Spokane sailors complete 26,000-mile odyssey

Charlie Simon couldn’t imagine a better way to turn 60 than to sail around the world with his wife.

So that’s what the retired Spokane couple did. They named their semi-custom ocean-going Taswell 58 sailboat “Celebrate” and headed out in January 2014 on a 15-month, 26,000-mile journey that took them to five continents, 16 countries and across three major oceans and many seas.

Before the big bon voyage, the Simons threw a birthday party in St. Lucia, attended by a few Spokane friends and the other sailors who were also participating in the World Cruising Club World ARC 2014-15 Rally.

“These are mega memories we’ve had,” said Cathy Simon in a recent cellphone call from aboard Celebrate near the British Virgin Islands. “It was just a grand adventure. You’ve got to put those adventures in life.”

The Simons were the oldest sailors in the group of 40 boats that started out together. Only 18 boats completed the full circumnavigation in April, which isn’t rare as sailors decide to stay longer in one destination or opt for a shorter route. Many people take years to do the world circumnavigation. The Simons did it quickly – all on their own with no hired crew or captain, only an occasional deckhand when friends would come aboard for a leg or two and help. The couple joked that at their age, they don’t have the luxury of endless time.

The World Cruising Club’s first ocean crossing rally was in 1986. Today, according to its website, more than 450 boats and 1,200 people attend one of its nine rallies each year, ranging from the round-the-world adventures to social cruises and island hopping.

Charlie Simon’s love for sailing is genetic. His father taught him to sail at age 5. His great-grandfather was a shipper. Cathy Simon began sailing when she met Charlie. They married 36 years ago when they were both working in the San Francisco Bay area. Charlie Simon co-founded three technology companies and Cathy Simon worked in banking. Their main sailing club remains in San Francisco.

Although Charlie Simon is known as the passionate sailor, it was Cathy’s idea to do the circumnavigation. Why not? The couple bought a new boat for their 25th anniversary and sailed to Alaska. Then they sailed the Pacific Coast to Mexico and then through the Panama Canal and to the East Coast. Following summer around the globe on the warm trade winds didn’t seem impossible or even all that difficult especially if they had support from the World Cruising Club, which sets up the routes, plans port parties, and tracks all the ships and keeps in communication in case of an emergency or breakdown. During the previous rally, a boat was lost in the Indian Ocean but the crew survived.

“It’s like any sport,” Cathy Simon said. “You want to reach the epitome of it.”

Running a sailboat is a 24-hour a day job. The Simons take 6-hour watches and utilize an electronic “Watch Commander” – a small device that alerts the on-duty captain every 15 minutes to do checks inside and outside the boat, including checking the gauges and navigation system to scanning the horizon for other boats. A majority of smaller fishing boats don’t have automatic identification systems that would show up on the electronic screens. Another big duty is listening for noises.

“Almost everything that goes wrong has a sound that goes with it,” Charlie Simon said, adding that even a slight wind change will cause the sail to flutter in a different way.

If the watch commander isn’t reset, an alarm sounds throughout the whole boat to alert others that the captain may be asleep or having trouble.

“On a sailboat, things break all the time,” Simon said. “It’s just routine, nothing extraordinary.”

Every boat carries spare parts and also has a water maker to convert salty sea water into drinking water.

Besides the 6-hour shifts, the Simons also split duties. He does the cooking and the mechanical work and she cleans. Yet Cathy Simon is an educated sailor, completing a captain’s course before the trip to learn all the mechanics, from changing the oil to working the sail and monitoring the systems.

While sailing, the Simons have a strict no-alcohol policy because they have to be at fully functioning at all times. The parties at the ports along the way always include cocktails, good food and dancing.

High seas adventure

“We had a rolly night, with winds behind pushing us down seas of 2-4 meters,” the Simons posted to the rally’s log blog on Jan. 16, 2014, the sixth day of their trip.

After the trip’s first leg, a nine-day, 1,110-mile passage from St. Lucia to Lemon Cays in Panama, the Simons reflected in the log on the highlights: the sendoff with their friends, the snapping of their “whisker pole” at the mast fitting that launched the 12-foot pole across the deck, and the day a flying fish landed on the deck with a flapping thump.

“Beautiful full moon during the passage, so bright and clear you could almost read,” read one log entry, followed by, “After the moon set, the sky was so dark that the stars were unbelievable. Cathy was first to identify Orion.”

Although the Simons love sailing, they also enjoyed reaching land and taking a break – anything from a few days to nearly a month depending on the weather and hurricane predictions. Charlie Simon’s favorite stop was Vanuatu, where he walked to the Mount Yasur Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. “You can walk up as close as you can,” he said. “It’s really interesting to see the power of the Earth.”

In March, about eight months after the Simons visit, Cyclone Pam devastated the South Pacific Island nation.

Cathy Simon was surprised by Cape Town, South Africa, which was cosmopolitan and rich with shopping opportunities and wineries.

After completing their voyage April 11 when docking at Rodney Bay Marina in St Lucia, the Simons attended a large finale party with the other rally sailors who completed the trip.

One of the couple’s final logs on March 26 read, “A huge pod of Dolphins with babies jumping all around the boat stayed with us for quite a while. It was so entertaining.”

What lies ahead

Currently the couple is sailing back to the United States, expecting to port in the Chesapeake Bay by the end of May or early June. They will spend the summer on the East Coast and then spend December in Spokane before wintering in Mexico. For now, the Simons haven’t figured out their next adventure. Charlie Simon is excited to do several speaking engagements about their journey.

Always interested in philanthropy – they were recipients of the City of Spokane’s Individual Benefactor Award in 2010 – the Simons said their world trip provided them with a global connection and perspective.

“We have to help our next door neighbors,” Charlie Simon said, adding that they, along with the World Cruising Club, donated to the people of Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam. “Our neighbors are the world. We’re just one big neighborhood. It’s easier to see that now from our vantage.”