Golden Glow passed the 10,000 mile mark today as we sailed the north end of Sardegna, Italy.  Fittingly, from our anchorage in this gorgeous bay in the Maddalenas between Sardinia and Corsica, we enjoyed sunrise coming up on one side of the bay and simultaneously, a full moon setting on the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One year ago on July 5th, 2014 we left Stuart Florida and began a summer sail up the east coast of the United States.  In the fall, we sailed south down the east coast, and then to Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico and into the Caribbean, where we sailed all this spring, getting as far south as Grenada, and to many islands between there and Anguilla to the north.  From the Caribbean, we sailed north to Bermuda, then east across the Atlantic to the Azores, on to Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean.  It has taken us just under a year of sailing to log our first 10,000 nautical miles (11,507.8 imperial miles).

Today we are in the La Maddalena Archipelago, an Italian National Park between Corsica (French) and Sardinia (Italy).  The day started with a morning kayak between Isola Santa Maria and Isola Budelli, known for its pink sand beaches, followed by a climb to the top of a hill on the southern end of Santa Maria.

We sailed to Porto Liscia for a walk on the beach that was filled with kite boarders on one end and wind surfers on the other.  Of course there were the mega yachts complete with helicopters and 30+ foot tenders.  After our beach walk we made our way to the Costa Smeralda where Ellen and JoAnne toured the bay in our kayak, Li’l Glimmer.

It has been another gift of a day aboard Golden Glow, one of the rewards of our hard work during the last year preparing for our circumnavigation.

Thanks to former owners, Paul and Suzanne Daniels, for taking such good care of Golden Glow (then known as Cinq a Sept) prior to us adopting her so our path from purchase to passage was safe and smooth. Golden Glow sends them her love on this special adoption anniversary /10,000 nm milestone day.

This seagull seemed to give a salute to Golden Glow on her special day as I kayaked back to the boat.

If Golden Glow were to have a baseball card, her stats from year one would look like this:

• Time sailing with Rand and Ellen: One Year (in a couple days).
• Mileage:  10,000 nautical miles (for comparison: earth is aprox 21,639 nautical miles in circumference)
• Max speed (SOG via GPS): 18.5 knots
• Max winds (TWS): 43.5 knots
• Max people on board at one time: 16
• Number of countries visited 15+ (so far…)
• Max toys on board (we haven’t sunk her yet, but keep loading ’em on)