Frequently Asked Questions

Year 1 - to November 2012

Frequently asked questions:

“What are your plans?”  We are sailing the boat from the Rock Hall, Maryland where we purchased it down to Daytona Beach, Florida to get it down to warmer waters in time for our January 1^st start.  We’ll fly home for Christmas and then head back to Florida Jan. 1 with the hopes of heading out on January 2^nd (Jens’ birthday BTW).  We’ll have Eric and Liz with us and will head down to British Virgin Islands.  On February 4^th, we pick up Antje in Tortolla, BVI and also meet up with some Danish friends (Peter and Bettina) who are down for a holiday aboard a catamaran.  We will also meet up with Stefan and Anna who will be aboard their newly purchased SY AYAMA coming up from Venezuela.

Antje leaves us on February 15^th to head back to the wintery and cold Huntsville.  We’ll then continue westward heading to Panama to cross to the Pacific. In Panama we will meet up with some dear friends and colleagues (Fredrik - we can't wait to see you!)   Somewhere around the middle of March, we’ll lose our other two traveling companions who plan to make it up to Costa Rica and then home again at the end of March.

After crossing the Panama Canal, we’ll head down to Galapagos (we have room for 2 on board if anyone is interested).  Our next destination is across the Pacific to the French Polynesians with a stop in Tahiti in July.  There we pick up Anna and Christian who will stay with us for 6 months as we make our way down to New Zealand.  This just be somewhere around November 2012.  Anna and Christian then head off for Thailand and we head back to Canada.  We’ll plan 2013 when we get a little further along on our journey.

“Have you ever sailed before?”  Jens has been sailing since he was a small boy and in fact it has been a dream of his to sail around the world.  I am a new sailor, but I have a good and patient teacher.  So far, so good.     

“Do you get seasick?”  Well, I know that Jens does not.  He has been on sail boats (racing and pleasure sailing) and large ships enough to know for sure.  I haven’t really been in rough enough seas to test it out.  Again, so far, so good.

“Why does the boat fly a Danish flag?”  SEGWUN is registered in Denmark even though she was built in Florida and spent her past 17 years in Rock Hall, Maryland.  After we purchased her, we had her registered as a Danish yacht.

We've spent a couple of lazy days cruising the ICW.  The wind has been almost non-existent which is fine since the channel is quite narrow and we motor all the way.  We anchored at Charleston and woke up in the morning to see that two sail boats had sunk in the bay during the night.  We asked at the Marina and they weren't surprised.  It seems there are several abandoned boats moored there and the ones that are still floating are occupied by homeless people.  Seems rather sad when you see multi million dollar boats at the marina.  We headed out and spent the night anchored at the mouth of Alligator Creek.  No alligators to be seen here either.

We're now on Lady's Island, Beaufort, South Carolina - hanging out at the MacDonald's taking advantage of a little free wifi.  We stopped in here to replenish our food supplies.  The last stop at the grocery store was in Elizabeth City about 10 days ago. 

We see a lot of pelicans around.  They are strange looking birds, particularly in flight - all bill and wings with a small body.

A lot of our friends were curious to know how we would make out living together in such small quarters. Jens and I have lived somewhat separate lives since we've been married and have gone from living in two different countries to living on a 44 foot sailboat.  I am happy to report we have had no real arguments but also caution that we have only been on the boat for 20 days.  Soon to be hitting the 3 week mark (this is the length of time that Francis estimated I would last).

US Thanksgiving - beer and football.  We've arrived to Georgetown, South Carolina.  It's Thanksgiving and we're happy to have found a local pub open with power and internet.  For some reason the computer will not charge on the boat.  Jens has a couple of ideas to find a solution for that.  We've spent the last few nights at anchor and are making good time.  This morning we were on our way at 6:30 AM.  The wind came up quite strong the night before together with rain.  So, we took out the enclosure for the binimi and started putting together the puzzle.  We already had the tops up but there are 5 additional pieces to zip together.

Early morning with the full enclosure

It fully encloses the cockpit keeping us warm and dry.  The rain was followed by a cold front so we were happy to have taken the trouble to put it up.  After a windy night at an anchorage that Jens was not too sure of (would we drift or would the anchor hold?) we were up early and decided to head out.  There was a swing bridge about five miles up that would only operate when the winds were below 15 knots.  Luckily the winds had died down and off we went.

