Your Incredible Neighbors: A 5-year retirement adventure to remember

O. Henry once said, “An adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to greet an unknown fate,” and though Green Valley’s Jon and Rey Otto learned a bit from her father’s occasional poor aims and miscalculations, the couple nevertheless went forth without much of a safety net on a five-year adventure aboard the 36-foot Imagination.

After dreaming of the kind of trip, we all say we’re going to take someday, but never do, they set the date, Aug. 1, 1998 — just like others might plan a wedding a wedding ceremony.

“Otherwise we’d never do it,” Jon admitted.

They certainly weren’t neophytes, having sailed regattas together 12 years straight, even finishing seventh once in the U.S. Championships, and they both had the benefit of the memories of Rey’s parents, Bill and Jean Jamieson, who chronicled their own journey of endless jitters and “Gerry rigging” from California to Florida via the Panama Canal on the interminably troubled Tango Too.

Retiring a month earlier and selling virtually everything they owned, they first crossed the treacherous Columbia River Bar near their Oregon home, then “buddy boated” with a few other couples for a month along the Pacific Coast, learning how to use the self-steering gear on the way. Big storms caused at least one couple to drop out near San Francisco.

They fixed sails and bought supplies in October in San Diego, but plans to continue were put on hold to help with repairs on a “buddy boat,” so they found themselves in Turtle Bay for a Thanksgiving potluck on one of the six boats still traveling together.

Battling 40 mph winds, they made La Paz for Christmas, taking four weeks to explore the Baja, gather a sack of backed up mail, and find ATMs and places that would make change.

Neither knew a word of Spanish, so with dictionary in hand, Rey, who designed the components and did the mast climbing, and Jon, who was the electronics guy, were forced to forage for food and parts, here there and everywhere.

As everyone knows, Mexican villages aren’t the same as small-town America, where you can turn your credit card over to the local Wal-Mart or hardware store.

This shop (often in people’s homes) carries screws; that one carries belts; and maybe there’s a guy down that dirt road who can repair this for you.

“You have to have a positive attitude and not be in a hurry,” Rey said.

“The Mexicans could fix anything,” Jon made sure to point out, “and it stayed fixed forever,” added Rey.

Exploring the interior coast of the Sea of Cortez, they were forced to hide from high winds in the shelter of an extinct volcano, advancing fewer than 40 miles a day. They read, played cards, and listened to marine radio conversations as the days crept by.

There were rarely two nice days in a row, and often out of money and food with no local ATM’s, they were able to find a local place occasionally to debit the credit card so they could get pesos.

“There were times when we were convinced one wanted to kill the other,” Jon admitted, only half-joking.

No couple’s therapist aboard, but the pair were used to cooperating and listening to each other after years of competitive sailing and 37 years of marriage.

Making Concepcion by February 1999, they had run out of propane, but another couple who had heard their conversations on the radio while they were battling their way up the coast took them to get what they needed, and showed them around the area.

After visiting the historic and quaint Santa Rosalia, Jon punctured his heel, so with blood all over the boat and no doctor just around the corner, Jon sought out a tourist ship they had been communicating with, and after treatment, Rey had to tow her non-walking husband around town in their dinghy, much to the delight of the locals.

“You had to be there,” Rey said.

Further high sea plans had to be scrapped by mid-summer, since Jon’s injury was still a problem, so they loaded the sails at San Carlos in the back of a 1988 Honda wagon and headed back to the States to cruise as landlubbers until September when they returned to do some Mexico sightseeing while the boat was being painted, a new shaft coupler installed, and a water pump rebuilt.

Crossing the sea again with a new friend on board at the Millennium, they revisited old haunts, including La Paz, and docked at Mazatlan in time for Carnival, nearly 200 miles from their last anchorage.

Heading south, shaft problems arose again, and forced them back to Mazatlan.

By the summer of 2000, they had purchased an RV to tour the West Coast, leaving the boat moored in Mexico, returning to it again in November for some more repairs and partying with mates and locals, eventually becoming full-time RVers, touring America for most of 01.

“We used the boat for a condo in 2002,” Jon said, doing a little racing and getting her ready to sell.

By 04, they let go of Imagination and were getting settled in their home in Green Valley.

Something’s always gained and something lost from adventures like theirs, and though they miss the sea spray and unfettered free and easy life, they still have vivid recollections of scary scrapes, snags, storms, and bumps and breakdowns along the way.

“We wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Jon said, “but we wouldn’t do it again.”

“We found out things about ourselves that we didn’t know,” his wife added, “and it made me so much more tolerant of people, and things that so unexpectedly happen.”

They agree that they had nurtured their relationship, each crisis a chance to accept their differences and quirks and develop even more respect for each other.

“You learn to work together as a team,” Jon said, “cause it’s about death and dying out there.”

“You really develop a level of trust,” agreed Rey.

“It changes your values,” she continued.

“When you live together in a 400-square-foot space and yet you have everything you need, you don’t need a lot after that.”

How many would sell everything they owned to embark on a five-year adventure, “aimless and uncalculating?”

Now ensconced in the tennis community here, into genealogy, amateur radio, and both active volunteers, they remain closer to old friends and prioritize making new ones.

And, they have the memories.

Mike Touzeau is a freelance writer. Comment on this story online at www.gvnews.com.

Timeline

The Ottos retired, sold all their property and set sail for Mexico from Portland, Ore., in 1998. Highlights from their adventure:

Oct. 1, 1998: Reached San Diego and joined other group of boats preparing to go to Mexico.

November 1998: Thanksgiving potluck among eight boats at Turtle Bay along Baja.

Christmas 1998: Port into La Paz and explore villages and resupply.

February 1999: After exploring interior of Sea of Cortez, sail across to San Carlos.

July 1999: Head back to California by car to repair sails and tour the West.

September 1999: Drive back to San Carlos and tour interior of Mexico by car, train, and bus while boat is readied to sail again.

January 2000: Celebrate the Millennium by sailing across Sea of Cortez once again to La Paz and other place they had visited before.

February 2000: Sailed into Mazatlan for Carnival.

March 2000: Winds force them to scrap idea of going to the Panama Canal back to Mazatlan.

April 2000: Explore Puerta Vallarta, La Cruz and Nueva Vallarta, where they leave the boat.

July 2000: Purchase RV in Portland.

November 2000: Return to the boat and raced a little and partied with old friends they had made.

April 2001: RVed the U.S. through the spring and summer.

March 2002: Final cruise on Imagination.

2003: Purchased a home in Green Valley.

2004: Sold Imagination.