Aleria's Adventures

I saw this photo of a humpback whale in Norway on Facebook yesterday and it rekindled the moment when a fin whale surfaced right next to Aleria  off the Azores. The stench of rotting fish was overwhelming and clung to our clothes all day afterwards. It was a magic moment. We got a photo, but not like this one, capturing water on fire. Beautiful.

2018 is a remarkable year for sailing around the world. There are scores of vessels out there crossing oceans in the Golden Globe Race, the Longue Route, the Route du Rhum and the Transatlantic Race as a start. These are all the folks that are racing. There are plenty of stories going around, too, with carnage befalling most of the fleets. On top of that, Randall Reeves has embarked on a second try for his Figure 8 Voyage and Jeanne Socrates has joined the fray aiming to be the oldest woman to sail solo nonstop around the world. You can follow them all on the Longue Route Fleet Tracker.

This year, the  Hobie Cat  turned 50 years old. Developed by surfer Hobie Alter, who was credited with building the first one in 1965 with a design that could be easily beached. Since 1967, the company has been building a variety of sizes and styles, but it's the Hobie 16 that really revolutionized sailing. The Hobie 16 was easily trailerable, easily beached and didn't cost a fortune. It took a rich man's sport and made it accessible to all. Over 135,000 Hobie 16 Cats are sailing around the world. They were fun, they were fast, and they were accessible.