Retired Manitowoc man sails across Atlantic

MANITOWOC – With the abundance of free time that retirement offers, many people nearing this stage of life don't know what to do with themselves.

"The main job of retirement is to create a life worth waking up for every day," said James Iverson. "And it's a full-time job."

Well, Iverson is working overtime as he just returned from a six-week sailing trip across the Atlantic. He traveled with three other men in a 37-foot sailboat that took them to Bermuda, the Azorean Islands and Portugal.

Iverson has lived all over the country but settled down on Manitowoc's lakeshore four years ago because it was the perfect "authentic harbor town" for retirement.

While Iverson, a member of the Manitowoc Yacht Club, has 35 years of sailing experience, primarily on the Great Lakes, he never imagined a transatlantic voyage.

A longtime friend, Ken Smail, invited Iverson to be a crew member on the excursion in 2013. While Iverson initially hesitated about leaving his wife, Jill, for so long, the couple agreed it was a once-in-lifetime opportunity.

Preparing for the trip started a year in advance. Iverson built up strength and flexibility with a personal trainer at the YMCA. This would help him control the boat when waves were halfway up the mast and winds whipped at over 30 miles an hour.

A cautionary reminder

The Sojourner set sail from Portsmouth, Va. on May 3.

After six days of sailing, the crew arrived in Bermuda only to learn the next leg of their trip was in the direct path of a storm. They adjusted their route to avoid the storm even though it added several hundred miles to the trip.

A different ship weathered straight through the storm; it went missing shortly after. For the next few days, Iverson searched for a life raft but never found one. He would later learn the U.S. Navy found it never had been deployed.

"I don't know if they never got the message on their radio or it was hubris," he said. "But all four British seamen died."

One was only 21 years old, another 23.

The youngest seaman on the Sojourner was 61.

"They died on what was essentially a pleasure trip," he shook his head.

Ship life

The nuances of ship life seemed insignificant in comparison to recovering from that incident, but still required an adjustment.

To avoid being cast overboard, each sailor was always tethered onto the boat with two sets of pulleys. They also had to strap themselves into their bunk so they wouldn't get thrown out of bed.

Simple tasks people take for granted, like going to the bathroom, require a Herculean effort on a rocking boat when the toilet is at a 45 degree angle.

The crew's water maker, which converts saltwater to freshwater, broke shortly after leaving Bermuda. For two weeks, they did not shower or do laundry. Each seamen rationed himself to one liter a day.

"A trip like this makes you appreciate life on shore," he said.

Maritime memories

One of his favorite parts of the 3,500-mile journey was approaching the Azores, where the climate, Iverson said, best resembles Georgia. The volcano, Mount Pico, was his first sight of land in over two weeks and a whale swam aside the boat as they neared shore.

"You don't see that in Wisconsin," he laughed.

The last leg of the trip, to Portugal, was the most nail-biting because the route is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. As the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, large cargo ships threatened to capsize Sojourner.

Iverson recalls pulling into the Lagos port at 5 a.m. under a full moon. People dawdling around the dock heard the news of their long voyage and treated the crew to a round of beers.

After enjoying Lagos and Lisbon for a few days, he flew home on June 17.

Iverson has no plans for another transatlantic journey. He is content with the Great Lakes, which he said are just as challenging but are shorter distances.

While some may say he could have spent twice the amount of time traveling on land for the same price, Iverson said the six-week trip was worth it.

"It was like climbing a mountain," he explained. "At certain times I wanted to be anywhere but on that boat, but afterward there is a sense of accomplishment that I'll have for the rest of my life."

Kelly Meyerhofer: (920) 686-2152 or kmeyerhofe@htrnews.com