Fascinating voyage, up the Hudson, through the Great Lakes, Canada, south along the Mississippi to the Gulf, back up the East Coast... all in a home-made 15 ft runabout. I didn't know that he recently took the boat to N Europe. Such a cool story. I envy the minimal maintenance that he faces and the simplicity of it all.

I knew Rene in another life. We met on the radio when he was about to starboard tack me in the middle of Anegada Passage one night, 1976. We both got blown off course and ended up in Saba. Sailed with him Azores to England in his Westsail 32 a year later, when I was 21. He had to fly back to NY but said 'use the boat as long as you want, leave it in a boatyard when you're done, and tell me where you left it' (aside - I ended up flying Freddy Laker back to the US with literally $5 in my pocket). The boat had "New York, Paris, and London" painted as hailing ports on the wind vane as I recall. He is a character, I wish I hadn't lost touch with him.