We are a couple of adventurers from Portsmouth, NH who have been talking to each other about taking "a long sailing trip" since before we got married, thirty-two years ago. We suddenly realized, "it's now or never." So we retired last summer, rented our house, put our bicycles in storage, and oversaw a major refit of CHANTICLEER at Kittery Point Yacht Yard, with hopes of fulfilling this dream of ours. What that dream entails exactly remains to be seen. Our plan is to make our way down the east coast to Beaufort, North Carolina, then sail offshore to the eastern Caribbean, and then -- if we're still having fun -- go through the Panama Canal and follow the sun to the west. Then again, we might just drop the hook in some cozy spot in the West Indies. We'll see where the wind takes us! Follow us on our journey here, and on Instagram @bolsters_underway
CHANTICLEER is one of the famous Valiant 40's, designed in the mid-1970's by Bob Perry as the world's first "performance cruiser." We purposefully picked a Valiant 40 for its reputation as a passage-maker easily handled by a crew of two. Our boat was built in Texas in 1991, and had always been well maintained. We bought her in Port St. Lucie, Florida in the spring of 2012. We have sailed the boat about 15,000 miles, including four trips to the eastern Caribbean from Portsmouth, NH. She's a great boat in a seaway, always looking and feeling as if she will bring her crew home safely.
