ABOUT US

See our final log entry.

Welcome to our web site!  We're Pat and Colleen DeGroodt, two engineers, who decided to take some time off from engineering to do a "little sailing". We   actually planned the trip for almost 10 years!

Follow our circumnavigation onboard our 35 foot sailboat "SIMMER".  We left from Toms River, NJ on 31 August '98 and made our way southward to the Panama Canal, through the islands of the South Pacific and onto the continent of Australia. The second leg of our journey started in March '00 when we left Brisbane, Australia to travel north and west along the coast of "OZ", up through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and finally across the Indian Ocean to Africa. The Final leg started in March '02 when we left South Africa to cross the Atlantic Ocean towards Brazil and the Caribbean.  We "closed the loop" in the Bahamas, completing our circumnavigation after just over 4 years of sailing.  This web page will help you learn more about our experiences, enable you to track our voyage and keep in touch through email.

P.S. If you're wondering about our boat name - it's not because either one of us are into cooking - SIMMER was named after Pat's grandfather, Harry Simmerman. He was a great outdoorsman and adventurer. SIMMER is a 35' fiberglass, cutter-rigged sloop. She (boats are always referred to as "she") is a double-ender, which means she is pointy at both ends, bow and stern. She's a beauty, with fair winds and following seas in mind.