This is my story of healing and exploration while fulfilling a lifelong dream. The voyage itself was wonderful but the healing it brought me was far more important. Sailing to Alaska is common enough but sailing in a boat you finished yourself is less common. The experience allowed me to grow out of my illness and experience life to a much fuller extent. And just maybe the stabilization of my health is due to the healing I experienced.
This story is based on the short email accounts I forwarded to family and friends while traveling…a bit cleaned up but otherwise as originally written. I added the section on finishing the boat for the folks at the Metal Boat Society who followed my travels.
The solitude of the sea and the beauty of the land were awesome. Being alone at the helm at night with nothing but the sea and stars is something I have dreamed about since I was a kid of 12 years reading Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki".