Photo courtesy of Distant Shores
No, we're not in Paris! The happy sailor is Paul Shard from Distant Shores during his passage in France. He and his wife, Sheryl, have recently moved on to the South of France into the Mediterranean for more cruising adventures.
When Ken and I first heard of cruising (and immediately decided we had to do it), I was reading everything I could on the internet. Why hadn't I heard (or thought) of this before?! I wanted more than just reading material ... I wanted to "see" cruisers! I started scanning the television and realized that the tv producers haven't caught on to the cruising secret either. I was disappointed to realize that there were no cruising, or even sailing, shows! Until ... one day I was flipping through the channels when the bow of a sailboat in clear, blue waters caught me eye. What? Could I have finally found something about sailing?!
As it turned out, I had come across a television show about a cruising couple called Distant Shores. This particular episode captured Paul & Sheryl in the Bahamas, and I was getting my first glimpse of real cruisers! The Shards were the real deal, not some fake "reality" show. They've been together since high school, graduated from college, and saved for their dream of building a sailboat and cruising. Sheryl had a love for drama and Paul a love for photography, which really helped when they finally "set sail" in their Classic 37 in 1989. They've co-produced episodes of their travels, which now include over 60 countries and are shown on several different television channels. I've watched many of their episodes, enjoying every one of them.
Imagine my surprise when I recently received an e-mail from Paul, offering me a set of their DVD's for my review! I wasted no time in responding to Paul, thanking him and accepting his generous offer. I finally was able to watch the DVDs, which took me sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Eerie Canal, and some gorgeous Caribbean islands that I'd never even heard of! Not only do these videos inspire, but they really educate the viewer about cruising, the destinations and the people that call these places "home". Paul & Sheryl seem to be really grounded, keeping their reality show ... "real". That's hard to find!
If you haven't checked out their site, I suggest you do! They not only have a variety of DVDs from all over the world, but they have a new blog and lots of great information that every cruiser can appreciate ... especially beginners like us! Oh, and did I mention that Sheryl has the same name as me and we're both redheads ... I can't wait to have cruising in common too!
*BTW, I am NOT receiving any compensation for this post ... I'm just passing on good info!
Hasta luego ... until then. Mid-Life Cruising!
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4 comments:
How cool and wow they've really done sailing very well. I love their new 42'. That's a lot more room and being on the go all the time it's the perfect size.
Have a terrific day. :)
I often wish we'd known we wanted to be on a boat years ago, so we'd have had that much longer to plan and prepare. Why didn't I know this when I was much younger? Too late to ask that, I guess.
The videos look great. WE'll look forward to watching them.
I heard a couple of guys talking about this in the New York subway so I looked it up online and found your page. Thanks. I thought I was right and you confirmed my thoughts. Thanks for the work you've put into this. I'd love to save this and share with my friends.
It was a rainy, lazy Sunday in Atlanta, GA this past weekend and I spent the afternoon watching series 9 of Distant Shores as Paul and Sheryl traveled the canals of France. What an exciting adventure and what an awesome life they are living. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Folks ask me often, if you could have anyone come to dinner, who would it be? I think Paul and Sheryl would be near the top of that list! What a fascinating conversation that would be!
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