Making Waves: A Journey Around The Globe

[00:00:00] Back, your bags were on the move. Rhythm and Roam got nothing to lose. Culture clash from coast to coast. Misconceptions we chasing ghosts. I'm like the bravest chicken on the planet. Everybody's like, you're so brave. You're sailing around the world in cross oceans. And I'm like, really? I'm not. And if there was a way to eliminate fear, I would do that in a heartbeat. So it was like three in the morning and you have on your screen, on your console that you're looking at, any ships in the area.

[00:00:27] And it shows their path and if they're going to intersect with you. And sure enough, there was this big boat, 80, 100 foot boat, motorboat. It was coming straight on a direct collision course with us. So I'm calling them on the radio. I'm saying, this is S.V. Equus. Whatever the name was, do you see us? I want to know that what your intentions are. Are you going to change course? Which one of your sails? Nothing. A lot of word. So we had a speedboat come up next to us with guys with semi-autic machine guns. And they said, keep going. We're tying up to you. You are being boarded.

[00:00:56] So we got what it was like to be boarded by, not pirates, but by people with guns. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Rhythm and Roam. My name is Benefshe and I'm here with Paul and Trisha. We are here with Allison. Allison and her husband have circumnavigated the globe in a sailboat. And so we are talking with her about all the adventures at sea, which quite frankly terrifies me.

[00:01:22] I read her book, Riding the Waves of Reality. And it was actually a nail biter. So I do think that there should be a movie made out of this, but please stay tuned and listen in to Allison's amazing stories. And if you like what you're listening to, please feel free, we hope, to subscribe, like, and comment. If you could have a superpower for sailing, what would it be and why? It would be to have no fear. Ooh. Ooh.

[00:01:48] And the reason is, is because my husband has no fear and we are often time in crisis situations. And I'm a mess. I'm a wreck. And he's just so brave and so capable. And I'm like the bravest chicken on the planet. Everybody's like, you're so brave. You're sailing around the world in cross oceans. And I'm like, really? I'm not. And if there was a way to eliminate fear, I would do that in a heartbeat. Oh, that's awesome. So real quick, just the last one.

[00:02:15] If you could sail with any historical figure, this is, you know, whoever you, you, you that come to your mind, who would it be and why? I think it would have to be Joshua Slocum because he was like one of the great solo pioneers. And the story, his stories are so interesting. And I mean, he was literally on a ship with his parents and his mother and sister and the ship was sinking. And the boat was filling up with water.

[00:02:41] And his perspectives on how fearless he was, was incredible, even as a child. But then as an adult, he was in a round the world race for solo sailors. And he was in first place and he was getting ready to win the race. And he loved sailing so much that he didn't go home and finish the race. He could come in first. He took a left turn and just continued sailing around the world. Wow. Wow. I've never heard of that person. He built his own boat, a couple of them, but one of them ended up, you know, crashing and burning.

[00:03:10] But before that, he decided he had to go sail through the Pacific for an extended period of time because he wanted to be in typhoons. Because the hurricanes he encountered were strong enough. He wanted to be in like the worst storms ever. And that kind of bravery and fearlessness. And he had to have bad sailing skills. I mean, if you want to be in the middle of Tempest and have something like that on board, I think I would have no fear. I'd be like, you know what, buddy? You've been there at all. And you survived. So I want to be on your boat.

[00:03:40] But he wanted to be in a typhoon like that. Is he still alive? That's a good question. I'm not sure if he is. I don't know the answer to that. I will have to Google that as soon as I get up off of you. Moving on to the first question, Allison, because I'm really, really curious to find out, you know, what made you and your husband, you know, sell everything, you know, you owned and decided to just go sailing around the world? That's like, wow.

[00:04:09] So my mom decided she was going to be the fastest woman sailboat skipper after she retired and moved to North Carolina on the Pamlico Sound. And I had done some racing on Lake Norman in college as well as she had. And I began going from the University of North Carolina Charlotte to the coast and racing with her. I'm in love with it, too. And then one day my mom is in this really big race. And she's been winning lots. But this was a really big one, you know, people.

