The Selene 62 makes its East Coast debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show this weekend

Posted below is an invitation to visit us at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (October 30 - November 3, 2008). We hope you'll accept -- and look forward to showing you this wonderful Selene trawler.

Note: Click on the invitation to enlarge it in your browser window

Linda and Corey Bernabucci are "Living Their Dream" aboard a Selene 43

"Living Your Dream" has been the theme of some of our recent print ads which have featured Selene owners who were living their dream. Recently, we received an e-mail from Linda and Corey Bernabucci about how they've been living their dream. I've added a link to their blog to the sidebar and reprinted their e-mail to us below:

Cheryl,

We own Live Wire II - a 43' Solo hull #8 - and have been 'living our dream' of cruising full-time since Fall of 2004. Not once have we regretted the decision to do so on our Solo 43. Our travels have taken us from Maine south to Florida and into the Bahamas Islands. We've also explored the east and west coast of Florida, including the Keys and the Dry Tortugas. All this has been done in the comfortable surroundings of our 43' trawler!

But, our dream doesn't stop with the Bahamas. We, eventually, plan to head south for hurricane season instead of north and cruise the Caribbean Islands, Central America and Mexico. Crossing the Panama Canal and heading up the West Coast is not out of the realm of possibilities for our little ship.

We don't know if any of your readers would be interested in following our travels, but they are welcome to check out our weblog www.mvlivewire.blogspot.com, which we just developed.

If there is anything that we can do to help you promote the Selene Ocean Trawlers, please let us know.

Take care,
Linda & Corey Bernabucci

Cruising to Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands with Selene owners Pat and Alex Benson ("Wild Blue")

"Seagate" at Canadian Customs, Bedwell Harbor, Pender Cove, with Poet's Cove Resort in the background (photo is from a post on the Benson and Squire blog)

Selene owner Alex Benson ("Wild Blue")wrote to tell us about the daily blog (with photos) he's been participating in this summer. Here's what he had to say:

We've been cruising to Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands this summer. Our three month cruise included Misty Fiords, Glacier Bay, Keku Strait, and El Capitan Passage. We've posted our daily Blog with photos at www.baywoodinn.com/blog for anyone that's interested.

Alex Benson
Wild Blue

I've also added a link to their blog to the sidebar of this blog.

From left to right: Crew members Willie and Walter Benedetti and Selene owners Pat and Alex Benson (photo is from a post on the Benson and Squire blog)

A message from Mark Tilden: Send him stories and photos about your cruising adventures

He's not promising to award any prizes, but Mark Tilden ("Koinonia"), who maintains a Selene owners website, would love to have you submit stories and photos about your Summer 2008 cruising adventures. Here's a message we received from him recently:

Ladies & Gents:

Many of you have been out cruising this summer. You've had a great time, learned some things about your boat, the area, or other things that many other Selene'rs would benefit from. SO....if you've got a cruising story (hopefully with a few photos) or something you've learned along the way, please submit it to the owner's site for our news section. I wish I could say there would be fabulous prizes for the best story....but alas, you'll have to settle for the thanks of your fellow cruisers (unless somebody out there wants to donate a fabulous prize we can give away for the best story!).

So...sit down and write a bit and send it in! Please send text and photos to: admin@seleneowners.org

Thanks!!
Mark

An anniversary message from Ade and Jo (Wandering Star) in El Salvador

"Wandering Star" is having a rest in Shelter Bay, Panama for the next five weeks while Ade and Jo take a summer break, but I wanted to share an email they sent this spring announcing their arrival in El Salvador. At that time, Ade calculated that in the past year they'd travel 7282 miles on their Selene 43 -- from as far north as Skagway, Alaska to as far south as the Barillas Marina in Jiquilisco Bay, El Salvador!

Their email is printed below. I hope after you read it, you'll also take an opportunity to read more about their adventures by clicking through to their blog.

Subject: Wandering Star/Voyager safe in El Salvador

Hola,

Just a quickie to let you know that we are in El Salvador. We are following the pilot boat up the river nine miles to the buoy only Barillas marina. We will check into the country and then if there is internet inside, send you more details on our plans. We crossed the dreaded Tehuantepec without incident, in fact it was a joy. Lots of huge sea turtles, jumping sailfish and marlin, hundreds of dancing dolphins and very little wind or waves. A trawler’s dream. There were several mysterious radar blips that I was never able to get a visual on, however Les (on Voyager) said he saw a silhouette and they did have a close encounter with a fishing cable but picked up on it soon enough to shift into neutral and glide over it.

We do not know if we will have any phone service inside, or email – we have a signal now so that’s why we are sending this all is AOK message. All is well, life is good and Steve and Rob, tell Nestor that we are in his homeland! Ole.

