As a journalist covering the boating business, I get to go where the yachts are. That often means locations well outside most people’s daily purview.
No, I’m not Gulfstream-ing across the sea, then arriving at glitzy events via helicopter, changing into my sleek formal wear somewhere along the way. My travels are instead by train, planes and Uber, with long layovers and full-on airport sprints to catch connecting flights. Still, the frustrations that come with travel are tempered by how elevated my spirit becomes in marine landscapes. A change in scenery does wonders for me.
Judging by the responses we get on our social media channels—and by the growing number of downloads for our Trawler Talk podcast—our readers’ minds and bodies are also opened and refreshed by hitting the water, even if it’s just vicariously.
Since we launched our second season of Trawler Talk, I have been fortunate to catch up with two couples (one on a Camano 31, the other on board a 34-foot Marine Trader) who either completed or are in the process of completing the Great Loop. What made both of these couples stand out, in addition to the myriad reasons why they set forth on their journeys and the issues they faced along the way, was their age: All were about 30 years old when they uprooted their lives to become full-time liveaboards.
In many ways, the other end of the spectrum of life experience can be seen in another of our recent podcast guests, Tony Fleming. His indelible contribution to the world of power cruising during the past four decades is virtually unrivaled. Long retired and in his 80s, Fleming hasn’t slowed. He spends as much time as possible on board Venture, his 65-foot Fleming, which returned to Alaska after a Covid-19 respite (see “Tony Fleming Hits a Milestone,” page 48) and passed 71,000 miles on her keel.
Fleming’s story is one of a triad of features about The Last Frontier in this issue, with one intrepid group crossing the Pacific from Honolulu (see “Lucky Ducks,” page 56) to start a new life, and another experiencing the bounty of the rich culture in coastal Alaska (see “The Heights of Grandeur,” page 62) as a kind of antidote to aging.
I hope their stories inspire you as much as they motivate me to keep chasing new horizons.
This article was originally published in the January/February 2023 issue.