[00:04:36] So my cousin happened to work next door up in Philadelphia next to an eligible young man, a marine, merchant marine and marine engineer, who had won three national dainty championships. And he said, hey, hey, friend, you want to go down and meet my cousin and be a ringer on my mom's sailboat in North Carolina? So these two bachelors jumped in their van, came all the way down to North Carolina. There was no room on my mother's boat. But we still hung. We got to go on another boat. We hung out all weekend.

[00:05:04] We went scuba diving, windsurfing, canoeing. I hit it off. And so it was a three-day weekend. And we were sitting in a bar together. And my cousin had left us alone, you know, to let that magic happen. We were having a beer and saying our goodbyes. And he goes, you know, someday I want to sail around the world. I said, me, too. Let's get married. He proposed. Fourth day we were together after that. Very quick. He threw me up two weekends later. And that fourth day, that last day we were together.

[00:05:31] He's like, if I don't ask you to marry me and you're down there in Charlotte with all those guys, he goes, I'm not going to stand a chance. I'm just doing it now. I know that I love you. I know that I want to spend the rest of your life. My life with you. Will you marry me? And I said yes. Like, no reservations for anything. So a year later, we were married. His dad was a minister. And he married us on the country club lawn where we met. It wasn't even a year later. It was like 10 months later. But the problem was is that I moved back up north with him. And we bought some property.

[00:06:00] And we made a horse farm because I came with horses. I gave him one for a wedding present. Wow. And we built our farm. And I started having babies. And so it took us 30 years. When my last son got married, Dan said, it's time. Now, mind you, we weren't actually the right age to retire. But we just sold everything, liquidated everything. We did a five-year plan. We found our boat, educated ourselves, moved aboard, and passed off. We just went for it. Wow. Wow. And just like that. Yeah.

[00:06:28] I was just about to say, just like that. Like, you make it sound so simple. And I'm just sitting here like, how in the, like, what in the, like, huh? It's almost like a movie. To read the book because, like, the actual preparation was not simple. And we'll get into that. But, yeah. There was a lot to do. Yeah. Wow. The decision might have been simple. But I love, I love the story. I love the love story that's, that's, that's included in that.

[00:06:57] And the timeframe of how, you know, that happened of your recollection to us. So it's, it's very Hollywood. Well, any movie producers out there, I'd be happy to make a movie out of it. Seriously. It's just truly, you know, amazing. So, Allison, tell me about, okay, so let's get into the crux of this, really. You're deciding, so you decide that you want to, you want to sail around the world. And what is the preparation? What are the misconceptions, things that pop up in your mind?

[00:07:25] Because you said your, your husband is more of the daredevil in a sense of this. But how do you, how do you begin to, I don't know, fathom this in your head? There's a big difference between wanting to do something and actually doing it. So take us, take us on that journey. Okay. So there actually is a message to prepare, prepare for this. The first thing was, is we attended what they call boat shows, sailboat shows all over the U.S. mostly on the East Coast and the West Coast.

[00:07:52] And in these boat shows, they have seminars where you sit down and you listen to people talking on every topic that goes along with blue water sailing. So provisioning, engine repair, how to cross oceans, navigation, maintenance. And we attended those, you know, everything that we could get our hands on. We read books. And then the, the coup de grace, so to speak, was on a Miami boat show. There was a man named John Cresher. He was used to be a delivery boat captain, which means he had been on every kind of boat

[00:08:20] imaginable and delivered them across oceans. He crossed the land 21 times. And he was doing how to sail in a storm, which is my biggest fear. So I'm listening to this man. And I was so blown away at this competency. He'd been through three hurricanes and two tights during his crossings and was still there to talk about it. So I'm like, this man knows what he's talking about. And at the end of the seminar, he said, oh, by the way, I do what's called heavy weather

[00:08:46] training passages where I take people on my boat, go out in the trade winds when you're going to, you know, guaranteed to have 25, 30 knot winds and big seas. And I take you a thousand miles for 10 days and you get to experience what it's like to be in the ocean. Now, my husband had been a merchant marine, so he had crossed oceans on big ships. And so, you know, and he was a confident sailor. But I'm like, Dan, I need this. Like, I need to know that when we get in rough weather, I can handle this. So I'm like, please, please, please, please, please go. And he had one slalom.

