The 61st annual Windjammer Days will take place Sunday, June 25 through Saturday, July 1, 2023. This year the Friends of Windjammer Days is celebrating our rich population of Maritime Explorers. Those featured have traveled extensively on different bodies of waters either for work, pleasure or both.

Nan and Chip Davison have had a lifetime on the water. Both grew up sailing but on opposite coasts. Nan sailed on the west coast out of San Francisco and Chip sailed on Long Island and along the New England coast. In the mid 1970s, both embarked on longer voyages. Nan lived with her family on their 60-foot ketch for a year, sailing from San Francisco to Greece. Chip sailed from Maine to Puerto Rico as first mate on the Harvey Gamage. They met when Chip joined Nan’s parents’ boat as crew for the leg from Florida to Greece. The Davisons moved to Maine in 1978 and have been cruising in Maine and New England waters on their 48-foot ketch,
Winsome, as well as multiple points south ever since. Many voyages have been solo, but on big passages family and friends often joined them as crew.

Their longest trip started in 2008 and lasted three years. They sailed as far south as Grenada, sometimes sailing 600 miles offshore and other times sailing down the inland waterway. The stint on the inland waterway included going through the Dismal Swamp. The Dismal Swamp is one of the first inland canals which was dug during George Washington’s presidency. It spans 113 acres in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

Other adventures along the way included encountering an entire fleet of U.S. Naval war ships on exercise near Camp Lejeune which they had to navigate around and through. They also rode a large wave through a cut in the
Bahamas which “made us humble again.”

Their racing excursions included three Bermuda races with their daughters. In 2009 they sailed a Caribbean 1500 rally from Chesapeake Bay to Tortola with 60 other sailboats. During the rally they experienced 20-40 knot winds and 10- to 15-foot seas. They reached a peak speed of 14.6 knots surfing down a wave.

During their travels they saw up close and personal every kind of sea creature, including a flotilla of sea turtles that numbered in the thousands, whales, huge pods of dolphins, sharks, rays, and watched a leather back
turtle the size of a Volkswagen lay eggs at midnight on a beach in Grenada. In Barbuda they visited a large nesting seabird colony famous for its diverse species of Booby birds. They were able to experience various cultures and met many wonderful people, some with whom they are still in contact.

Chip and Nan now sail in Maine in the summers, with friends and their three daughters’ families, watching the next generation of sailors enjoy being on the ocean and learning how to sail.