Swing Bridge at Little River, SC

US Thanksgiving November 24 - Georgetown, SC

We covered 66 miles during this leg of the journey and are now anchored at Carolina Beach, NC.  We left early to try to get some distance covered since they are calling for some days with rain and wind.  We saw a lot of dolphins today.  Photographer Ev was not quite quick enough with the camera; I'll try to get some better shots next time.  We'll head out early again tomorrow.    Thanks to our friends for following along - welcome John.  Nice to see you.  It's been a while!

Free anchorage and free internet at Swansboro, N.C.  

Captain Jens making a small repair on the mast before we head out of Oriental Marina today.

SEGWUN's Journey

November 20th:  We've arrived to Oriental, NC.  We decided to stay at a Marina tonight after four days without shore services.  During my last post, we were at the library in Elizabeth City.  We headed over to the visitor centre hoping to find a pay phone.  We had been told about a grocery store in town that offered a pick up and drop off service for boaters.  There were two nice ladies at the visitor centre and no pay phone.  They offered us to use their phone so we called the grocery store and as luck would have the driver had left for the day.  Elizabeth City is the "harbour of hospitality" and they sure do live up to their name.  The kind lady at the visitor centre offered to drive us to the grocery store which is about a mile and half away.  We said we could walk, but she said "no one walks in this town".  Mabel is a 71 year old volunteer for the visitor centre and talked a mile a minute the whole way there.  She offered to drive us back when we were finished shopping - just give her a call.  Being our independent selves, we decided we would walk back.   We hadn't shopped for about 10 days, and were a bit loaded down (a case of beer neatly stacked in Jens backpack, a box of wine plus milk, juice, and other groceries).  Walking for about 10 minutes and wondering if this was such a great idea, when thankfully a young fellow stopped and offered us a lift back to the docks.  We jumped in, happy for the lift.
Friday night in Elizabeth City turned out to be great fun.  Mabel told us about a show at the local restaurant / wine bar.  Paradox was playing .. it turned out to be two doctors (pair of docs ... get it?) playing some great music.  They played from 7 till 10PM and promptly at 10, the restaurant closed and we all cleared out.  Maxwell and Jen from SY Anastasia joined us as well.

Leaving the Elizabeth City Docks

Ok - now back to the Great Dismal Swamp Canal.  Yes, it was a bit dismal, but only because the first day we had cold rain, frost overnight and the second day, sunny but still bitterly cold at about 0 degrees C.  It is said to have the best drinking water in the world even though it is the colour of strong tea. I think I'll just take their word for it.  There were some really pretty parts, but the last bit I was sure the trees were in a competition for the ugliest tree in the world award.

After the great night at Elizabeth City, we headed for Little Alligator River.  Didn't see any alligators - they must have gone south for the winter.  We found a nice quiet spot to anchor - no city lights, no noise; but lots of mosquitos.  We left our door open a little too long and Jens and I shared the evening with about 1,000 of the locals.  By morning they were all bloated from their fine dining experience and we were both a little spotty.

A beautiful sunset that evening.  Here you see Anastasia and another boat that anchored at Tuckahoe Point together with us.  

A nice shot of Anastasia.  We hope to meet up with them further along our journey, but for now they are heading out to the Atlantic.

We travelled about 67 miles today.  Got into the marina just at sunset and docked at the Oriental Marina.  We'll probably be out of email / internet connection for the next few days.  Stay tuned.

Port Winch

Last night (Nov 15) we spent our first night at anchorage.  Which basically means we weren’t moored up in a marina and didn’t have to pay anyone to stay the night.  It also means that we don’t have access to internet, water or electricity.  The water and electricity is fine since we have enough water on board and plenty of power.  But it is a bit of an adjustment not having internet access 24/7. 

It was a beautiful day of sailing.  They were calling for rain and rough seas, but we had a beautiful sunny day with good winds for sailing.  We didn’t get down to Norfolk as quickly as we expected so we headed in to Chrisman’s Creek.  Most of the area is protected for wildlife.  There are a lot of shoals and very shallow areas.  We managed to ground the ship twice, but luckily Captains Jens was quick and got us out.  We were just about to give up when a nice couple in a fishing trawler stopped their trip to guide us in to a spot where we could anchor.  The water became very still as the wind died down at sunset and it was a quiet night aboard SEGWUN.

Wednesday, November 16^th.

We have arrived to Norfolk where we see the full force of the US Navy.  I couldn’t count how many helicopters, TomCats, planes, Hovercraft and Navy ships we saw.   At one point we felt a helicopter was inspecting us.  It seemed to be coming very close to us.  I think maybe the Danish flag caught their eye and made them curious.  