[00:09:15] So it meant we couldn't both go. And I'm like, I'm like biting my neck. I'm like, can I go? Can I go? Can I go? And he's like, okay. So it was really expensive, you know? And I went up and I'm like, John, I want that last slot. I got to do this with you. So great. And it wasn't for several months in February, which up in New Jersey is the middle of, you know, a cold winter. Yeah, sure. Like difficult back then. Fast forward and I'm getting ready and I'm more and more excited. My husband's getting more and more depressed. He's like, you're going off to sail in the Caribbean and I'm stuck here, you know, emptying frozen buckets. And he just was.

[00:09:45] The week before that passage, I was emailing John a question. I said, you know, I'm so excited. My husband is getting grumpier and grumpier. And he goes, you know what? Somebody just backed out for health reasons. I will give it to your, that spot to your husband for half price just so I can fill that clock. Yeah. So I'm like, yes, I'm not even asking him. This is a yes. So he comes home from work that night, you know, and he pulls up and he's kicking the snow off his boot and he's getting ready to open the front door. And I ran in and I got him a rum and Coke. And I said, honey, and he goes like, what's this for?

[00:10:14] I said, honey, I have some really good news for you. You're going with me. And he's like, what? And he's so excited. So the two of us went on this thousand mile training pass. And at the end of that passage, John said, you two are absolutely ready. You are going to both be fine. And I a hundred percent give you my seal of approval. That's amazing. That's really amazing. What was your experience though in that? I mean, what, what did you experience during that sale?

[00:10:38] So during that sale, I got to experience what it was to be 500 miles away from any shore in 10, 12 foot seas and 30 knots of wind. I got to, you know, what I'd like to do, we have to do what's called watches all night long. So as you're sailing overnight, husband and I had to go up and spend three hours at the helm as the ship sailed through the night. So I got to experience watches. And what it was like to try to prepare food in a boat that's going like this, you know,

[00:11:06] you put something on the car and it rolls away and you go to get something else and it rolls the other way. And it's just like, yeah, it's very difficult to cook in that kind of sea. And every day the man taught us and educated us about navigation and just everything that you needed to know. And we landed in, I think, three different ports on three different islands. We did anchoring and checking into new countries. We even got boarded in the middle of the ocean. Giant ships started following us. It was a U.S. postcard. And because of the Patriot Act, they can board you even when you're in international waters.

[00:11:35] So we had a speedboat come up next to us with guys with semi-autic machine guns. And they said, keep going. We're tying up to you. You are being boarded by the U.S. postcard. They searched the ship. They went through all the compartments. Oh, wow. So we got what it was like to be boarded by not pirates, but by people with guns. But they just boarded just because? Just because? Well. Because that's kind of like, obviously, I know they can, but it just seems invasion.

[00:12:06] The only reason that we could fathom, because they took our, like, they're supposed to do all the passport checks right there on the vessel. They go, we're going to take these back to our ship. So they get back on board. They take it. And now they're back there for two, three hours with our passports on a ship a mile behind us. And then when the boat finally came back, the captain of this big vessel was aboard. Turned out he was a huge fan of John Kretschmer and wanted to get his book signed. Wow. That's amazing. That is wild.

