Cruising World - November - December 2016

cruisingworld.com

52

november/december 2016

Pelagic,  

our Crealock 37, drove down the very

lowest reaches of the Clarence River, in

New South Wales, Australia, with main and

jib drawing. The ocean swell was reaching

us, but Pelagic was still hemmed tight by the

massive stone breakwaters on each side of

the river — an odd place to be sailing our

bluewater boat. Our son Elias, 2 years old

and fi rmly strapped into his car seat under

the dodger, felt none of the tension of the

moment; young children go to sea without

carrying their parents’ mental cargo of con-

cern over what might go wrong. My wife,

Alisa, and I did feel the nerves of leaving

port. But we also felt the impending release.

We came to the moment of peak tension

as we approached the entrance bar. The

river bars of New South Wales can be nasty,

and a prawn trawler had been rolled on this

one just a few weeks before. But we had the

leisure of picking the right tide on a perfect

day, and we easily slid over the shallows and

into deep water beyond.

The place we were leaving behind, the

little beach town of Iluka, had

found a special place in our

hearts. It had given us a perfect-

ly protected harbor, with coastal

rainforest and miles of beach

within easy walking distance.

And it had of ered us a group

of like-minded Australians

who, over an endless series of morning surf

sessions and evening barbecues, could intro-

duce us to the delights of being Australian.

This last part was particularly important.

When we had fi nished the year-and-a-half

sail from our home in Alaska and cleared

into the port of Bundaberg, we’d known

little of Australia. But we were new comers

with a dif erence. Elias and I cleared in

on our brand-new Australian passports,

obtained just for the trip, and Alisa on an

Australian spouse visa. Although I had

never lived in Australia, I’d had the good

fortune to be born there. And so we’d had

a mission when we left Alaska on Pelagic:

to sail to Australia to discover this country

that we were a part of.

At fi rst our exploration of Oz had

Obviously more comfortable of shore,

2-year-old Elias (center) gets an early

taste of watchkeeping. Australian

friends Melissa Beit and Miles Holmes

(above) enjoy a sail on Pelagic. MIKE LITZOW

november/december 2016

cruisingworld.com

52