Endless Summer
In celebration of the approaching 21st century, the author joined the 46-foot ketch Hornblower II in a ‘round the world rally. The British sponsored Millennium Odyssey started in 1998 with a flame lighting ceremony in the Old City of Jerusalem and ended on Easter Day 2000 at the Vatican. There, rally organizer Jimmy Cornell presented Pope John Paul II a lantern with the flame carried around the world from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The sailing event had several starting points including Israel, Germany, England, and the United States. The flames were carried by some forty sailing vessels on several routes connecting seven continents in a gesture of peace and goodwill for the new millennium.
The author recounts his east-west voyage along the “coconut milk run” through the Panama Canal to across the Pacific, Indian, and South Atlantic oceans back to the Caribbean and to Florida, where they started, a little more than a year ago. Along the way, he reflects on the marine ecosystem, globalization, and the history of exploration starting with Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta, Zheng He, Magellan to Cook.
