Another cruising family completes another circumnavigation

by Tom Evans/Sail-World Cruising on 9 Jul 2010 Every day of every year there are brave cruising families setting out to sail unknown seas, many of them headed for circumnavigations, and many will exceed their planned voyage length. Every day of every year there are families returning home after life-enriching experiences, enjoyed as a family. The Hopkins family is one of these, as the following story by Tom Evans tells:

More than six years and 40,000 nautical miles after leaving Ned Dimes Marina in Westport, the Hopkins family returned this month to the port where their circumnavigation of the planet began.

Looking none the worse for wear -- in fact, the quartet of parents Doug and Kyle, and daughters Eliza, 15, and Abigail, 12, appeared to have just completed a day trip to Montauk -- the family warmly greeted family and friends at their boat on Sunday, June 20, before a small reception at the clubhouse.

Originally set to be a three-year trip around the world on the 32-foot 'Westsail 32' christened Estrela, the Hopkins family extended stays in such exotic locales as New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Thailand, Malaysia, Africa and Brazil to stretch their time away from the U.S. to more than six-and-a-half years.

Another motive behind the longer trip was to make sure Abigail had enough of a trip to store all those precious, once-in-a-lifetime memories.

When asked if she was happy to be back on land for the foreseeable future, Abigail had a mixed reaction.

'Yes and no,' Abigail said. 'I miss it being just the family on the boat. What I won't miss is being in such close quarters and having no privacy. I'm ready to go to school and have lots of friends.'

Eliza had a slightly different answer to that question, as the family will now sail up the Hudson River to Troy, N.Y., then through the Erie Canal to a new home in Buffalo: 'We're back, we've come full circle, but it hasn't really sunk in yet,' Eliza said. 'It almost feels like we're in a wonderful port with lots of friends. When I'm in my new house, I'll understand the trip is over.'

Eliza, who did admit that she was looking forward to her first hot shower in a long time, said this adventure made one fact perfectly clear.

'As a family, together for the past six-and-a-half years, we've discovered that all you really need is a loving family and the support of friends,' Eliza said. 'And I have some really close friends from Woodstock (Conn.), and it will be nice to get together.'

Doug said so much time spent away from western culture was an eye-opening experience.

'What we realized was how different people live around the world,' Doug said. 'A lot of people eat rice -- a lot of rice -- and a lot cook over open fires. And there are very few flushing toilets.'

Weather was not among the most notable events of the trip, and a lot of that has to do with 'Estrela,' which is Portuguese for star.

This Westsail 32 -- built in 1976, and bought by the family in 2001 -- was designed after pilot and rescue boats used in the North Sea, during its limited production in the 1970s.

An early version of the '32' was the first to be sailed around the world solo, single-handed and nonstop by Robin Knox-Johnston in 1969.

Doug noted that some of the heaviest weather they found was on the final leg of the journey, from Bermuda to Connecticut, where a 'real tough gale' hit them as they crossed the Gulf Stream.

'Her shape is very full,' Kyle said of the fiberglass boat that comes to a point at both ends and has a large cargo capacity. 'It's not a fast boat, but it's a very safe boat. It was marketed ... as the working man's boat to sail around the world. It's way overbuilt.'

That sturdiness allowed the family to weather the few storms they encountered safely below deck. That small space also served as kitchen, bedroom and classroom for the girls.

The tag (teaching) team of Kyle and Doug worked so well that both girls secured spots in private schools in Buffalo, while Doug will teach environmental science (he had been an environmental defense attorney), and Kyle returns to teaching drama.

Both girls said their most distinct memory of the voyage -- which touched 27 countries or territories and five continents -- was a sad one. The family had adopted a stray black-and-white kitten in South America and named it Choro. Eliza said Choro was known for hiding inside the boat, especially when the engines would get turned on. The cat became a fifth crew member for five months -- until one fateful day while sailing north in the Atlantic Ocean.

'The most memorable time was one horrible day when the cat fell overboard,' Eliza said. 'We were just sailing from Brazil to the Caribbean. No one knows what happened. We were all down below, and about to turn on the engine. We couldn't find him below or on deck. He was really a part of our family. It was a few minutes before we knew he fell overboard. We turned the boat around and looked for him, but he never learned to swim.'

One other noteworthy moment was watching the 2008 presidential election returns in South Africa. The family got up at 3 a.m. to watch the returns, and heard 'Obama' chants from giddy residents.

While giving Doug credit for pushing this adventure to fruition, and thanking people all along the journey for their help, Kyle said there was more at work in getting them all home safely.

'This trip is such a blessing,' Kyle said. 'The timing all worked. We sold our house and bought a boat. But it seems like a mini miracle that we could do it. To have traveled around the world is to appreciate what we have.'