Gratitude

As our first big adventure on Sila winds down, I find myself reflecting on a variety of aspects of the experience including the many ways that I am grateful. Along the way, many people have been extremely generous to the crew of Sila. We have been welcomed into people's homes and onto their boats and countless individuals, far too many to list, have shared stories, information, anchorages, meals, provisions, and friendship in these last three years. I want to acknowledge and highlight five individuals whose contributions made an especially significant impact on the success of our voyage.

I have to start with Jean-François and Jean-François, affectionately known as "the Jean-François's," the two principles at Boreal. They built an excellent boat. Sila has been an outstanding member of this expedition, safely carrying our family across oceans and sheltering us with the embrace of a devoted parent. This all may be obvious to the casual reader of our blog but the Jean-François's did more for us than build a great boat. They were readily available and responsive to our queries as we learned the nuances of operating and maintaining Sila. And when we had problems, including those entirely of our own making, they helped us to solve them. 

"The Jean-François's," celebrating 10 years of Boreal boats. We were lucky enough to be in Treguier to enjoy the party in November 2015.

We originally hired Colin Speedie as a consultant and owners' rep for the boat building process. His many years of experience and wise counsel, not to mention his fluency in French, saved us both dollars and anxiety before Sila even hit the water. Colin was then a sounding board for us as we navigated the early months on Sila with a steep learning curve. Without Colin's advice and words of wisdom, we may not have had the courage to sail to Chile and then on to South Georgia, two of the highlights of these three years. Now we feel lucky to have a great friend in both Colin and Louise, who warmly welcomed us into their community while we were in Falmouth in the southwest of England.

Colin on a beach walk with us in Falmouth, England in early January

There are two unsung heroes in all of our voyages. My brother Kevin and Christopher's sister Mary together carried a burden for us these last three years. They were our emergency back up. Every time we sailed offshore, Christopher sent them a detailed float plan that included our departure and planned arrival ports along with an approximate arrival date and an overdue date. Had we ever been overdue, it fell to Kevin and Mary to contact the relevant coast guard and initiate a search for us. Thankfully, they never needed to actively do anything. Even so, they provided a level of comfort for all of us on Sila. I suspect that they each breathed a sigh of relief every time they received the "we are secure at such and such anchorage"  email. While we cherished the times that Kevin and Mary sailed with us and have fabulous shared memories with each of them, we are all especially grateful for the responsibility they shouldered on our behalf. -Molly

 Kevin and The Rabbit enjoying the Norwegian coast in July 2015

Mary and Christopher on the passage from Puerto Rico to New York in April