“Did you sail all the way … from Canada?” My husband, David, and I were asked that question dozens of times as we circumnavigated the Baltic Sea during the summer of 2005. As people strolled by to see our port of origin, they’d spy the maple-leaf ensign and immediately strike up a conversation. Canada is popular in the Baltic; being Canadian is a first-class calling card.

Commissioning a new boat can be exciting, enlightening, challenging, sometimes frightening, often frustrating, but mostly a delightful experience. At least that's how it's been for Paul and me for the last few weeks as we go through the process with our new Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, the latest variable-draft cruising boat built by Northshore Yachts in England. We took delivery of our new baby in mid-March at the Northshore Shipyard which is located on beautiful Chichester Harbour on the south coast of England.

Having spent most of my holidays in the Caribbean over the past two decades of holidays, the Adriatic was a distant destination ‘to do someday’. I knew basically nothing about the Adriatic and what it had to offer but the lure was apparent. We – Mango Yacht Charters – decided a to expand our business and add the Mediterranean to our repertoire of destinations.

“Who wants to go first?” I do, so up I step up to the controls of our 34 ft. Le Boat cabin cruiser. A few minutes earlier, my two friends and I had been eyeing the cruiser eagerly and a touch anxiously from the safety of dry land. It’s our new home for the next week.

In the interests of full disclosure, I’m not a boater. Not from lack of interest, just lack of opportunity.

It started with an Internet search on malts and ended with an invitation that was too good to be true for any decent Galley Guy not to accept: fly to Scotland, drive peacefully through the Scottish countryside and come to rest at the end of a single-lane road on the Isle of Skye (along side the Cuillin mountain range in the Village of Carbost beside Loch Harport) only to witness a flotilla of eighty yachts which we were joining. This, and we were right in front of the Talisker Distillery which we would tour the following day.

Every sailor knows it's bad luck to begin a voyage on a Friday. Why? We've never really been able to satisfactorily pin that down. Like most superstitions the origin is a bit murky. Some say it has religious roots relating to Jesus' death on the cross on Good Friday. Others say it relates to Friday the 13th and that historically bad things often happen on a Friday. Regardless of the reason, it's a superstition that the brotherhood of sailors, whether racing or cruising, pays heed to.