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Fall 2004
Conversion Process
It was a real pleasure and honor to see the story of my family’s vacation published in Voyaging (“Family Ties,” Spring 2004), especially considering the high quality of your publication. After I distributed several copies at my yacht club, I got many questions from other members who, although also hard-core sailors, are now interested in chartering a powerboat and doing a similar trip with their families!
As far as my immediate family is concerned, my daughter and daughter-in-law, who were pregnant during the trip, had their babies: two beautiful girls named Liliana and Alessandra.
It goes without saying that, because of the success of our first trip and the great fun that everyone had, I am already feeling the pressure to make plans again. Once the girls are a little older, this sailor will organize another powerboat bareboat charter in the Virgin Islands.
Arnaldo Dall’Era
Mountain View, CA
Support Licensing
I agree with Capt. Ken Kreisler’s editorial (“All Boaters Should be Licensed”) in the Spring 2004 issue of Voyaging. I have been around boats for more than 60 years and know that one cannot have too much knowledge or experience. There is a lot that can go wrong, and there are a lot of ways that training and hands-on experience can make an outing or trip safer for other boaters and more enjoyable for those aboard your boat. Those who are against licensing must have something to fear.
Harry Pelton
Palm City, FL
Still Aboard Seaquell
It was great fun to read about my family’s 43-foot Egg Harbor Seaquell in Voyaging (“Hazy Days,” Spring 2004). The article brought back great memories of our summer 2003 visit to Block Island, which was a bittersweet end to the season. A week later, I was sentenced to the ultimate torture: daydreaming about the boat while I completed my senior year in a stuffy college classroom.
Luckily, we got back onboard this past summer with a trip to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and another trip to Block Island and Newport. It was just as difficult to leave on the last day of that trip, but as I enter the working world, my Seaquell memories help me remember that my family is always willing to return to our favorite places—no matter how old I get!
Heidi Slomkowski
Hamden, CT
The Romance Continues
Thank you for your article about our Royal Passagemaker 57 (“A Fine Romance, Indeed,” Spring 2004). We greatly appreciate the coverage and love the way you write.
Unfortunately, our charter efforts have been waylaid during the past few months because Jane broke her ankle and I needed knee surgery, but we are recuperating while the boat gets some cabinetry and entertainment-system upgrades at Washburn’s Boatyard in Solomons, Maryland.
We’re happy to say that Fine Romance (with us aboard, of course) will be back in business this fall, heading south for the British Virgin Islands. We plan to stay there and offer charters until May, then head farther south to explore, continuing to charter in the southern Caribbean during the winter of 2005-06.
Al Castleman
M/Y Fine Romance
WRITE US
Have an opinion or cruising story to share? Send letters (and photos!) to elizabeth.britten@primedia.com, or mail them to Voyaging, 260 Madison Ave., 8th Fl., New York, NY 10016. No phone calls, please.
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