CURRENT MISSION

My current mission is to travel near and far, meet people from all over the world and gain a better understanding of different cultures and our commonalities as members of the global community.

ABOUT ME

I am a retired, well traveled, adventure seeking, cruising sailor, currently living in Eliot, Maine, USA. My wife and I sailed on our beloved sailboat from Portland, Maine, through the Panama Canal and to French Polynesia - many stops in between.

PHILOSOPHY

I am socially liberal; I believe in equality for all. I am spiritual, but not religious. If anything, I have a Buddhist bent but don't practice it formally. I strive to exhibit loving kindness and to shed those things that bring negative energy to my life. I am a firm believer in "it's amazing what you can do if you don't know you can't do it!" I am a taker of calculated risks ... some think I live a bit too close to the edge, but I don't think so ... :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I travel a lot. I have sailed around the world. Recently I sailed from Australia to South Africa and spent some wonderful time in the Cape Town area before headed back to the states and spent 4 days with a wonderful host just outside of town. I more recently sailed from Cape Town to Grenada, thus completing my circumnavigation.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am a relative newbie, but I have stayed with a host in North Vancouver, Canada a couple years ago, and it was an awesome experience and as noted above, recently in the Cape Town area - twice. I have hosted Couchsurfers and Warm Showers travelers at our home in Maine.

Interests

I enjoy many outdoor activities (sailing, cycling, hiking, kayaking, skiing, etc.), cooking, dining out and photography. I am very sociable and have a great interest in meeting other folks and am particularly interested in understanding different cultures. I've traveled to over 40 different countries to date. I have volunteered with several interesting entities, most notably a hospital in southern Haiti and Lighthouse Relief in Greece.

• architecture
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• boating
• traveling
• socializing
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• sailing
• skiing

Music, Movies, and Books

I love all kinds of movies, especially dramas, especially when they are based on real life, like The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (awesome, by the way!) and, I must confess, good action movies (Armageddon is one of my all-time favorites, as is the original Matrix). I really like movies that can scare the crap out of me, but they are hard to come by. For some reason, those that include the really dark, evil side of organized religion, when well done, really give me the shivers.

Some favorite books are the Louise Penny series, The Devil in the White City, A Path Between The Seas, White Dog Fell from the Sky, Tears of Dark Water, American Nations, Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go, Female Nomad, Confederacy of Dunces, My Family and Other Animals, The Brothers Karamazov and Sapiens. Another great series is Charlotte Kasl's Buddha books (ex, "If the Buddha Dated")

I like almost any genre of music if it's good. I especially like jazz, blues and contemporary (a la Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lucinda Williams, Marc Cohn, Bryan Ferry, Deep Forest) and Reggae, Soca and Ska.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I most recently sailed from Antigua to Darwin, Australia - over 12,000 nautical miles in 8 months. Other things: I've seen the "green flash;" I've hiked in the Pyrenees and the Alps; I've conversed with a beautiful Japanese woman named Seiko in a small cafe overlooking the Kamakura Ginza; I've successfully completed the Paris-Brest-Paris endurance bicycle event in France; and in 2009 I married Heidi Love overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Crete, Greece. Since then, Heidi and I have sailed down the US coast from Maine to Virginia, Tortola to Grenada and back up from Grenada, through all the Virgin Islands, and back down to Panama, through the Canal, to the Galapagos, to French Polynesia, to Hawaii and Alaska and to Seattle, USA.

Teach, Learn, Share

I am a life-long learner. I am currently embarking on learning about our world economy and how we can share resources more equitably and how the USA can get with the rest of the developed world and offer Universal Healthcare - currently a profound embarrassment. As for what I can bring to the table, I'd say lots of practical info about cycling, hiking, sailing, kayaking, traveling and to some extent landscape architecture. I am willing to share my insights about energy and how we may fit into our universe ... I still have LOTS to learn about this!

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can share much about our travels, and Heidi can share about her book and the experiences that lead her to writing it. I can prepare a meal or two for you, as well. I love to cook and am actually pretty good. Generally, we can share a bit of life experiences and lots of laughter.

Countries I’ve Visited

Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, France, French Polynesia, Greece, Haiti, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Martinique, Mexico, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Puerto Rico, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin Islands, British, Virgin Islands, U.S., Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Greece, Panama, United States