[00:12:35] The one person that did that, you know, now all of a sudden he's your biggest, you know, you find a commonality, I guess is what I'm saying, in so many aspects or something like that. But because he was a fan, that's why he took his opportunity to be able to board. I can't say that's 100% the reason, but they were training a new guy. So there was one experienced agent aboard and one non-experienced agent. And they actually wrote him up for a couple violations, which were bogus. Like, I would have contested it. They were bogus.

[00:13:04] But I think they were just trying to maybe, like, saying, hey, this is a good boat to pull over. There was a bunch of Americans. There's actually two non-Americans on there. And they have no authority over non-Americans. It's like the whole thing was really sketchy to begin with. Right, right. But so I can't really say if the underlying reason was because they had somebody knew they were training or if it was a figure, the captain was a fan and wanted just to meet this legend. So we'll never really know. But you know what?

[00:13:30] Since then, in the eight years of sailing, we have been pulled over by postcard ships in different countries, including the US, probably six or seven times. So it was kind of comforting to have that experience before we had our own boat. Exactly. That's interesting. So, but along that line, though, Allison, how did you, like, I get it on how you navigated that situation with authorities. What about navigating that situation through, you know, like what kind of fear or whatever

[00:14:00] it may be of the unknown when other vessels or unpredictability and all that other stuff with like the ocean. And I know you see other not so friendly people probably in the water. Yeah. I don't want to. Well, you know what I'm trying to say. Can I say it? Pirates? I'm hoping you didn't see any pirates, but. No, we don't know that because when we were crossing from Italy to Albania across the Ionian

[00:14:25] Sea, there are actually 10 seas in the Mediterranean, comprised of the Mediterranean. And we sailed through eight of them. Oh my. And some of them border countries that you really don't know who's going to be coming next to you in their boat. Sure. And there's a lot of things that go out there. And in the middle of the night, I was on watch. It was like three in the morning. And you have on your screen, on your console that you're looking at, any ships in the area. And it shows their path and if they're going to intersect with you.

[00:14:52] And sure enough, there was this big boat, 80, 100 foot boat, motorboat. It was coming straight on a direct collision course with us. Wow. Wow. So I waited until he got about a mile away because you can see him when they're like six miles out. So about a mile away, I can see the name of his boat. So I'm calling him on the radio. I'm saying, this is S.V. Equus. Whatever the name was. Do you see us? I want to know what your intentions are. Are you going to change course? Sure. Which one is your sail? Nothing. Not a word. So then it gets to be a half a mile away from us.

[00:15:20] And he's still on a collision course with us. And now I'm getting really worried. My husband, he sleeps. Our bed is right underneath the cockpit. So I'm banging my foot on the floor because I'm afraid to walk down. And Daniel, Daniel, you got to get up. You got to get up. So he's all groggy and he comes up and says, what? I'm like, he's about a half mile away. He will not answer me. I called him repeatedly and he's on a collision course with us. What should we do? He goes, well, we're just going to hang on and see. So then he gets within a quarter mile of us and it's getting really scary.

[00:15:49] And I just said, look, I said, I started yelling him, look, you need to either change course or let us know what your intentions are. Excuse me. And then all of a sudden this light flashes on the front of the boat and then flashes off. That's it. Boys come in, just a flash of a light. I'm like, well, they're not asleep. They know we're here. Now, mind you, because it's like 20 knots of wind and we have three sails up. It's very difficult for us to change a course on a boat that's under motor intersecting us.

[00:16:17] So he had to do something because I don't know what we would have done. I guess we could have maybe done a 360 or something, but it's really hard for us, especially in big waves. So all of a sudden he changed courses about a quarter mile from us and he goes behind us and then turns and starts following us. So now he's behind us, following us. So now we know it's intentional that he's coming towards us. And I'm just like holding my breath. I'm like, Dan, what do we do? He goes, I don't know. I don't know what we do.

