Cruising History
One of the questions frequenty asked is "When did you learn to sail?" Duncan sailed smaller boats as a kid growing up on Lake Michigan, while Robin came from a family much more comfortable on the golf course. Once we decided to pursue sailing seriously, we started sailing lessons with American Sailing Association on San Francisco Bay in 1996-1997. We attained our bareboat charter qualifications in early 1998.
In 1998, a two week bareboat charter with friends in French Polynesia's Society Islands in the South Pacific had us hooked. We decided we wanted to buy a yacht and try cruising for a while.
We purchased Whisper from Hallberg-Rassy in Sweden through West Coasts Yacts in Seattle. We took delivery in January 2000 in Seattle. Whisper's maiden voyage was across the Straits of San Juan de Fuca to Vancouver island in March 2000.
Whisper arrived in San Francisco Bay via truck to ensure she made her debut in the April 2000 Sail Expo boat show. We enjoyed many great days of sailing on San Francisco Bay between 2000 and 2002.
In March 2002, we left San Francisco Bay to start cruising. From March to October 2002, the California coast and Channel Islands were our cruising grounds. In November 2002, we participated in the Baja Ha-Ha Cruisers Rally -- leaving San Diego Bay and heading for Mexico with 100+ boats. We met several lifetime friends on this rally, and subsequently spent two full sailing seasons in Mexico.
In June of 2003, leaving Whisper in San Carlos, Mexico, we escaped Mexico's summer heat and hurricane season on a three month, 10,000+ mile road trip to see friends, family, and several US National Parks. "Land cruising" is fun too!
Upon returning to Mexico in October 2003, we sailed over to the Baja Peninsula for more exploration of Mexico.
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In March 2004, we made the big "Puddle Jump" and sailed from Mexico to the South Pacific on a 22-day, 3035 nautical mile passage. First, we visited the Marquesas, then the Tuamotus, and then the Society Islands (Tahiti, Bora Bora, and several more) -- all in French Polynesia.
After thoroughly enjoying the islands of French Polynesia, we visited the small island of Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands, then on to the tiny island nation of Niue, and finally, Tonga. After almost two months in the Vava'u island group in the Kingdom of Tonga, we were at the edge of cyclone season and it was time to leave the tropics.
We made a fast 7.5-day, 1200 mile passage from Vav'au to New Zealand in early November 2004 making landfall in Opua in the Bay of Islands near the northern tip of New Zealand's North Island. We had sailed over 10,000 nautical miles since leaving San Francisco Bay.
Once in New Zealand, we explored both the north and south islands via boat, automobile, and plane -- until March 2005 -- then, we decided to stay for a while.
By May 2005, we were gainfully employed residents of New Zealand.
Although Whisper has not left the coastal waters of New Zealand in the past few years, in 2006 we enjoyed a two month, 30,000 mile around-the-world trip -- by plane. This "circumnavigation" was to visit Australia, the US, Italy, and Singapore. We returned to Auckland and work in August 2006.
We wrapped up work in New Zealand in October 2007 and returned to the cruising life for another year of adventure.
Well, that brings you up to date without needing to read all our detail logs.
See our Future Plan for a preview of what might be coming next.