MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Summer 2020

66 EPIC TRIP words :: Kristin Schnelten photos :: Gillian Montgomery For 19 years, Paul Montgomery and his family spent their summer vacations along the lengthy coasts of Europe. Sailing between ports on their 51-foot sloop, sleeping in tiny berths and doing much of their own cooking, Paul saw it as an inexpensive way to travel. But last summer, declaring they’d seen it all, Paul resolved to bring the Dream Catcher back to North America—which required a multi-week crossing, months of planning and an amiable crew. Paul’s sister Ann, daughter Gillian and son-in-law Will signed on for the crossing, and other family members joined for one last month-long fling around Spain and Portugal. On this final European tour, before they even began the transatlantic leg, they hit their most treacherous seas in a three-day continuous sail through the Strait of Gibraltar. A narrow stretch of water between Spain and Morocco, the Strait is a tight funnel filled with freighters, yachts, cruise ships, fishing boats— every vessel coming into or out of the Mediterranean Sea. It was here, in the dead of night, when the weather hit. “This insane gale came out of nowhere and we had the wind on the nose, which made the boat go straight up in the air and then crash down. The wind was so strong, almost blowing us backward,” says Gillian. The darkness combined with the wind conditions meant high alert for those on watch—work that fell mostly to Gillian, who remembers the most intense moments of the trip: “The little fishing boats had no lights and didn’t show up on the radar. It was like navigating through a minefield, with the boat rattling up and down.” They made it through without a scratch, sailing on to Morocco and the Canary Islands, where Paul had his own intense moment. Headed back to the boat after a quick bike ride through town, he misjudged the dock ramp transition and went straight over the handlebars. At full speed, without a helmet. X-rays and scans allayed fears of a broken neck, and Paul brushed it off. “Eleven stitches and ATLANTIC FAMILY ODYSSEY A (mostly) smooth ocean crossing aboard the Dream Catcher