- April 26, 2024
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Six weeks. 1,100 miles.
For all of his life, John Phillips had wanted to sail down the east coast of the United States on the intracoastal waterway. He had been doing water sports since he was young, as the Mainland High School alumnus was raised in the Daytona Beach area. Last year, he embarked on and successfully completed this solo milestone trip on a Nonsuch 26, sailing from Lyme, Connecticut in September 2022 and reaching Ponce Inlet in October 2022.
He recalls the last leg of the trip fondly.
"Coming down through Flagler, Palm Coast, Ormond — it was really special," Phillips said.
At 67 years old, he said finally had the time and availability to do the trip.
"Sailing is something you either enjoy or you don't enjoy," Phillips said. "There's a lot of work, I admit, than a power boat — a lot more planning, but with that work or effort comes a lot more reward in my opinion."
His journey first began in 2015. Phillips was living in Canada at the time, where he had resided for about 20 years in his career in Information Technology. He decided it was time to come back home. Together with his son, they left Ontario on his sailboat and cruised down to New Jersey, where they encountered some engine trouble.
Phillips' son wasn't too enthusiastic about the trip, Phillips recalled, so he sold his Nonsuch 30 sailboat and the pair rented a car instead.
This time around, he wanted a smaller boat, since he knew he would be sailing solo. He found a Nonsuch 26 for sale in Connecticut, and back up north he went.
"My original plan was to just buy the boat and then sail back up to Lake Ontario for the summer, but then I started researching that area and realized that Long Island Sound was like the best sailing territory in the world in the summertime," Phillips said.
He spent four months updating the boat, getting used to it and cruising the Long Island Sound.
Phillips set sail for home on Sept. 1.
His plan was to sail 30 miles a day.
One of his most eventful days was when he was sailing the Delaware River, he said. He had planned to sail to certain spot to be able to anchor, because there aren't many places to do so along that river due to shallow waters and because there are state parks along its bank.
"So I was sailing up the river and about the middle of the day, all of the sudden, there's a loud explosion — Boom," Phillips said. "My clew let go on the sail and the boom fell on the bimini. Scared the life out of me."
He was able to fix it. But, as the day went on, the wind picked up and he decided to turn into the wind and drop his anchor. Phillips soon realized that he couldn't stay in that spot though, because the waves were growing in size.
"But then I was pinned down because I couldn't lift the anchor by myself," Phillips said. "... You just have to figure it out, just take your time and solve it. So I powered up, slightly, towards the anchor, and then collect the slack, tie it off and do it again."
He was able to get the anchor to break free on his fifth time.
While he soon realized this trip was more about the sailing and navigating instead of stopping and going ashore, some of the highlights of his journey included seeing the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and seeing the Dismal Swamp Canal — though the latter did cause him to make a pitstop after his boat's strainer got clogged with duckweed and caused his engine to overheat.
While in Oriental, North Carolina, he was delayed due to Hurricane Ian. He had to wait for the storm's track to see if he would be impacted, because if a hurricane warning was issued for the area where he was, all boats are mandated to leave marinas and he would have had to backtrack.
Fortunately, he was able to continue on his journey, including stopping in St. Simons Island in Georgia in time for a family gathering.
"It was the first time I had seen family in months and months," Phillips said.
Though he had been fortunate with the weather for the vast majority of his trip, he faced a storm once he reached St. Augustine. It had been chasing him all day, he recalled, but it took about 10 minutes before he was able to keep going. The next day, he was on his last leg and would face one final hurdle: When he got to the Main Street Bridge in Daytona, seven miles from his destination, and the bridge wouldn't open.
The bridge did eventually open, but now Phillips found himself in a race to get to Ponce Inlet before sundown.
"And sunset was at 6:50 p.m., and I made it at 6:52 p.m," he said.
It felt good, Phillips said.
This solo trip won't be his last. Phillips has since purchased an Island Packet 32 boat and is getting ready to sail to the Bahamas.
"I've done the intracoastal," he said. "Now I want to do some off-shore sailing."