We are now entering the Intra (not Inter as I previously called it) Coastal Waterway or ICW as it is more commonly known.  We have a very helpful booklet given to us by Ed at Gratitude and written by Captain Vincent Trovato.  It says the ICW is a series of canals, creeks, rivers and sounds that are sometimes too wide to see the other side.  Some refer to it as a ditch but it is said to be a beautiful waterway constructed many years ago so vessels could safely travel down the coast. 

We’ll have some maneuvering to do as it is said to be a bit shallow in areas and there are many bridges that we have to pass under – a lot of them draw bridges. 

See you all next time.  First Mate Eve has to go to the galley and rustle up some dinner for the Captain. 

November 17^th

We have entered the IWC and are following the Great Dismal Swamp Canal.   The weather turned extremely cold last night.  A cold wind from the North together with rain had us wearing our cold weather gear all day.  We went under four bridges (two drawbridges) and we had to wait for a lock, so it was pretty slow going.   There were 5 sailboats and 4 catamarans anchored in Norfolk, NC heading to the ICW.  Three of us took the Great Dismal Swamp Canal – the others took the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal.  We’re now moored at the North Carolina Visitor Center for the night and are warming up in their centre catching up on email.  They have a very old computer here and I was not able to upload the postings to our blog.  

We met a young couple on the ship Anastasia who are also heading south.  They're spending the winter in the Bahamas and have been living aboard for the past three years.  Maxwell and Jen gave us some helpful hints such as "stock up on beer before leaving US shores because it is very expensive in the Caribbean and the Bahamas".  I think we still have some storage space on the boat to accommodate that.  We were also advised to fill the fridge and freezer to the max as food can be expensive and it can sometimes be difficult to get want you want.

November 18th

Today we woke up to a heavy layer of frost on the boat.  It was 0 Celcius in the cabin.  But, the good news is that there was not a cloud in the sky.  We are through the Great Dismal Swamp and are now moored in Elizabeth City.  We headed into town and stopped at the local library to use their free wifi before heading out to restock our food supply. 

Picture(s) of the Day - Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Bay Bridge, Maryland

Sunset coming into Solomons, Maryland

We left Osprey Point around 7:30AM on Sunday morning.  We knew it wasn’t the perfect day for sailing.  Fairly good winds at around 20 knots but coming from the south.  And of course, we’re traveling south so we were into the wind the entire day.  We didn’t raise the sails but chose to motor for the day.  If we had sailed, we would have been tacking all day long and probably only gone half as far.  Since our objective is to get to Florida, and warmer weather, as soon as possible, we started the engine and put her on auto pilot.  We made it to Solomons just at dusk.  Found a place to stay for the night in a nice sheltered port.  The wind is expected to stay the same for tomorrow with some expected showers.  We plan to get to Norfolk by Tuesday evening. 

Our first night without internet and without shore power.  We’re running off the battery and using candles to keep the cabin warm.  I think it will be an early night and probably and early start tomorrow.  We’ll try to get as far as we can before the forecasted rain begins.  

November 11, Remembrance Day.  We spent the day in the historic town of Annapolis, now probably best known for it's Naval Academy.   Hey sailor!
We stopped in to get the emergency beacon registered with the ship's information so we can send the number to the Danish Coast Guard.  The SEGWUN is registered as a Danish ship, hailing from Aarhus, Denmark.
Hard Bean Coffee was where we had lunch, grilled cheese sandwich and a coffee.  We made one last stop at West Marine where I think we should own shares of by now!!! and a last stop at WalMart to pick up a few essentials such as a dust buster ... gotta keep our new home clean.  

Driving back to Rock Hall, there are some very picturesque towns.  It is a really pretty part of the country.  So many beautiful country roads banked by trees turning with the fall colours.  

These pictures are taken in a town near Rock Hall called Chestertown.  A very impressive church with the large white columns and the top one is a Government office.  

Still checking with the weather - should be another gusty day tomorrow, but we are pretty confident that we will set sail on Sunday with our first stop being the Solomons.  

Today we were able to take SEGWUN out for a short sail.  Jens got to see the new sails, feel how the boat handles and get a little more comfortable with all the rigging.  

Jens at the helm.  The weather has turned a little grey and a little misty with a breeze at about 5 knots.  

