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Joan and Bill Bergen: A Sea Change After 60

Joan and Bill Bergen, two sixty-somethings from Connecticut, are no strangers to adventures in the wild.  In 1999, they traveled 224 miles down the Colorado River with a private party. They have tented the Appalachian Trail, and crossed the country in a camper with five of their six children.  But perhaps their biggest adventure, so far, was leaving their established careers (hers, as director of the Wallingford Family YMCA; his, 30 years as a driver for the largest food chain in New England) and family home of 25 years and to live aboard a 41-ft. sailboat.   Now they plan to launch new careers, as speakers at boating events.  Joan is also a published poet, writer and aspiring novelist.

Landlubber that she was, Joan "resisted this move more that a wild horse resists having a saddle put on his back. This was one of those plans that you and your life partner make when you daydream. After the kids are grown and graduated. After we have x amount of dollars, after this, and after  that.  It was nice to dream.  It kept us sane while we were raising 6 children, 2 dogs, 3 cats, a horse, bird, fish and everything else the children 'needed' and left behind. They grew, they moved and we stayed ... until one day."

Ten-year Navy veteran Bill, a diver, fisherman and boater who also holds a United States Coast Guard Captain's License for propelled vessels, took the lead: "Babe, I found the right boat. Let's rent the house out, put our furniture in storage and plan to move aboard."  So Joan took classes in seamanship and got certified, and their 8-room, 3-bath house on 2 acres was rented to their oldest daughter and her family.   Then, testing out smaller quarters, the Bergens downsized temporarily to a 4-room, 1-½ bath rented condo.  Then, they put their family memorabilia into storage and moved aboard their 41-ft. Morgan.

After sailing the Sandpiper from Melbourne, Florida, back to Connecticut, "We lived aboard and wintered in New Haven. In June, Bill gave up his job.  I babysat and my grandchildren until we left to sail the East Coast in September.  I finally have had the chance to write and to get a few articles published (in The Wallingford Voice and Record Journal). If Grandma Moses could bloom in later life, than so can I. What I cherish most are the many experiences aboard and ashore.   All the people we have met!"

As it turned out, there was a "winter live aboard" community in the Ivy League City of New Haven, Conn.  Among them, a doctor, his wife and three year old daughter; a single woman and two large dogs; a biology teacher who would bring students aboard to study marine life; an undercover New Haven Police Officer.  The Bergens also became involved with the Power Squadron, a group of experienced boaters (power and sail) that teach safety and marine operations to new boaters and work closely with the Coast Guard.

Sailors have proven eager to help another vessel in distress.  The skipper of a small power vessel named LegaSea, for instance, that helped lead them up the St. John's River. "Without him, we never would have made it. We had no chart of the area, and it was a challenge especially when the sun went down," Joan says.  In the middle of New York Harbor with a broken water pump and sails furled, they were rescued by the crew of Cygnet, who "heard our problem and ran interference for us as we put up our sails with the wind at our port quarter. They also told us about a great anchorage to the north side of Ellis Island.  They sailed off and we never saw them again. We stayed the night and to our amazement Ellis Island had beautiful fireworks and Manhattan was awesome."

Life aboard the Sandpiper has brought the Bergens "a few miracles, a few tears, and many laughs," Joan says.  And abundant material for public speaking and her forthcoming novel.

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