Blame it on the Bumfuzzle’s!

We are constantly asked where did this crazy idea of sailing come from?  Blame it on a blog called Bumfuzzle, which is about a couple who sailed, drove, raced, and sailed again around the world and stopped along the way to have a family.  I think Richard stumbled upon the blog and was instantly hooked.  After reading their entries, he started thinking, if they can do it, why can’t we?  If they can take babies on board a sailboat, why can’t we take our three little boys?  So the cruising dream began!  It took me a lot longer to get “onboard” with the idea, but I read a great book, called Changing Course and here we are, set to leave in January of 2014.

We are Richard and Leah Winkel.  Richard and I met in Fort McMurray in 2001 where I was teaching at a private Christian school and he worked at an oilsands mine, as a mechanical engineer.  A wedding, two babies and one homemade dinghy sailboat later, we left Fort McMurray and settled in Strathcona County.  We finished off our family with a third son and later moved into Sherwood Park in December of 2012.  We seem to be true people of the north as we like to move in the dead of winter!

We have three little boys, James is 8 years old and currently in grade three, Matthew is 6 and in grade one and Ethan is two and half.  We have a Beneteau 393 waiting for us in Florida and we plan on setting sail to the Bahamas in January of 2014!  We look forward to sharing this family adventure with all of you, as we do school, play, have adventures and live our lives on a 39 foot sailboat!