 Some shots of the sails as you can see them from the deck.  We have new main and head sails.  As you can see, we are flying the visit flag of USA since we are registered as a Danish boat and fly the Danish flag aft.

This is me at the helm.  We have automatic pilot,  so I can spend my time daydreaming.

John and Jens.  John has been a great help to us in anticipating all of our needs and helping us to get everything we need.  He has really been a great help with his vast knowledge and experience.

This afternoon, the wind has come up quite a bit, gusting at around 40 knots.  We've come across a small problem with the refrigeration unit - we're not sure if it's a small problem or not, but we'll have it checked out on Saturday to be sure.  Our departure is now set for Sunday, which works out well since they are calling for high winds for the next few days.

Rock Hall, Maryland - the SEGWUN at Osprey Point Marina

November 8th, 2011
We arrived to Maryland last evening.  Took all our gear on board, made the beds and settled in for our first night on the SEGWUN.  It took us about 12 hours to get down here.  Thanks to Dad for lending us the van and to Eric for coming along with us.  He spent the night and is now on his way back to Barrie.
Today we drove in to Baltimore to register with the Coast Guard and get our cruising permit for the US.  It was quite a simple thing to do, but we have to go on to the internet get a decal that we need to display on the boat.  Apparently this is required for all boats over 26 feet.
Maryland is beautiful this time of year.  The turning of the leaves is giving such a nice colour - I would say they are about a month behind us in Muskoka.  Lots of Canada Geese here on their way down south.  Picked up some supplies (groceries) and stopped in to the Marine shop to see what other gear we need to pick up.
We met John Hellewig, the previous owner of SEGWUN.  He is docked two slips over from us with his new boat.  He has traded in his sailing days and bought a trawler.  It looks very nice - lots of room!  He is happy to know that we will be taking his boat (SEGWUN) out for some blue water cruising and we promised to post lots of pictures.   I am so impressed with the people here.  We have been made to feel so very welcome and  we have had such a great support from the team at Gratitude Yachting (John, Jack and Ed)  John, SEGWUN's previous owner and all the nice folks in Rock Hall, Maryland.
Just a few more things to do before we set sail on Saturday.  A bit more gear to buy, spend some time getting acquainted with the workings of the boat and get all the gear stowed in good places.  She is looking very beautiful!  I'll take some photos tomorrow morning and post a few pics.  We're slowly getting things put away - right now it looks a bit untidy.

November 6th, 2011  We have arrived to Canada a few days ago.  We have said farewell to our friends and colleagues at Tetra Pak.  Jens had a wonderful farewell party for him in Iran and I had a last farewell with my colleagues in Istanbul.  Lots of good wishes being sent our way.  We'll miss the camaraderie of our colleagues because above all else, it's the people that makes this company so special.  It's been a great journey with them ... for me it has been 28 years and for Jens it was 15.  So a big part of our lives that we now leave behind.    


Now we embark on a new journey.  New waters to explore; new adventures to have and lots of challenges to face.  The first will be learning to live together.  I'm hoping this will be the least of our challenges.  It will be a little more complicated because we also need to learn how to be without a job and without incomes.  The word "budget" is now seen in a totally new light.  Not number of packs or thousands of dollars;  more like dollars and cents (with emphasis on counting the cents).   


Now - on to the journey.  We have been asked about our plans so I'll give a quick outline here, but as we go along, I'll provide more details of exactly where and when.  


We leave the cottage tomorrow morning and drive down to Rock Hall, Maryland.  It will be the first time we will see the boat since we bought it last Easter.  Since then, she has been equipped with a new dinghy, a life raft and a water maker.  She has had her bottom sanded and repainted and she now sports her new name "SEGWUN".  We have packed up some practical things (dishes, cutlery, bedding, towels, pots and pans) to take with us.   We're not sure about crossing the border to the US with a van full of stuff, so we have taken a full inventory and prepared a list.  We spent one morning with Jens and Dad sorting and cataloguing everything  

We'll have to buy the rest of our gear when we get down there.  


Eric will drive down with us and return to Canada with the car on Wednesday.  Jens hopes to have us sailing out of Rock Hall on Thursday this week.  The destination is Daytona Beach, Florida where we'll leave her in port and fly home for Christmas holidays.  We plan to sail the Intercoastal Waterways along the US Atlantic coast.  I'll try and post as we go along and let you know how we make out in getting acquainted with the boat, with Jens getting me acquainted with sailing and with us learning how to live together in a very small space compared to two apartments in two different countries.