Marvin Creamer, still sailing at 95!

I just had a fabulous two days exploring nature preserves on Isleboro Island while also fooling with Gizmo’s half installed electronics suite and generally enjoying a solo cruise. A SPOT track of yesterday’s ‘voyage’ can be seen here, a few electronics entries will ensue, and eventually so will another MBHH Adventures on the Coast of Maine. But the topper was getting a call from an old friend about the very interesting sailor above, who is right now en route to Bermuda in a 36-foot sloop at the age of 95!…

I’m aware that my own boating adventures are quite modest, but I’d sure like to keep pursuing them even though I’ll soon pass the ‘retirement’ mark of 65 years old. And I know a lot of you are in similarly old shoes, largely because of last year’s marine electronics survey. So isn’t it inspiring to learn that Marvin Creamer made a remarkable circumnavigation at age 67 and is still at it? The former geography professor did the whole trip aboard Globe Star without even traditional navigation tools like a sextant and a clock, and fortunately there’s a fine web site lovingly documenting the feat.
   What’s happening now is that Marvin’s son Kurt recently bought a Robinhood 36, hull #1 actually, and he, his dad, and two nephews are currently sailing it from the Robinhood Marine Center in Maine to North Carolina, via Bermuda. My old (in both ways) friend Joe McCarty — who semi-retired from managing Robinhood in favor of working with tools part of the year and on his own boat another part (for charter here) — got the task of helping the Creamer clan learn their new boat, now named Miss Meliss, and he had to tell me about Marvin. “He does take lots of naps,” says Joe, though he could barely contain his enthusiasm about Marvin’s accomplishments and what an a fine example he is for us kids.
   So let’s hope Miss Meliss and her crew enjoy a fine voyage.  I, for one, would love to stand watches with Marvin and hear about how he got around the world — and three times across the Atlantic — using just natural signs, though I’m glad that they do have some navigation electronics to help find that little island out there with reefs around it. For a more modest adventure, remember my enjoyable experience with Robinhood’s floating cottage, which I also used for an MBHH column. And, Panbo readers young and old, please don’t forget to take this year’s survey. Have a great weekend.

PS: Glad to add that Kurt’s wife Melissa is blogging about Miss Meliss’s Bermuda passage.