Welcome to the Geankoplis Travel Log
As we embarked on our retirement journey, people asked for us to keep in touch and let them know what we were doing. This is our attempt to provide information to those who are interested. Be sure to use the keyboard down arrows to see additional entries in each navigational section.
It was always a dream of Chris’. From the first time we met in 1969, I knew sailing was in his blood and that was when he was most happy. I, however had never been on a sailboat. I kind of liked the water; had traveled on ocean liners and lived near the water, but it had never occurred to me to make a life of sailing on a boat…definitely not for me. In fact, after meeting Chris, I had the chance to sail on an Egyptian Felucca at night on the Nile with a group of college friends. Not only was I scared to death, I ran crying from the low side of the boat to the high side. Boy was that embarrassing. Well, love can change lots of things. Early in our life, Chris gave up long-term sailing for a marriage and “regular” life with me, and I gave of many of the luxuries I might have wanted so that we could have a small sailboat almost all the time we have been married.
I learned to love sailing and we trailered those sailboats, and sailed many waters over the years. Together the two of us, and later with our son Nick, we sailed the Chesapeake Bay, Florida to and through the Bahamas, the San Juans, Desolation Sound and the Sea of Cortes.
When it came time for Chris to retire, we tried to envision a life for ourselves. Our family was spread all over the US, our son was living in Beijing, and though we had great friends in Medford, we weren't sure that was enough to keep us there when the sea was calling. So, we decided to follow Chris' dream. I committed to living on a boat for 3-5 years to see how it worked out. Not quite ready to commit to spending a large amount of money right off the bat, I came up the the idea of taking our tiny Enosis, and returning to some of our favorite sailing places. So here begins our sailing log on our tiny 1983, 22' Rhodes.
Once the decision was made to live on Enosis for 18 months and then purchase a larger boat to live on in the Caribbean, things moved very fast. The house sold in almost record time requiring us to divest ourselves of most of our clothes and possessions. Everything we would keep have to fit into a 10 x 18 storage locker and the bed of our new tow vehicle, a 2003 diesel F250 purchased for the journey.
UPDATE NOV. 2018 We purchased the larger boat, a 2003 Catalina 387 in June of 2016 and leaving in on land (the hard) for the summer hurricane season. We spent several months in the fall overhauling the boat and redoing several of the systems. and by early February we left for the Bahamas in Enosis II (the big boat, AKA, E2) for the Bahamas and spent 4 months there before returning to Ft. Pierce Florida and placing it on the hard. Because of Alice's and mine love for Enosis I, Alice suggested that since we needed someplace to go over the summer hurricane season, why not send Enosis I (AKA E1) over to the med on one of the big car carriers that ply the route from Baltimore to the Med. Our hope was that E! would make it over by early August 2017 and we could spend a couple of months sailing the Med in our Rhodes 22. Unfortunately, due to numerous delays and Spanish bureaucracy, the boat went directly into covered storage until June of 2018. By July 13 the boat was in the water with all documents and insurance done. See E1 Sailing the Med for our journal from Barcelona to Naples Italy. This was a wonderful trip of over 1,000 miles and 10 weeks through northern Spain, all of the French Mediterranean coast and the Italian coast from the French boarder to Naples Italy.
After several weeks or so with dear friends in the Applegate and family in Eugene purging and fixing up the boat, the journey began with a test sail in Lake Waldo North West of Eugene Oregon. The plan as it stands now is to return to the US in the fall of 2016 and purchase a boat to live on in the Caribbean. We will see as the adventure unfolds.
We are creating this website as we participate in the adventure. Internet access will not always be reliable, so no promises are made as to how update the site will be. And, as we have already learned sickness, weather, and mechanical failures will cause us to adjust our best plans. Therefore, please check back periodically for segments that may have been added since your last visits.
Our thanks to all our friends and family who have provided unequivocal support for this adventure and who have asked us to keep in touch and abreast of our adventure. We hope this website will make it possible to share with everyone.
Egyptian Falluca
Alice sailing Rhodes 1 - Moonspinner, 1980's, Chesapeake Bay
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Chris' first boat Vayu at 19 , 1970's, Italy & Greece
Enosis, Rhodes 2
on Klamath Lake, 2000's
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Our first boat in 1974, Annapolis
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