Illimité, a round-the-world tour that lasts
Although an American, Gary wanted to give his Allures 45 a French name: Illimité. A particularly well-chosen name, in keeping with his sailing program and his true philosophy of life. To follow the route of his desires, to listen to his intuitions, to provoke encounters. Always on the lookout for the most beautiful diving spots, he praises slowness and adaptation.
Gary, where did this round-the-world project come from?
I spent part of my youth sailing and diving in the Florida Keys. It was there that I decided to retire at 55 and live aboard a sailboat. I've read a lot of travelogues, talking about encounters, great cultures, diving, fishing, faraway lands and, of course, sailing. What's not to love? I used to say I was going to set the record for slow sailing around the world!
How did you prepare for this long journey?
You could say that the preparation began in my youth. I knew I had to choose a profession that would allow me to save enough money to enable me to retire at 55 - I thought 55 was realistic financially and young enough to be fit enough - and ended up becoming a surgeon. It's a profession I've really enjoyed, but there was always that long-term goal in the back of my mind. The real preparation began about 10 years before I bought the boat. I didn't have much sailing experience because I'd worked so hard. So I did a 10-day course in the British Virgin Islands. I passed three certificates there, which enabled me to rent boats. I started chartering sailboats once or twice a year to gain more experience. I also started a file of all the features that were important on a boat.
I think reading Jimmy Cornell's books convinced me of the advantages of aluminum hulls and centerboarder sailboats.
Then, a year before retirement, I signed up with Mahina Tiare Expeditions, along with five other people, for a crossing from Hawaii to Prince Rupert in Canada. The aim was to gain more offshore experience and have a certified ocean crossing for my future insurance company.
Could you introduce the crew ofIllimité?
For the first two years, experienced sailing friends always joined me for ocean crossings or long convoys. I made a few short solo sailings, but always lasting less than 24 hours, in accordance with my insurance policy. I would then put myself off the watch, or only for very short periods, but asked to be involved in any sail changes or other events that might occur. Similarly, as I had carried out the provisioning of the boat, I knew what we had on board and where it was, so I did the cooking. Then, in August 2017, I was joined in Tonga by my partner, Noëlle, whom I'd met earlier in the year in Florida. She had already sailed with me for a few weeks in Panama as a test. Since she joined me, I haven't needed any other crew. We do 3-hour watches at night but are very flexible during the day.
What is your sailing rhythm?
Noëlle doesn't like to go to bed after dinner, so after I finish the dishes, I go to bed at 8pm and we start our 3-hour shifts. This allows me to start the last shift at 5am, at which time I take out the sextant and put the fishing lines in the water. I let Noëlle sleep until she gets up, then I take a good nap at some point during the day. During the day, I usually download the weather files and send our midday position if we're using a routing service. We eat breakfast and lunch separately, but Noëlle always prepares a great dinner.
When you're not sailing, how do you spend your days?
Boat maintenance, cleaning, weather, navigation and provisioning take up a lot of my time. I occupy a few free moments with reading. I often have an e-book on the iPad and a paper book in progress at the same time. I'd say my real hobby is underwater photography. Which goes well with diving. I have a database of over 750 photos that grows with each dive. I also try to update my blog every week on svillimite.substack.com. Another hobby when we're at sea, I try my hand at electronic navigation before every sunrise. It's very satisfying when I get within just a few miles of the GPS position with an alignment of stars or planets.
What was your original program?
My original plan was to do more of a fairly straightforward round-the-world trip, followed by another following a more random route. I pretty much stuck to the plan until we reached Australia and Noelle asked if we could go up to Thailand. I told her no, as we were a bit late in the season for the monsoon. But you know how persuasive women can be, so we sped up a bit, caught a decent monsoon tail and reached Thailand, the Andaman Islands in India. We had originally planned to head for Bali and continue our circumnavigation, but we turned back east, and are currently enjoying some superb diving in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. After more than a year in the muggy heat of Southeast Asia, Noëlle says she'd like a bit of fresh air. So we're now planning to head for Alaska.
Any surprises along the way?
Plenty! But I'd say my biggest surprise was my initial emotion. You'd think that when I landed in Cherbourg to take delivery of my dream boat in May 2015, after decades of planning and preparation I'd be jumping for joy, all excited. In reality, with all the changes I had to manage at once, I was a little naïve not to anticipate a little depression. Fortunately, after about a week and my first solo trip to Alderney on my new Allures 45, this feeling had all but disappeared.
Have you met many people so far?
I have to say that the highlights of cruising are the people you meet. First of all, there are lots of great sailors. We've met some of them of all nationalities, and some have become very close friends with whom we've kept in touch. The local people can also be incredible. Especially when you get off the beaten track. So many people stop what they're doing to help you or to show you their country. Here in Indonesia, it's not uncommon to see several pirogues with children paddling towards you and asking to come aboard. Of course, they all want to take a selfie with you! Sometimes the story is unbelievable. We now have a very good friend in Malaysia who initially offered to drive us quickly to a store. About 12 hours later we had finished sightseeing and eating, without him accepting anything in return. While we were in New Zealand, some friends lent us their pick-up for a month to drive around.
People's generosity can really be extraordinary.
What happens next?
We'll be leaving Indonesia in January, heading for West Papua New Guinea where we hope to find some good diving spots. Then we'll head back up to Micronesia, Guam and Japan. After gazing at the cherry blossoms, we'll head for Alaska to fish for salmon. Then down to Mexico for the winter, with dives in the Sea of Cortez. Back to French Polynesia, then on to Australia. This time we should head south, visiting Tasmania, and New Zealand again. Finally, we should be heading west to South Africa. The original plan was for me to be in South Africa in December 2018; the earliest we should be there is 2022, but I'm sure that schedule will change too. That's one of the things I love - we're always changing our plans!
Some indelible memories already?
Oh yes, plenty but if today I had to share three, I think these would be them. A stressful one, entering the lagoon at Samana Cay in the Bahamas, very narrow in the coral reef, which I couldn't make out well because of the breakers in 20+ knots of wind. I was a solo sailor and didn't think I'd attempt it, but a friend on an Oyster 46 had just passed by and checked that the mapping was correct. Knowing that I had the toughest boat in the world to go anywhere, how could I have avoided it? I got home without a hitch... phew! I also had quite a scare in Australia. We were tired of a rollicking anchorage off the east coast, as the wind had shifted, so we weighed anchor before daybreak. I quickly set a course on the chart plotter and off we went to Magnetic Island. At one point, my youngest daughter, who was with me at the time, asked me, really looking surprised, was that a rock there, passing by us? I turned to look, expecting to see a dolphin, but discovering a rock emerging from the waves less than three meters away! I had plotted my course right over Salamander Reef, which was just a dot covered by the thickness of the road line. We'd all been warned about the risks of zooming too low on the electronic charts, and I never thought I'd be fooled. Never again!
Finally, perhaps the most magical of all: we were on a mooring outside Bait Reef, still in Australia, when a humpback whale surfaced and took a breath less than 3 meters from us. We'd already seen a few whales, and Noëlle had just said it would be great if one of them could come closer to us. This one was a bit too close! Noëlle couldn't even get a good photo, she was so surprised.
Gary and Noëlle's blogs are fascinating and richly illustrated. here.
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