INTRODUCTION: MARK AND TANA BECOME SAILORS

The story of Seabbatical starts 35 years ago. In the summer of 1972, Mark was in medical school at the University of Minnesota and Tana was home from college for the summer. We met at a church event one Sunday evening and Mark invited Tana to go for a sail on his father’s Columbia 26, Repose II. Tana accepted his invitation and several times that summer, we traveled down to the wide spot in the Mississippi River called Lake Pepin to sail for an afternoon. Five years later, Tana accepted another invitation from Mark and we were married.

Fifteen years, several moves and 3 children later, we took a Live-Aboard Cruising course in the British Virgin Islands. The die was cast. Since then, some of our most memorable vacations have been aboard charter sailboats with family and friends. We have sailed the waters of the Caribbean, Bahamas, North Atlantic, Central America, California and the South Pacific. We have crewed on long Pacific Ocean passages. Now that Mark has cut his work schedule down, we are ready to cruise on our own boat.

It takes about a year to build a boat which seems like a long time until you realize that it also takes about a year to gather all the supplies and equipment that an offshore sailboat requires. The list includes everything from signal flags to anchors, from tools to flatware.

Seabbatical is finally ready to go. Join us as we cruise.