[00:16:45] And then all of a sudden he just starts slowing down and he fades farther and farther and farther away. Do you guys have protection by chance? I'm sorry. Do you have your own protection on board of your own ship? No, because when you have guns, the majority of the place that you're going to encounter people boarding your boat is an anchor. Every time you go to a new country, you have to check in. The first thing they ask you is, do you have firearms? And if you say yes, they're going to take them and they're going to keep them.

[00:17:09] And now if you want to go to a different port in that country and you want to leave, you've got to go all the way back to that first port and get your guns back. And it's really inconvenient. And they kind of look at you differently if you're carrying firearms. You know, you're no longer just a lucky cruiser. So we made the decision long ago that we're not going to have firearms. Whatever gun you have, they're going to have a bigger gun and more of them. So it really doesn't make sense to have a firearm, in our opinion. I know there's other people that disagree with that, other sailors, but that's just the way that we feel.

[00:17:38] And it's worked out okay with us so far. Amen. Did you already talk about like the fear? Just like how you know? Yeah, we kind of touched. Well, we kind of touched on it, but I feel like we can explore that a little bit more. Because really, okay, you talked about navigating, you're talking about that particular situation and how you navigated the fear. But it's such a, to me, it's such a vast trip and such a, it's a day-to-day thing.

[00:18:05] How did you keep your emotions in check in those situations, I guess? Or, you know, what is it that just kept you, I guess, in center where you didn't panic or freak out? Well, you know, if you're on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you don't have a lot of options. Right. Sure. And checking out and panicking isn't an option because you're literally fighting for survival. So if you ever found yourself in a situation where there was no outs, you would find yourself adapting and getting through it.

[00:18:34] And that's what you have to do. You can't, you don't, there's really not an alternative. And I'm not going to say that, um, times that I've like broken down and really been upset and crying and telling Dan, and I'm like, can you stand this work, like life threatening? Right. It was just uncomfortable. And it was just like one thing happening after another, after another to where I got really worn down. But in every real crisis mode where it was, you know, kind of life or death. Yeah. I did what I needed to do to get through it. Okay. Because my husband did die once.

[00:19:04] Or I thought he was dead. Oh my gosh. Oh my. What do you want that story now? I guess you can't say something like that. Yeah, like, I'm like, what do you mean? Yeah. Give us the cliff note version. Yeah, that's terrible. I mean, I don't want you to freak out or get sad unless it's going to trigger you or something. It's just a story. I mean, we were, uh, we were in the Mediterranean and we were having autopilot issues and we were crossing, making a crossing.

[00:19:32] Actually, I think we were trying to get out of the med. We tried three times to get out of the Mediterranean ocean, failed three times because of major failures. And this particular time, the autopilot would work for a while and then it would not work. And it was my turn to do a night watch and it would go off and I'd try to get it reset and we'd be doing fine for a while. Or it would be on and it would go off. Well, this one time it went off and I thought I got its back on course, but all of a sudden I looked and I could see the moon. And I knew I wasn't going in the direction of the moon.

[00:20:03] Yeah. I knew that we were going totally the wrong way and I didn't know how it happened. And then our, uh, our sail crash jived. It went flying over the back of the boat and one of the pieces of equipment shattered and I, I didn't know what to do. And I, I woke Dan up and Dan had already been up several times over the last couple of nights putting out these little fires. Wow. And so he came up and he was so groggy and I'm like, I don't know what to do. I just broke this and we just jived and I'm allowed to go the right way. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

[00:20:30] So he like gets the boat turned around and then he says the autopilot and he, and then he's sitting there and he's like, I don't think it works. I don't think it works. And I'm like, no, I can see it works. I'm like SOS, SOS is a medical emergency. Is there anybody that can hear me? Nothing. And I hang it back up. I'm like, okay, what do I do? And then I go over and I, I can kind of feel him breathing and I'm like smacking him in the face. And then finally his eyes flutter open. So it might've been just dehydration or cease. I think so. Yeah. Dehydration.

