“You gotta have a dream to have your dream come true” from the soundtrack “South Pacific”.  Wouldn’t it be great to sail around the world? So many people dream about it but never play it out.

Ten years ago we made a plan. The plan was to upgrade from our 32’ boat to something larger, outfit it and sail off from Boston, MA USA.  We wanted to sail to New Zealand.  We never dreamed, or had plans, of sailing farther. We figured we would figure that part out when we got there. 

We moved aboard MYSTIC TRAVELER, a Caliber 40LRC, in June of 2003. Did a shakedown cruise, during the winter, in the Bahamas. We returned to the states in May 2004 to prepare for our December 2004 departure to New Zealand.

We have been called nuts, brave, crazy, hardheaded, determined.  The most oft asked question we have is, 'Who fixes what?' For the most part we are more apt to pull a winch apart and clean it than many guys I know.  We installed most of the electronics and maintain the engine and most of the repairs ourselves.  Susan has even re-torqued the head on the Yanmar with a little help from our friend on the yacht AMULET. 

We’ve replaced the masthead VHF wire, replaced shrouds. Installed by ourselves; refrigeration, SSB with grounding plates, radar, autopilot, just to name a few things. We replaced the shroud because we were broken into in on our mooring in Newburyport MA.  They cut our backstay in order to take our 48-mile radar dome that was mounted there and all our electronics.

Why? – because we were able to.  How? – we downsized our lifestyle, lived way below our means and saved cash enough to go. And then...We set off!

Enjoying Life Onboard.

Laura and Susan

SV Mystic Traveler