KIM MAKES IT TO AMERICA!
- Paul Weston
- May 29
- 3 min read
On the morning of 19th April 2026 Kim arrived at Fort Lauderdale in Florida, marking a significant step on the journey which started in June 2023 at Port Napoleon in Southern France, and has taken us to three continents and innumerable ports and anchorages.
Our cruise has given us many memorable experiences, including the most recent segment, our two-day trip from Bitter Guana Cay, one of the islands of the Bahamas’ Exuma chain, to Fort Lauderdale, along a route ‘less traveled by’ - a combination of sailing across the shallow waters of the Great Bahama Bank, the deep seas of the Tongue of the Ocean, the Bank again, and then the Gulf Stream in the Florida Strait. Crossing the Bank for hour after hour, out of sight of land, but with the keel only just off the clearly visible seabed is something which we will not soon forget.
When we bought Kadash, AKA Kim in 2022, she was not equipped for cruising, or indeed really finished, and we’ve had several intensive sessions of working on her in various yards.
Now, she’s well worked up, and though we can think of improvements we would make given unlimited time and money, she’s a capable, safe boat. For quite long periods of time, Kim has been our home, and one of the strange experiences of cruising is that our familiar home, with all our possessions, moves to different places, a microcosm of our own world dropped into unfamiliar environments, with the people of that place going about their separate lives ashore, hardly aware of our presence. Even at sea the boat is still our recognisable home, though it moves, sometimes violently and noisily, and everything not secured in place breaks free to obey gravity’s call.
In our minds, the trip is divided into several segments – working our way along the Mediterranean, crossing the Atlantic, cruising the Leeward and Windward Islands, and finally sailing through the Spanish West Indies and the Bahamas to the USA. Each segment has given us wonderful, memorable experiences, and in my case, the opportunity to do research for my books.
I can’t pretend that everything has been good all the time – we’ve worried about the longer passages, been driven almost to distraction by the seemingly incessant wind, and suffered from seasickness and exhaustion.
Prudence! Prudence is our creed. I constantly think about what might go wrong, and prepare accordingly. Passages are carefully planned, safe refuges designated, and once under weigh, the boat is sailed conservatively. We have taken extra crew members on for longer trips (thank you, TJ Boyle, Ed Sadler and Martin Weston). Kim carries adequate fuel and water, and has an effective anchor (a 27 kg Excel) and plenty of chain. The boat has a good supply of spares, and is well equipped with tools.
Something that surprises us when we meet other cruisers is the reliance of some of them on outside help to maintain and repair their boats. On several occasions we’ve heard people on tight budgets complain about the cost of getting work done at this place or that. Apart from cost considerations, I believe the ability to repair one’s own boat is essential for safety.
We are now very much looking forward to our trip north along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. After that? We don’t know yet.
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