Our adventure starts here. After waiting for exactly a year, our boat is ready and waiting for us to provision and equip her for the long passages ahead. It has been an emotional ride getting here to La Rochelle in France, where she has been docked since early December. Our plan is to sail to the Caribbean before hurricane season with stops in Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Our dream is to someday sail to the Southern Pacific, visit some of the distant French Polynesian islands, perhaps to do a circumnavigation. But for now, we plan only a month at a time.
Hanging out in La Rochelle
We are not experienced sailors- we have taken a few sailing courses. Swagata and I sailed as crew on a passage from Panama to Galapagos and then onwards to the Marquesas – a total of over 4000nm – and we were hooked! We chartered a few times and started playing with the idea of owning a boat someday. Things took on a life of its own after a visit to the Annapolis Boat Show. We made our (impulsive) decision to buy a catamaran last December (2021) – a giant leap for someone who prefers inexpensive gas station coffee over a $5 latte.
Having lived in our house for 30 years, we have deep roots in Colorado. We had no inkling as to how hard it would be to transition from our land-based lifestyle to that of a sea nomad. Saying our goodbyes to friends and family was especially difficult. Making the decision to be full time cruisers was not easy.
Both of us have businesses to run, which will be challenging but not impossible. The pandemic has made it possible with changing mind sets. There is a certain uncomfortable feeling of being untethered and adrift. But many sailors before us have gone through this phase and we will too. Day by day, we are getting more comfortable with our nomadic lifestyle and making the vast ocean our home!
We named our boat Jajabor- which in some eastern Indian languages means Nomad/Wanderer/Gypsy. Swagata’s family is from Bengal, India and I grew up there as well so we thought a Bengali name would be most appropriate and truly represent our common cultural heritage. There is also an all-time classic Bengali song sung by renowned singer Bhupen Hazarika called “Ami ek Jajabor” (I am a wanderer). Apart from being a hit number, some of its lyrics echo our sentiment.
Check out Our boat page on more details about our new home. We’ll update it with more pictures as we have time. Once we have sailed Jajabor a few thousand miles and built confidence in the new systems and our skills, we look forward to enjoying the company of family and friends on our boat.
Sailing Jajabor 