Sail Far Live Free

Lake Michigan is my home water.  My cruising roots have been fertilized and grown here on the Great Lakes.  I feel a connection with Great Lakes sailors and have a bit of a quest to heighten awareness for the Great Lakes and raise their profile among sailors, outdoor enthusiasts and those with an intrinsic passion for water.  I believe those who have never been on the Great Lakes would be in awe of their size and beauty.  It is in this vein that I plan to periodically host guest blog posts authored by cruising sailors who started their great escape in the Great Lakes. Brittany and Scott from Windtraveler  started their journey at the southern end of Lake Michigan in Chicago back in September, 2011 (although planning, dreaming and scheming occurred long before).  Today they've made it as far south as Grenada in the Caribbean.  Given the theme of my website (Sail Far, Live Free!), I thought their blog post titled "Live Free" was a good fit and actually reminds me very muc

The simplest answer to the question of why I sail is that something deep inside of me is drawn to the wind and the water with the intensity of a double-reefed beat to windward in lumpy seas on a cold and wet Lake Michigan morning. But I have to admit there’s much more to it than that. It’s not just a deep desire to fulfill the yearning inside that keeps me sailing. In an age where consumerism tries to convince us that faster is better and that life is easier lived through our laptops and iPhones, it may seem odd to non-sailors why some of us take to the water in something crassly powered by wind. In fact, maybe it’s not even obvious to those of us who are sailors. Sailors from years ago had an obvious reason to sail. They needed to cross oceans and sailing provided the only means. But steamships brought a new means. In the business of claiming new lands and transporting valuable goods, time is money and steam power equaled speed when compared to a square-rigger wallowing in the do