Juneau residents William “Bill” Heumann and Marjorie Menzi embarked on a journey 17 years ago, initially planning a trip to Mexico. Little did they know that this voyage would evolve into a circumnavigation on their sailboat, Second Wind. The couple’s seaworthiness of their C&C Landfall 48 propelled them further, spanning more than 50,000 nautical miles.
“We never planned to circumnavigate, we never even thought about it,” Menzi said.
In 2003, Heumann and Menzi purchased Second Wind in Elliott Bay, nestled within the Central Basin region of Washington state’s Puget Sound. At the time of purchase they possessed no sailing experience whatsoever.
“We told the seller ‘we’ll buy it if you’ll give us lessons for three days about how to get it to the dock,’” Heumann said. “That’s the level of knowledge we had when we bought it. We really didn’t know how to sail.”
Children from a remote village in Indonesia use a canoe to approach the Second Wind sailboat during its circumnavigation by Marjorie Menzi and William “Bill” Heumann. (Photo courtesy of William Heumann)
After learning about sailing and participating in the Juneau Yacht Club, the couple’s goal in 2005 was to participate in the Baja Ha Ha, a group sail from San Diego to Los Cabos, Mexico, sponsored by the sailing publication “Latitude 38.” They realized the Second Wind was a “blue water” cruising boat, and proceeded down the coast of North America and Central America to Ecuador.
Short, week-long excursions became long passages, crossing four oceans — and sailing in five. Those crossings were punctuated by time back in Juneau for family and work – Menzi, a now-retired educator, and Heumann, a retired real estate developer.
Second Wind took them to Mexico, Central American, Ecuador, the Galapagos, across the Pacific Ocean and its island countries, to Australia, Indonesia, Africa, and Cape Hope, South America, the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific again, and finally to Hawaii and back to Statter Harbor in Auke Bay on July 2. They left the boat in marinas or moored each time they returned to Juneau.
The Second Wind sailboat at anchor off the coast of Australia. (Photo courtesy of William Heumann)
Following the trade winds, Heumann and Menzi ventured into uncharted territories, looking for experiences such as diving and snorkeling, which drove them to seek Diego Garcia, an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory. Heumann said David Garcia is top secret, but getting a permit for around $250 allows you to visit. However, their plans changed.
Heumann and Menzi said one of the most difficult passages they encountered was sailing from Australia to South Africa, where they had to brave the Indian Ocean, navigating around the southern tip of Madagascar. The route they chose was driven by the presence of Somali pirates, who infested an easier, more northern passage to South Africa.
“We traded the pirates for hellacious weather,” Heumann said. “The whole thing was very difficult.”
But their curiosity and resilience carried them through the gales and 10-foot wind waves on top of 20-foot swells — the only time Menzi recounted ever being seasick — and they continued their voyage, reaching Rio de Janeiro.
“It really made me think ‘how much can the boat take without falling apart?’” she said. “I was scared to death.”
William “Bill” Heumann, center, and crew members of the Second Wind depart Galapagos for Marquessas in 2008. (Photo courtesy of William Heumann)
Circumnavigating is seldom a solitary pursuit, and the Second Wind rarely had fewer than three crew members. Along their global voyage, Menzi and Heumann were accompanied by Juneau family members and friends, including Chapin, Michael, Laura, and Jim Heumann, Keith and Deborah Gorsuch, Devon and Michael Wilson, Andy and Nanci Spear, Jim Green, Rorie Watt, Eric Kueffner, Maria Gladeskski, and former Juneau residents Bob Doll and the late Daniel Glass – Heumann’s trusted crew member who sailed 30,000 miles alongside them. They also found crew members on findacrew.com, the world’s largest online boat and crew network.
Throughout their journey, Heumann and Menzi would spend months sailing, relishing the freedom of the open sea.
“We usually sail a couple of months a year, like a month here and a month there,” Menzi said.
Their longest continuous period at sea was three months, and their next dream is to moor the Second Wind in Mexico to have as a winter vacation home. Doing another circumnavigation — especially after their encounter in the Indian Ocean — is not in the cards, said Menzi.
“You really learn all this as you’re going along, and after reading all the logs of the experiences and reading about the people we’ve met, all of these reactions and experiences that we had, it’s an incredible thing to have been able to do,” she said. “It’s hard. It really is. But the rewards are great. I mean, meeting the people we’ve met, seeing what we’ve seen, and the places we’ve been, it’s all been incredible.”
• Contact Therese Pokorney at therese.pokorney@juneauempire.com.
