Tall tales and other thoughts from storyteller, sailor and nomad Dennison Berwick. "Kuan Yin" is his 32-foot go-anywhere home.
Posted in Labrador, Life skills, Sailing on Sep 2nd, 2010
Savouring a small personal achievement.
With good reason, rounding Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America is still regarded as a major accomplishment for any sailor. Storms (one category above mere gales!) can rage for days with waves reaching 80 – 100 feet high. Numerous ships and countless sailors have lost their lives in [...]
Posted in Sailing on Jun 2nd, 2010
This is my own boat, bought four years ago, and she is now almost completely refitted and ready for her voyage to Labrador and Ungava Bay. I bought the boat in Penetanguishene, in Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, Ontario, from David Perry, a master sailor and schoolteacher. He’d sailed “Barbarick” (as she was known at [...]
Posted in Life skills, Sailing on Apr 30th, 2010
Every sailor fears the sea (and those who don’t are too dangerous to crew with). But long before we cross an ocean or meet our first typhoon we must face a thousand smaller challenges of sailing and navigation – any one of which can torment us with apprehension, even fear.
Making our first passage on our [...]
Posted in Books/Language, Sailing on Feb 22nd, 2010
Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America, is the most famous place for sailors – even amongst non-sailors. The mountainous seas, the near endless storms, the scores of lost ships and drowned sailors; this is a legendary place well respected even feared by all those who go to sea in boats (or ships). [...]
Posted in Sailing on Feb 16th, 2010
Why do people sell up, move aboard a small boat and sail off into the blue? Some years ago, Cruising World magazine interviewed some of the best known longtime voyagers and liveaboards and asked them what motivated them and what they’d learned along the way. It makes for fascinating reading.
We Just Kept Going: an Oral [...]
Posted in Sailing on Feb 9th, 2010
Why do people sell up, move aboard a small boat and sail off into the blue? Some years ago, Cruising World magazine interviewed some of the best known longtime voyagers and liveaboards and asked them what motivated them and what they’d learned along the way. It makes for fascinating reading.
We Just Kept Going: an Oral [...]
Posted in Sailing on Feb 1st, 2010
Why do people sell up, move aboard a small boat and sail off into the blue? Some years ago, Cruising World magazine interviewed some of the best known longtime voyagers and liveaboards and asked them what motivated them and what they’d learned along the way. It makes for fascinating reading.
In Part Two, these voiyagers talk [...]
Posted in Sailing on Jan 27th, 2010
Why do people sell up, move aboard a small boat and sail off into the blue? Some years ago, Cruising World magazine interviewed some of the best known longtime voyagers and liveaboards and asked them what motivated them and what they’d learned along the way. It makes for fascinating reading.
“It all began when I was [...]
Posted in Books/Language, Sailing on Jan 9th, 2010
Passage to Juneau, A Sea and Its Meaning by Jonathan Raban.
The Northwest Coast of North America – up through the island-strewn Inside Passage of British Columbia and north to Alaska – is one of the most fascinating sailing areas in the world. Thousands of people travel up there on enormous cruise ships every summer; so [...]
Posted in Sailing on Jan 7th, 2010
So much can change in just a few hours. That’s both the thrill and the challenge of sailing. There was no wind at all when I departed Lévi, across the river from Quebec city, soon after sunrise, so I motored against the sluggish incoming tide for a couple of hours.
I was now confident, after the excellent repairs [...]
"Serendipity" is the art of finding something valuable or delightful when you're not looking for it. It's how you might also define living life as an adventure - which is something I seek to do everyday - and accepting whatever happens.