[00:20:59] That's because that has happened to me before when you said he just fainted and didn't know. And then he came, he probably came about and then didn't know what the hell was going on. He didn't. He didn't remember pushing the buttons or getting his back on course or anything. It happened to me when I was, cause I was in the military and I was severely dehydrated in the desert. And I literally was walking in and all of a sudden I see a whole bunch of people after however many minutes over me. And I'm just like, how's everybody doing around me?

[00:21:27] So I'm glad it was just that, but dehydration could be serious, you know, especially at sea, you know, and stuff like this. And I don't know much about. I'm so glad he's okay. That is an amazing story. Just to close this out, Alison, this is a fascinating talk. I could really talk to you for another hour, honestly, but tell us your books that you write. Yes. Tell us how the freedom of sailing and meeting all these different cultures and being in these different environments has influenced that.

[00:21:57] How did you get to writing? And then how has that influenced your writing? Well, I was an English major and a school teacher and I taught writer's workshop to elementary age children. So I tried to inspire a love of writing to young people. And I wrote my first novel before I went sailing. But once we started sailing, doing the travel blogging and just going to countries around the world and living these experiences, if you're a writer, you just have to sit down and it just pours out.

[00:22:25] And every book I've written, I've never like, you know, outlined it or thought I just sit down at the keyboard and the stories just flow out. It's just so easy for me to write and so much fun. And for instance, I wrote a book called The Seven, which I published a few months ago. And it's seven different people from around the world that are deciding the fate of humanity. But each of the locations they're at or the actual person themselves is somebody related to my life. So all of the cultural experiences are factual.

[00:22:54] It's almost like a historical fiction because the history, the cultures, their occupations, everything are researched, hugely researched and true. But their life is just totally my imagination. And based on things I've seen and felt and been through either vicariously or myself, it's just an it's a credible feeling. So just take every I know what I see and I do and be able to pour it into fun stories. It's magical, really. That's amazing.

[00:23:23] Definitely draws out your creativity, too, as well. Well, Allison, this has been an amazing discussion. First of all, to take on to take this on just the two of you, yourself and your husband and all the trials and tribulations that you must have gone through. But more importantly, you're living your dream. Many people don't get to see that or experience that. And, you know, just being able to push through the fear and all the doubt and the delays, you know, for for this time to finally come.

[00:23:51] So we want to thank you so much for joining us today. It's definitely amazing. And hopefully you'll get the point where someone would want to do a movie on this because I just in my mind, I'm being creative and I see some type of movie. Totally. At some point or another. Definitely. So, wow. The stories of Dan and Allison taking their trips. That's crazy. Sailing around the world. It's insane.

[00:24:15] I actually could have spoken to her for another hour or so because she has so many stories. But lucky us, we have books. So we're able to. And I do think there might be a second book about all of her sailing stories. Definitely want to stay tuned for that. Exactly. So that's it for us today, guys. If you like what you saw and you heard, I've been really impressed with our guests thus far. It's such fascinating stories.

[00:24:44] So if you want to continue to hear these stories, please like, subscribe and comment. Let us know what you think because we are really enjoying meeting all these great folks and we want to bring more stories to you. Also, we've written a little book. It's a pocket guide so that when you go off on your own adventures, you can be prepared for what may come on that trip.

[00:25:09] So any misconceptions, similarities, differences that you may have, this book certainly can help you with our roam. Yeah, it's kind of like a travel guide for the mind. Exactly. Mentally prepare yourself to deal with the unfamiliar. Maybe not as unfamiliar as the ocean. So I don't know about that. But certainly the unfamiliar.

[00:25:33] Please do show us some love by going to buymeacoffee.com forward slash Rhythm and Roam. We appreciate all of your donations and support. Thank you. Your bags were on the move. Rhythm and Roam got nothing to lose. Culture clash from coast to coast. Misconceptions we chasing ghosts. Well, you are on the track of your survival.isc Ride. Cry? coordinator. Cross endings you cyong with us. Why don't on the track of Jesus. Acres eco