Sometimes dreams do come true. When Jim Roberts named his 42-foot sailboat Revery, he didn’t know he’d fulfill a dream by sailing to exotic locales for eight and a half months. And when Nancy Abbott named her 23-footer Adagio, she couldn’t imagine the slow rhythms of a 10,443-nautical-mile journey.



But that’s what the two sailors experienced from November 2008 to August 2009 after they left their own boats behind and helped crew the 48 ½-foot Out on the Blue from Trinidad to Australia. Along the way, they transited the Panama Canal, celebrated Abbott’s 80th birthday, met a 100-year-old tortoise named Lonesome George, escaped unscathed when a volcano erupted, ate a native meal on banana stem plates and attended church under a thatched roof.

Their dream began during a 2007 five-month Caribbean sail when they mused about seeing the Galapagos Islands. Their reveries became reality when they answered Helen and William Hooper’s request for help cruising to the Galapagos and beyond on their boat Out on the Blue.

Their nautical home was a sleek modern vessel, with high-tech equipment and many conveniences, from a freezer to a reverse osmosis device for water. But it didn’t contain all the comforts of a home on land. The benefits it did provide outweighed any inconveniences, according to its crew.

“It’s amazing what you can get along without,” said Abbott, who once celebrated a rainstorm by bathing and washing her hair on deck. “It’s like being in another world. You’re in tune with the wind; you get into the rhythm of living.”

When the sailors docked at the many islands on their route, they explored the local attractions, cultures and natural wonders.

Three dolphins escorted them into port in the Galapagos Islands, and blue-footed boobies, rare tortoises and huge iguanas captivated them on land. In Bora Bora, they sipped drinks in Bloody Mary’s yacht club. They shivered as they stood by the Mt. Yasur volcano in Vanuatu while lava shot 100 feet into the air. In Tahiti, they admired towering waterfalls and jungles.

At the sail’s conclusion, they spent a month touring Australia. Abbott and Roberts returned to Cocoa Beach briefly, then sailed off on another five-month Caribbean cruise in January 2010. Roberts said sailing and exploring is a healthy lifestyle.

“You’re not watching TV, not listening to the news,” he said. “You’re experiencing nature at its finest. You’re hiking, swimming, fishingdoing all sorts of outdoor activities.”

Roberts, 79, is a retired engineer and marina operator who was on the championship Purdue University sailing team and began sailing as a 10-year-old growing up near Lake Michigan. Abbott, a retired teacher, grew up in New Jersey and owned her first sailboat at age 16.