Strathspey (n. Scottish Gaelic, pronounced Strath’spā) is a word steeped in Scottish tradition. It’s a Scottish dance, it’s the music for this dance, it’s the valley or “strath” beside the River Spey in Scotland and it’s the name of our boat.

… a dance tune in 4/4, usually written in 1/8th notes. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and containing many snaps.

Our Strathspey is a 2000 Tartan 3500, hull 111. She is our first boat. Strathspey was built for us in Fairport, Ohio and arrived in Canada in a blizzard. We agreed that Bernie Lutmer of Swan’s Marina could show the boat at the January 2000 Toronto Boat show and we are still meeting people who tell us they opened and closed all Strathspey’s cupboard doors at this show. All I remember about that time was standing behind Strathspey’s wheel, looking 35 feet down to her bow and thinking ” I will never be able to dock this boat!”.

… a slow Scottish dance, often coupled with the quick reel.

Since then, some 4000 miles later, we’ve sailed through fine and not so fine weather, we’ve anchored in good and not so good anchorages and I’ve learned how to dock this boat.

Blair and I work in the high tech industry and we’ve decided to take this year off work and fulfil a dream we’ve had ever since we chartered our first sailboat in the North Chanel of Lake Huron. We’ve set up this website so that all our friends and family can see where we are and what we’re doing for the next year. Many of them are not sailors so we’re taking the time to explain the various aspects of what we’re doing with and on Strathspey. For example, our good friends and next door neighbours Derek and Wendy wonder why it takes us from June til September for us to get to New York City to have dinner with them; this is a 13 hour drive for them and a three month sail for us. By September, through this website, they will have sailed every step of the way with us without getting their feet wet.

… the area around the valley of the River Spey, Scotland. It is also one of the main centres of the Scotch whisky industry, with a high concentration of single malt distilleries in the region, including the Glenfiddich distillery and the Balvenie distillery.

Blair has set up this site so that you can send us comments on the various logs. Be nice! The comments are read by all (including my children). We look forward to hearing from all of you.