing horse polo not for the sport but because it allows him to wear Ralph Lauren shirts with the biggest possible Polo emblem on them.  He is under the impression that this is what really attracts the ladies.  We didn’t inform him otherwise.  Aside from his university degree he is also consistently undecided on rather to keep growing his hair long or cut it short.  He is still unclear on which the ladies prefer. 

Now, as to their first introduction, Filip came across Paul’s profile on a sailing website just as I had but that is where the similarities ended.  Filip, upon seeing from Paul’s profile that he was originally from Denmark, wrote his initial correspondence in Swedish since most Danes are fluent.  Paul’s Swedish isn’t what it used to be since he hasn’t lived in Denmark for many a year so he used Google translator just to make sure he understood everything correctly.  One line caught his particular attention when it mentioned that Filip and William were “two young gay men.”  Paul appreciated their frankness and had no qualms about their lifestyle but when you are about to spend a month on a small boat crossing the ocean with complete strangers you certainly want to make sure personalities are suitable.  So, he responded in English and included the Google translated version of Filip’s e-mail saying that they sounded like upstanding youth and was fine with them being gay but had a few more questions for them to make sure there weren’t any conflicts of interest.  Filip, after reading Paul’s reply and the translation, quickly responded that there had been a mistake and the word Google translated to mean “gay” really means “fun”.   At least that is what Filip told us.  We also found out that according to Google, Swedish people are notorious liars.  In the end all was well and the day after I arrived Paul picked up Filip and William from the airport and we welcomed them aboard New Dawn. 

A bit of history about the island, St Martin/St Maarten is comprised of a Dutch and French side.  In 1648 the Dutch and the French agreed to divide the island equally by choosing one man representing each country to walk from opposite ends of the island and where they met in the middle is where the island would be divided.  Somehow the French ended up with 60% of the island while the Dutch were left with the remaining 40%.  The Dutch accuse the French representative of running to gain more ground while the French say the Dutch representative drank too much Jenever (Dutch Gin) and passed out en-route.  In any case, there is no physical border separating the two sides and the differences between them are pretty much invisible to tourists although the French side claims, as one would imagine, to have better cuisine. 

BBQ restaurants line the beach on the French side.
Reminded more of The Houston Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off than the Champs Elysees.

With the crew all on board, Paul was hoping to leave in just two or three days which didn’t leave us too much time for sightseeing as we still had to provision the boat and take care of a few last minute items before setting to sea.

3-plus cart fulls of groceries.

3-plus dinghy trips to get it all onboard.

Even though our time was limited on the island,  I wasn’t too bothered by missing out on the pristine beaches St. Martin is known for since I had my fair share during the last year.  However, we did get a chance to stop in at the main tourist attraction that makes St Martin stand out from the other beautiful islands in the Caribbean.  This attraction is the international airport with the end of its runway just at the edge of a public beach.  Crowds gather at the bars on either side of the beach paying attention to the schedule of flights departing and arriving posted around the bar.  Not that you can miss a 747 coming in on final just above what seems like arm’s reach over your head but most revelers want to be in position on the beach to try and hold their ground as the jumbo jet engines throttle up for take off usually making a yard sale out of anything that isn’t fastened down.

No caption needed.

Not a 747 but still close enough to get your attention.

While sitting at one of these bars on our last evening, having a few relaxing drinks, watching planes land and take off, I was Skyping with my parents and the conversation I had with my mom went something like this:

Me:  So the plan is to leave St. Martin tomorrow and this evening we are relaxing at this bar on the beach where you can watch the planes land and takeoff at the waters edge.

Mom:  I saw a place like that on TV once where that happens to people on some island in the Caribbean.  That would be a neat place for you to go to.  I bet it is neat.

Me:  Yes mom.  It is very neat.  I speak from experience.  That is here where I am right now.  I am at that place.

Mom:  Oh.

(This transcript was sanctioned and approved for public use by Patricia Lynn Berger, my mom.)

Well, with the boat fully provisioned and in tip-top shape, the only thing left to do was to sail her across the Atlantic Ocean.  That was our last evening on solid ground and we enjoyed a few plump delicious hamburgers, a few beers, and the steadiness of the seats.  A simple luxury we wouldn’t have for the upcoming weeks.  As the multitude of sailboats in the protected harbor thinned out each day departing on their own crossing, our day of departure was up next.

JB

One last majestic sunset from terra firma before setting sail.