Creating A Bucket List

I haven’t really ever had a Bucket List. I think that is so because when I hear the term ‘Bucket List,’ my mind interprets it as ‘Epic Adventures Mere Mortals Cannot Accomplish.’ And I, being a Mere Mortal, cannot accomplish epic adventures… Recently, however, I began to realize that the idea of a List isn’t limited to Epic Adventures.

Perhaps now is the time to create my Bucket List! Nothing too epic - well, maybe one. No particular order. No particular timeframe.

My Bucket List:

Dinghy Delta Ditch Sailing Event. Sacramento Delta, California. This is a 30-mile downwind small boat race from Rio Vista, California up the Deep Water Channel to Sacramento, California. It is hosted by the Lake Washington Sailing Club in Sacramento and takes place each year in mid-August. I became aware of this event nine or ten years ago when I was building my Goat Island Skiff in Sacramento. Life lead me away from the West Coast before my GIS was completed but now I look forward to sailing the event in Gardens.

Sailing Gardens on each of the Great Lakes. The state of Michigan touches four of the five Great Lakes and it seems like an obvious endeavor to sail on all five. What I have in mind is not just poking out into each lake for a few minutes and then scampering back to shore. Michigan, Huron, Erie and Superior each have islands that are easily reachable for a daysail or a camping weekend. I’ll have to explore the charts for Lake Ontario to see if there are similar opportunities there.

Sailing across Lake Michigan. It is roughly 70 straight-line miles across - and, of course, more than that when sailing. This is the Most Epic item on my List. Originally can to mind earlier this winter so planning for this has begun. Outfitting Gardens this spring will be done with this adventure in mind, which will of course benefit the other sailing adventures on the List.

MS Buckeye Breakaway Bicycle Ride. Following two knee replacement surgeries last year, this two-day 150-mile bicycle fundraiser ride, from Brunswick, Ohio to Ashland, Ohio and back, is on the list (yes, I’ve completed this ride before but with the new knees, I need a fitness goal).

Community Boat Building and Sailing. Using Mik Storer’s OZ Goose box-boat as a platform and based on the Philippine model of community boat building, sail training and racing, I’d like to introduce people to boatbuilding and sailing. I have an OZ Goose kit waiting to be assembled and a set of templates to facilitate subsequent builds.

So, that’s it. I’ll add more as I think of them but I suspect my list will involve sailing, biking, and travel more than anything else. I’ll provide details as each of these comes to fruition.