Hello and welcome to the first installment of my “Meet the Cruisers” series! Each month, I plan on introducing you to the cruising individuals, couples, and families that we have met since beginning our own cruising adventure in October. My intention is to provide insight into this lifestyle, share the different types of stories, dreams, and reasons that drive people to cruise, and to give you an inside perspective on what it’s really like to be out here.
Garrett and I have met so many interesting people since casting off three months ago. Whether through social media, participating in the Baja Ha-Ha, or simply talking to fellow sailors at an anchorage or marina, it’s been surprisingly easy to meet people along the way. Humanity is just so much more exposed out here, and I think that makes it easier to connect with one another. While we all share a common passion for adventure, we all have different reasons, goals, budgets, timelines, and destinations in mind. If you’re interested in cruising one day or just intrigued by this lifestyle, I hope that this series shows you that there isn’t just one type of person who is cut out for living this way. Everybody has a different story.
Let’s start with Richard’s! A nineteen-year-old solo sailor from Alaska on a bright pink 28’ boat named Darwind, Richard Gordon-Rein is someone that makes, and leaves, an impression. We first met Richard in Muertos on Thanksgiving Day after surviving a horribly rough night at the anchorage. Garrett and I were excited to meet him because we’d spotted his pink boat at a few of the anchorages we’d stopped in along Baja and had heard from others about the young Alaskan solo sailor with plans to cross the Pacific. After parting ways in Muertos, we met up again by chance in La Paz, and will likely cross paths again soon in Chacala. From our few encounters with Richard, I’ve gotten the sense that he is a kind, steady guy with a good head on his shoulders and a big appetite for adventure. Here is his story.
What is your name?
Richard Gordon-Rein
If you don’t mind sharing, how old are you?
19
What is the name, make, model, year, and size of your boat?
Darwind, Pearson Triton 28, 1960, 28 feet
How did you get your start with sailing?
I was raised sailing my dad’s Columbia 36 Gottago all over south central Alaska, from the time I was born until I was 10. My parents sold that boat then and bought Northern Passage, a 50-foot steel ketch which my family sailed up to Alaska from San Francisco. Two years later my parents, my younger sister, and I left from the fishing village of Seldovia and spent 13 months cruising to southern Mexico and the Sea of Cortez. After that I sailed small boats every day of the summer and spent the winters building my first boat, the 12-foot Lynx. In 2015 I bought the Darwind in Seattle and spent the summer sailing her up to Alaska with my parents on as crew, and I have been sailing and preparing her for this voyage ever since.
What made you want to cruise?
In the last months of my family’s cruise I read the book Dove by Robin Lee Graham about sailing solo around the world and I decided in that moment that that is what I wanted to do. Additionally, with my childhood experiences I couldn’t imagine any other way to live. In fact, I can’t even really remember a time that I didn’t want to sail the world.
How long have you been cruising for, and how long do you hope to keep it up?
On this trip I have been cruising for four or five months now, and I plan to keep going until I run out of money or time. In an ideal world I would never stop.
How are you funding this lifestyle?
At the moment I am running on savings from several summers spent commercial fishing in Alaska, but when that runs out I plan to find some other source of income, either odd jobs wherever I end up, writing for sailing magazines if I can figure that out, or crowdsourcing.
What’s the most positive experience you’ve had with cruising so far? What’s the most negative experience you’ve had with cruising so far? The most challenging thing?
It’s hard to name just one positive experience as being greater than all the others. For sure meeting so many amazing people and making so many great friends is up there at the top, along with the unbelievable beauty and serenity of sailing and being so in touch with the ocean. The most negative experience has definitely been sailing alone, both the lack of sleep on long passages and the inability to share so many amazing experiences with another person. The most challenging thing for me has been coping with loneliness.
Is cruising what you thought it would be? Can you elaborate?
Yes and no. I have had considerable experience from when I was younger, so many things are as I remember them, but cruising on my own has been both much more rewarding and much more challenging than I expected it to be.
Is there one piece of advice or insight into this lifestyle that you would like to share?
Go do it. Now.
