Thanks for the Memories

Cornelius, North Carolina

Buy a boat, jump aboard, and go cruising.  It’s a simple recipe for “Living the Dream”.  But the vessel is just one part of the cruising adventure.  While comfort and performance are key components, the places you visit, the people you meet along the way, the friends, family, and even strangers, who join in the journey (both in person and vicariously), really complete the life. 

Over the years, we have received many wonderful comments on our sail blogs, from people we know well, from some we don’t know at all.  We’d like to express our appreciation for the encouragement, love, and support that everyone gave us.  We couldn’t have done it without you; well perhaps we could have, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. 

While we have 15 years of blog posts, plus thousands and thousands of pictures from our time aboard Berkeley East, numerous interactions and experiences are only documented in our minds.  Like the many passing strangers that rushed to catch our lines as we were docking.  The VHF radio calls in the dead of the night from other lonely boaters on passage.  The paramedics who drove wildly, from Berkeley East to the ER, on the sidewalk, with sirens blaring, for a pinky finger injury. 

We will never forget the Hylas yacht owner who shared her design for the rope, hanging from BE’s stern, that kept visitors from falling into the water. Or the amusing tip given to us by a woman in Maine on how to deal with the blinding fog: “Buy a bag of potatoes”, she said.  “Whenever you are worried about being too close to land, toss a spud, and if you hear a splash, you’re good!” 

There were specialized boat parts (and Peanut Butter M&M’S) hauled to Berkeley East by guests.  Heartwarming emails from friends at home wanting to know how soon we would return.  The multiple times someone ran anxiously toward BE asking if we went to UC Berkeley, and the confused look on their faces when we simply replied, “no”.  So many precious encounters.

As we revisit the blogs, peruse all the photos, and recall the special moments tucked away in our hearts, we feel blessed to have had such wonderful encounters.  We thank you for reading the blogs, taking the time to comment, and joining us on the Adventures of Berkeley East, and Crew. 

During the COVID-19 lockdown, we began work on a new website for our Berkeley East sail blog. Despite our computer savviness, we quickly discovered that it is no simple task to transfer 15 years of blog posts, photos, and videos to an unfamiliar format.  Just the need to read each, and every, blog, then spend hours reminiscing, complicated the process.  So, we decided to take our time and work on it whenever we had the temperament.  But as usual, our plans changed with the direction of the wind, and our cruising days on Berkeley East came to an end.  Still, a lot of time and energy went into creating this nearly completed site.  And with recent news that BE has been renamed, knowing that there will likely never be another boat called Berkeley East, we have decided to honor the best Hylas 54 sailboat ever built and preserve the Berkeley East blogs here, while possibly, maybe, perhaps, if we have time, provided we find something interesting to write about, use it as a vehicle to record some of the future adventures of BE’s crew.  It is still a work in progress.  And although we have many plans for new experiences, we do not feel that recent activities like the Captain’s hip replacement, and our search for new toilets, warrant a blog post.  But stayed tuned.