1981 - Geoff  is home from Prin (the high-school Alec is currently attending as a junior) and had to pick a summer reading book from a list. “Dove” looked like the least boring of all the options, so by default he choses it.  [Dove is the true story of a teenaged boy who sailed solo around the world in the 1960s.] He already had the travel bug from going to Europe and on tours with the boys chorus, but this developed a global fascination. Back in Fond du Lac, WI  MIchelle sails the season in the family Force 5 and captures a junior and powder puff trophy - both handmade in the colors of the boat.

1982 - Geoff, Cherie, Chris and Mamere all pile into a sunfish (small sailing dinghy) in San Diego Bay. Mamere thought it was fun. The rest of us clung on expecting a capsize and squealing each time the boat heeled. This is the earliest sailing experience I remember. This summer Michelle receives the 1st place trophy for the powder puff division (I think I was the only girl) She managed to snag the 3rd place juniors trophy though, sailing the force 5 on Lake Winnebago.

1986 - Summer:  Michelle & Geoff meet in Tucson

1987 - Geoff visits the Cayens in Wisconsin, and discovers National Geographic magazines on the shelf that followed the voyage of Dove. Geoff starts dreaming about traveling around the world again. Geoff and Michelle backpack around Europe. The Cayens give Geoff a subscription to NG and he has read almost every article since.

1988 - During a summer evening sail, Donald (future father-in-law) hands Geoff the tiller on his 470 small racing sailboat. With sails cleated (and Don’s head stuck inside the hull looking for something) Geoff overcompensates for a gust and causes the boat to come about, throwing both of us into the water. Geoff does learn how to handle the Force-5 (a smaller racing boat) later that summer.

1989 -1991 - MIchelle joins the UCLA sailing team.  She has a blast with her sailing partner racing FJs and coming in first place once :)

1991 - Geoff and Michelle go on an adventurous honeymoon around Asia/Pacific. Throughout the trip we admired many beautiful yachts and went on a dive trip off of a large sailing Trimaran in Fiji for a day. On Langkawi Island in Malaysia, we were riding a mini-bus past the harbor and watched a couple rowing out to an anchored sailboat. We spent the afternoon talking about how we could find a way to crew for one of the boats that was anchored out there. Everywhere we looked for the rest of the trip were “yachties” that were living the dream. Our time was up, and as we flew out of Thailand I remember seeing the many white dots of sailboats along the coast.

1994 - The Northridge Earthquake condemns our house, causing us to move around and live in several places over the next 2.5 years. We never missed anything that was in storage which was a good lesson in accumulating stuff. We look back at this vagabond period as a fun experience. Being homeless was fun because of all of the great family and friends we got to visit, and it also led to the major career shift that has supported our family for the last 14 years. In the summer, Michelle and Geoff sailed in the Windward Islands on our first bareboat sailing charter. The boat was a beautiful 52’ Beneteau named “Charlotte”. This trip was pre-GPS!  and we even had some blue water in the passage from St. Lucia to St. Vincent. Geoff fell overboard in the harbor as we were initially departing, trying to reach for the dinghy that came untied.

1996 - Sailing in the BVI while six months pregnant and still the best vacation in the world.

2000 - The first Family Sailing Vacation in the British Virgin Islands on a chartered Catamaran. Alec was the “dinghy captain”, and Jerome was “Little Crab” for their first adventure on a big sailboat. [2 year old Miles stayed home. Sorry, buddy]   Jerome fell overboard before we even left the dock so we were glad to get that out of the way early.  This trip reinforced the experience of “The best FAMILY vacation in the world”

2002 - Sailing vacation with the family in Belize - “The best family adventure in the world”  It was Miles’ turn to fall overboard at the dock and, like Jerome, he gained a quick education about moving carefully around the boat! After this trip we all proclaimed that we should take this kind of trip every year...

2005 - ...three years later we are finally back on the water in the BVI, and once again assert that we will sail at least once a year...

2006 - no sailing  :(

2007 - no sailing

2008 - no sailing. [But Alec and Geoff go to the Florida Keys for some awesome diving.]

2009...