By Becky Peters
As a kid I can remember the excitement as the odometer on our family’s 1963 Ford Galaxy was nearing 100,000 miles. The odometer could only go to 99,999 so we were anxious to see what would happen. It was before the days of seat belts so my brother, sister and I hung over the front seat waiting for that magic moment, while our parents’ commentary added to the suspense. We erupted in shouts as the odometer rolled over to 00,000.
It was with the same feeling of excitement that we approached the 4,000,000 nm mark on our Distance Pennant Program. The program was launched in the summer of 2008, a means of keeping track of just how many miles Nordhavn hulls have amassed under their keels. In just a little over a year, the tally reached 3,000,000 miles, but after that, the mileage reports plateaued and we appeared to be stuck in the 3,000,000’s forever. Nearly two years passed and still 4,000,000 miles seemed elusive – we’d been teetering in the high 3’s for all of 2011. Of course, we knew with certainty that we were well above that 4,000,000 milestone; with less than half of all Nordhavns having logged in, there was a huge amount of unrecorded miles out there. The question remained: how to get our busy owners to participate in the program. E-mail reminders were sent out and our owners responded. Little by little, additional miles were logged and more pennants were issued adding to those already being flown on Nordhavns with pride.
The anticipation increased when we were 10,000 miles from that magic moment. So last week I sent a mass e-mail to all of our Nordhavn owners and waited to see which boat would put us over. As they do so often, our owners came through. Since Monday, many new mileage reports were recorded: Douglas MacQuarrie on 4676 PENGUIN, who has made five trips through the Inside Passage to Alaska and many trips into the Canadian Gulf Islands, added 4,675 miles to his existing 13,325 nm. James Light of 3514 GRAY GHOST, who has traveled extensively between LA and Catalina Island, added 1,255 to his 9,100 nm. David and Sharon Smith on 4675 TAI MO SHAN added 1,384 nm to their previous 10,258. These miles were all traveled in the Hong Kong to Philippines area. We were getting close, but we were still 2,700 miles from our goal. Richard and Ronnie Vander Veer on 5023 TWO DRIFTERS added 2,000 miles to their impressive 22,000 miles. Their travels started in 2003 in Dana Point with a trip north to Alaska. In 2004 TWO DRIFTERS headed south, through the Panama Canal and on to the East Coast. Now we were really close … less than 1,000 nm miles from our goal. Chris Fraser, a new Nordhavn Owner of 4022 CROSSWINDS showed his spirit by adding 200 miles from his travels between Jacksonville, FL and Charleston, SC. So close!
Then we had it. Peter Sheppard on 5538 SKIE (which might stand for Spending our Kids Inheritance Early) added 5,528 nm to his existing 20,093, and we were over the top. Peter began his adventures with SKIE in Australia in 2007. After thoroughly exploring the Australian coastline, SKIE headed north in 2009 visiting Mexico on the way to Seattle and Alaska. In 2010 SKIEheaded south passing through San Diego and La Paz, Mexico and is currently in Papeete, Tahiti.
The Distance Pennant Program began as a creative idea from Jim Leishman that was introduced at our Owner’s Rendezvous in Rhode Island nearly three years ago. Currently 296 of our 470 Nordhavn owners have shared their travels and posted over 4,000,000 nautical miles. These miles are equal to more than 160 trips around the Earth at the equator, or eight round-trips to the moon (an odd analogy, perhaps, but nonetheless impressive). We appreciate all of our owners’ enthusiasm for the Distance Pennant Program and we are proud to know that these Nordhavn Distance Pennants are flying all around the world. To read about the travels of our ever-moving Nordhavns, or log on to post your miles, go to the Distance Pennant section. Keep cruising and keep in touch. We’re on our way to 5,000,000 nautical miles!