36,000 Miles

In late May, while sailing around Mount Desert in Maine, our odometer read 36,000 miles.We had been looking forward to this occasion for one specific reason; 36,000 miles means we have sailed as much as the average American drives in a year. Every year, the average American drives 12,000 miles. In three years we have sailed 36,000. I also might add that a nautical mile is greater than a normal mile so we have actually sailed more than the average American drives. 

During our first year, we sailed just over 9,000 miles, which got us from France, our starting point, all the way to the west side of the Panama Canal. I think of the first year as the year we settled into life on the boat, doing a little of everything: passage, European culture, swimming, and having visitors.

Our second year took us from Panama all the way around South America and way up to Scotland. During year two, we sailed the farthest and covered 17,000 miles. I like to think of the second year as super adventure year. We sailed down the beautiful coast of Chile then saw our favorite place, South Georgia– a small Antarctic isle with penguins, glaciers, and albatrosses. We then sailed 83 days to Ireland, sixty of which were off shore with no land in sight. 

Our third year started in Tobermory, Scotland and will end on Deer Isle, here in Maine. The third year I think of as having two main parts, European culture year and leaving Sila. We coastal cruised through Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, France, and England. But that is not all; while the boat was being repaired in France, we took a road trip to Rome, coming back through Switzerland to see our good Swiss friends, the Bergers.

Also, while we waited in England for the right weather, we took a road trip to Portsmouth and London. Being an American, the thousands of years of history and powerful European culture was fun to experience.

Then we sailed two final passages, one across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, where Porter and I spent most of our time in the water, and the final passage up to New York. After a month of cruising up through New England, our odometer read 36,000 miles.

We had been looking forward to this important milestone and it is an appropriate mark to the end of our adventure.- JackRabbit
Ed. Note: We are working on a map to show the route of our whole adventure and hope to have it posted in the next couple of weeks.