A journal of Jack van Ommen’s circumnavigation started in February 2005 from the Pacific Northwest. So far the s/h voyage has gone through the South Pacific, Philippines, Vietnam, Borneo (Malaysia), Indonesia, Christmas Island, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, St. Helena, Brazil, French Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad to the arrrival on the Chesapeake Bay.

“Fleetwood” arrived on June 18, 2007 in Portsmouth, Va. after covering roughly 25,000 nautical miles and visiting 23 countries. This was only a temporary halt for me to visit family and friends on the West Coast and to spend time with no. 3 daughter, Jeannine and her family who live in Chesapeake, Va. I did a winter’s voyage, in January 2008, down the Intra Coastal Waterway to the St. Johns River in Northern Florida to do a complete overhaul on “Fleetwood”.  In August 2008 I explored the Chesapeake Bay.  

The winter of 2008-2009 was spent in the Northern Caribbean.

At this writing I have just reached the second goal of my circumnavigation, first one was to re-visit my favorite Asian destination, Vietnam,next was my desire to sail back to my roots, Holland. “Fleetwood” is at the sailing club “de Schinkel” in Amsterdam, where I learned to sail in the fifties. The plan is now to  get ready for having my family and friends come visit me in Holland the summer of 2010. Then descend the Danube in the fall and spend the winter of 2010/’11 in Turkey. Next the Mediterranean summer of 2011, returning to the Caribbean and South America in the fall/winter 2011. “Fleetwood” has now racked up over 31,000 nautical miles and visited 31 countries.

April 3rd, 2009 in Ft. Lauderdale