Lake Winnipeg, located in southern Manitoba, is a special place for us for several reasons. For many years growing up I lived with my family in the town of Gimli located on its shores. I have ancestors who had earned their livelihood fishing the lake and as a child my fondest family memories were of playing on the soft sandy beaches in Hnausa, located just north of Gimli. Today on that beach stands a heritage site that my extended family use to gather for summer BBQs. Just down the road is the peaceful cemetery where several of my family now lay. I love that from my mom’s final resting place you can hear the waves crashing on the shore when the winds kick up.

Jason and I fell in love in Gimli so that’s were our story begins. As a child, Jason spent many summers sailing with his family and eventually that brought us to the right place and time for our life paths to cross. Together we have sailed Lake Winnipeg with our boys for over a decade. For many years, we have had the pleasure of being part of a wonderful sailing community as members of the Gimli Yacht Club (GYC). That is where we have created friendships that we know will last our lifetime. It is also where our oldest son, Alex, discovered he wanted a career with the Canadian Coast Guard and it’s where both our boys fell in love with sailing both on our boat and through the club’s sailing school. GYC is also where our dream of this trip began and developed into the reality it is today.

For many summers we provisioned the boat and headed north for two or three weeks hitting as many of our favorite harbours and anchorages as possible.  At times it was just us and other times we’d be part of a fleet of sailing friends! The farthest we have sailed is up to George Island approximately 300 nautical miles from Gimli. Over the years those waters have been both a sailing paradise with gentle breezes and endless, hot summer days as well as a terrifying monster that has, on many occasions, pushed us to our limits both physically and mentally. Ask any sailor who has ventured north on this lake and they say ‘that the lake can be merciless’.  The weather can turn on a moment’s notice when those prairie storms roll in forcing sailors to quickly problem solve and dig deep into their resilience in order to stay safe. I will never forget the day we found ourselves caught in 100 km winds as a gale hit or the night we dragged anchor in a tight anchorage causing us to almost collide with another boat on a stormy night. We have learned so much from those types of experiences and that lake has made us into the sailors we are today. Switching now from lake sailing over to ocean sailing we know we will encounter many challenges over the next three years and there is still so much for us to learn.  There will be some very difficult days ahead but we are ready to face them together.  We know that the difficult days will pass and be heavily outnumbered by all the incredible experiences that are out there waiting for us!