Chief Morale Officer for the voyage

Our Jack Russell Terrier has an important role in this voyage -- she is charged with keeping up morale at all times. This won't be a hard task for her because she is well practiced at this at our land home.

Her name is "Olive" -- named after the garnishment in our favorite alcoholic beverage. I could drink a martini without an Olive, but I'd rather not. We could take this trip without Olive, but we'd rather not.

Three years ago, when she was a pup, we trained her to use a green AstroTurf mat on the foredeck for her daily "business." I have modified the mat for our voyage to make sure it doesn't blow off. (That could be a voyage stopper, so I also have a replacement mat stored in a secret place.)

Olive swims like Mark Spitz. We have seen this on several occasions when she has fallen into Lake
Chickamauga as she is hopping between boats in a raft up. The wide side decks of Invictus make it

easy for her to have 360 degree run of the boat. Of course, we watch her very closely when we are underway and she is running around.

Most of the time we are underway, she is curled up on the backrest of the bench where Linda sits. She likes to have one appendage touching Linda's neck or shoulder for maximum comfort. I know exactly how she feels.

About our boat name...Invictus

Linda and I bought "Invictus" from a very nice man in Naples, Florida who had owned her for 13 years.  He, like me, was a former sailor.  He was 82 and wanted to move down in boat size and complexity.  He had named the boat "Freedom," as you can see in the picture.  

Previous owner, Jim, and me at the Naples Yacht Club

Linda and I had been thinking about boat names for a long time.  Early in our relationship we had discovered that we had both chosen the same poem to memorize for our high school poetry class.  (Remember when everyone had to memorize a poem!)  We both chose "Invictus" by William Henley because we liked the message about self reliance.  So, it was an obvious choice for us for a boat name.  Henley published the poem in 1888 in Scotland.  Here it is:

Out of the night that covers me, 

      Black as the pit from pole to pole, 

I thank whatever gods may be 

      For my unconquerable soul. 

In the fell clutch of circumstance 

      I have not winced nor cried aloud. 

Under the bludgeonings of chance 

      My head is bloody, but unbowed. 

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 

      Looms but the Horror of the shade, 

And yet the menace of the years 

      Finds and shall find me unafraid. 

It matters not how strait the gate, 

      How charged with punishments the scroll, 

I am the master of my fate, 

      I am the captain of my soul.

Henley gave his poem a Latin title which we liked because we both studied a lot of Latin in high school.  The poem has been called the "atheist's anthem" by some but we don't read it that way.  To us it states our believe that you are responsible for your own fate, you make your own luck, and when you get knocked down you get up and move ahead.

And we are not alone in choosing it as a boat name -- the Coast Guard has over 80 "Invictuses" listed in the documented boats list.  There is at least one movie titled Invictus and one men's cologne.  Oh well, we still like it.

Linda christening "Invictus" in 2013 while I wince

The Idea for a second Grand Voyage

A little over four years ago, I left Chattanooga aboard my 36-foot sailboat, Agaliha, on a 2,101 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico and around the Florida coast.  I called that trip my bucket trip (see my blog: ronsbuckettrip.blogspot.com).  I came home, didn't "kick the bucket," and I've been thinking about another trip ever since I finished the last one.

I learned on that trip that a sailboat is not the ideal vehicle for a coastal trip.  I motored a majority of the time and the height of the mast and depth of the keel made navigation more difficult.  Also, my wife Linda joined me on several stops of that trip.  After a week in Key West in a marina, she said, "The next time I spend a week with you, I want to be a part of moving the boat."  A few weeks later she loved the trip from Marathon to Palm Beach and so did I.  So, when the first trip was over, I sold Agaliha to a friend and Linda and I bought a vessel more suitable to our style of cruising together.

We wanted a boat big enough for the two of us to live aboard (three counting Olive, our Jack Russell Terrier), yet small enough for the two of us to handle in all kinds of conditions.  We also wanted a boat that could be trucked easily without any major disassembly.  We wanted a generator to run Linda's hair dryer, twin diesel engines, propane cooking fuel and a "walk-around" V-berth to sleep in.  We found a boat in Naples, Florida meeting those requirements -- a Sabre 36 Express.  For non-boaters, her style is called "Downeast."

The boat had been owned for 12 years by another former sailor.  He bought the boat new from the factory in Maine and named her "Freedom."  We re-christened her "Invictus" -- the subject of future blog -- and have enjoyed getting used to her for the past three years on the Tennessee River.

We immediately started to dream of another Grand Voyage that we could do together.  We considered becoming "loopers" and doing the "Great Loop," but decided that we really didn't have much interest in doing the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.  Ultimately, we decided to pick up where I left off, at the Florida-Georgia line and go Northeast until we get tired of it.

So, the title of this blog comes from those decisions. We are going Northeast in a Downeast cruiser.  Northeast by Downeast.  We are making plans to truck the boat to Savannah in early April.  We hope you will join us via the miracle of the internet.

Ron, Linda and Olive

 Inside Invictus

Invictus at anchor in the Tennessee River