
The Songbird Story
I was sitting on a Seattle beach with my then partner, staring listlessly out at the blue water. She turned to me and earnestly asked: “You have been miserable for years– what do you need to do to be happy?” I broke down in tears. I needed to make a change. On that beach, I realized that I needed to sail around the world. I’m not sure how I knew this with such clarity, but with the same instinct that birds use to migrate south, I knew I had to sail west.
The glaring challenges I faced were a lack of experience, and more materially problematic, a lack of boat. I only had about three weeks of sailing under my belt, but I figured experience would come with time.
Over the next few days, I spent hours combing the online listings around Seattle for cheap, used, sailboats. I set my budget at 15k. This was about three months’ salary as a young public school teacher in Seattle. Five days into my search for a floating home, I came across a listing for a Vancouver 27 sitting at a dock on Bainbridge Island. It was listed at 14.5k. That Friday, after a full day of teaching, I rushed to the Seattle ferry terminal and set off across the Sound to meet the owner, Kathy, at the marina.
When I arrived at the marina and first set eyes on this small boat, it wasn’t love at first sight. The heavens didn’t open, and angels didn’t sing songs about how I had found my true home. I had no idea what I was looking for, and I knew absolutely nothing about boats. What I saw as I first looked at this Vancouver 27 was old, faded wood, rotten lines, and dirty fiberglass. The boat had been sitting in this sleepy marina for four years. Everything organic on deck was rotten. However, on closer inspection, the fiberglass of the deck and of the hull appeared rock solid. Those are the important bits, right? In truth, I didn’t really know.
As Kathy invited me below, I saw that the interior was a different story. Below deck, the boat was clean, tidy, and flaunted a 1970’s vibe. It was easy for me to imagine living in these quarters. After a quick Google search, I found that Vancouver 27s were specifically built to cross oceans. In fact, the first hull sailed from Vancouver Canada to New Zealand and back. After reading a few encouraging articles to confirm the Vancouver 27s seaworthiness, I bought the boat that day. It was Kathy’s late husband’s dream to sail this vessel around the world, and I promised her that I would fulfill his dream. I still keep in touch with Kathy and send her updates when I arrive in a new country. While I never met Frank, I do feel his presence with me on this circumnavigation.
I brought the boat to South Park Marina in South Seattle. South Park boasts of having the cheapest yard in Seattle, and it was only 15 min from my apartment. I hauled the boat out on the first day of spring break, and had hoped to have it back in the water by the last day of spring break. Ah, what a fool I was… What followed was a grueling seven months in the yard completing projects that I didn’t even know existed at the time I had naively decided to become a boat owner. For the rest of the school year, I would teach all day and then retreat to the boatyard to slowly chip away at the mountain of projects my boat required. A highly condensed list of projects stands as follows: new rudder, new running rigging, new standing rigging (which required the mast to come down), new cutlass bearing, new batteries and full solar installation, custom solar arch, basic engine refit, and a new head (bathroom) with sanitation hose. There were many other smaller projects as well.
Throughout the process of completing this refit, I was also tasked with naming the vessel as it was nameless when I bought it. Because of my background in music, and the innate pull to travel west, the boat name became clear: “Songbird.” After all projects were completed, Songbird splashed in late September of 2023, after a couple weeks of day sails and a few overnight trips around The Sound, I felt ready (or as ready as I’d ever be) to sail around the world. On October 7th, Songbird left the dock at South Park Marina for the last time. Aboard was myself and one crew member, a 19-year-old kid from South Africa who I had met on Facebook a few days before. Angus (@the.wild.escape) crewed aboard Songbird with me for two months and 2300 miles, all the way to Cabo San Lucas. We have become lifelong friends and I look forward to having him aboard again when I reach his coastline in South Africa.
The story of Songbird continues to be written. Since Songbird left Seattle on Oct 7, 2023, we have sailed close to 10,000 miles together. I am only able to live out my dream through your intrigue and investment in what a small sailboat is capable of with a determined skipper at the helm.
Thank you.
Everywhere Songbird Has Dropped Anchor!
*Map does not show actual tracks laid by Songbird between anchorages but shows tracks ‘as the crow flies.’