Captain Dunmire introduces himself, discusses the voyage and makes predictions about where he and his crew will make landfall.
Doug Dunmire
Homeless (just sold our house)
Jobless (just retired)
Husband, father, grandfather, brother, son
This voyage: Sailing for about a year from the US Heartland (Racine, WI) to California (Monterey Bay)
Doug and Kathy have been thinking about this voyage for 12 years. In that time, they have done much: introductory sailing lessons, chartering, dingy lessons, boat shows, more lessons, reading, 5-year plans that never got shorter, 2-year plans, and finally we bought a boat. In 2019, we ordered a sailboat and took delivery of our new Dufour 412 in May of 2020. It was just in time to enjoy long weekend escapes from the chaos of Minneapolis and the restrictions of Covid-19.
There were more lessons, plans to move from Minnesota to California and a choice of putting our boat on a trailer and trucking it to California or sailing it. Since it costs more, takes more time, is riskier, and requires far more planning, we chose to sail it. It’s crazy to think we can sail from the heartland of the US to anywhere in the world (with a bit of motoring through some canals and locks but still you get the idea). Now after a year of planning, more ASA courses (through 108) and a Safety at Sea course we’re 32 hours from departing as I write this. If all goes well, we will be casting off at 6:00 AM on Wednesday June 15, 2022 from Racine to Sheboygan WI.