This weekend marks our one year anniversary of truly taking delivery of WS and getting out of Lake Union and up to Roche Harbor for the Rendezvous. Since then we’ve been as far north as Skagway and as far south as, well, HERE in El Salvador. That is 7282 nautical miles to date! Woo Woo.

Be well,
Ade n’ jojo

Living their dream: Bill and Jean Wright have lived and cruised on their Selene 43 ("Chapter III") for the past four years

Jean and Bill Wright in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Bill and Jean Wright putting the new name -- "Chapter III" -- on their Selene 43 four years ago in Baltimore

For the past four years, Bill and Jean Wright have been living aboard their Selene 43. During that time, they've cruised on the East Coast, Canada, Florida, and the Bahamas, as well as the West Coast. Recently, they contacted us to let us know about their terrific website and blog -- and to let us know they were willing and eager to help us promote Selene yachts.

I've added a link to their website and blog to the list on the right hand column of this blog, and encourage you to visit and explore this wonderful site.

Reprinted below is the text of an email they sent to me to introduce themselves:

Hi, Cheryl,

We are Bill and Jean Wright and have been cruising the right side for four years. We bought Chapter III from the Maizels as they moved up to a 53 Selene out of Seattle. "Chapter III" (43-07) has been our only home for four years now and has seen a lot of the US East coast, Canada, Florida, West Coast and the Bahamas. Howard was good enough to include us in the new 43 brochure and you are invited to use any of the material from our website http://lonelyplanet.mytripjournal.com/Wrighthome

For now we are awaiting the completion of a condo in Solomons, Maryland and plan to attend the Trawlerfest just around the corner at Washburns/Calvert. While we are not new boat material, we do have a lot of experience in living the dream. Let us know if we can help with this wonderful line of yachts.

All the best,
Bill and Jean

It's always great to hear from members of the growing Selene community! If you're a Selene owner and would like to have us add a link to your blog or website, we'd love to hear from you, too. Please contact us at Selene Florida.

Selene owners rally to donate money to earthquake disaster relief in China

A survivor retrieves her belongings from the rubble in Shifang in Sichuan province (May 19, 2008 photograph by Andrew Wong/Getty Images published on the LA Times wesbite).

An earthquake survivor delicately folds what clothes he can find from his destroyed home in the quake-hit township of Hanwang in Mianzhu city, north of Chengdu in Sichuan province (May 21, 2008 photograph by Barbara Davidson/LA Times).

Selene owners have a special bond with China and its people because our beautiful yachts are made there. Although the recent earthquake in southwestern China did not affect the Jet Tern Marine yards in Dong Guan or Zhuhai, it is likely that some of the 1,500 workers there may have families who were affected.

As Mark Tilden ("Koinonia"), who maintains the Selene Owners Site, recently wrote:

We, as owners of these beautiful yachts, are pretty well off by any standard and many of us have traveled to China and made new friends there through the process of building a Selene. It seems to me that we are in a unique position to help collect some funds to aid in the disaster relief in China.

Working with the Mercy Corps organization, Mark established a special donation "group" for Selene owners. As of May 21, 2008 Selene owners have generously contributed more than $4,500 to Mercy Corps to help their team on the ground in China help the Chinese people affected by the earthquake.

To read more about how Selene owners are working with Mercy Corps and learn more how you can make a tax deductible contribution to this worthy cause, please read Mark's complete post on the Selene Owners Site.

Selene "Boat Show" special pricing available only until June 15th

Out fantastic "Boat Show" pricing is being held until June 15, at which time Jet-Tern Marine has informed us there will be a sizable increase in the price of all Selene models due to the unprecedented increase in the price of raw materials.

A 10 percent deposit will hold the current pricing for you and there is no additional payment due until the hull is released from the mold. If you have decided that a Selene is in your future, now is a great time to talk to us about putting your plan in motion.

Our participation in the Palm Beach Boat Show in March was huge success. It featured the East Coast debut of the Selene 59 -- and three 59s were sold at the show.

The Selene 59 will be at our dock until the end of May. In addition, our Selene 53, "Kasekuchen," will be at our dock all summer. If you'd like to view one of these trawlers, please contact us to set up an appointment.

Transporting yachts with Dockwise: The journey of our Selene 53 , "Kasekuchen," from the west coast to its new home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

When Bob and I decided to move "Kasekuchen," our Selene 53, from its west coast home in Seattle to our new home on the east coast, Fort Lauderdale, we didn't have the time to enjoy a leisurely cruise through the Panama Canal. Instead, we used Dockwise Yacht Transport, a company that specializes in the transport of luxury (mega) yachts using its own fleet of semi-submersible yacht carriers.

After we finished participating in FUBAR ODYSSEY 2007, we left "Kasekuchen" in La Paz, Mexico, where it was loaded onto a Dockwise vessel that transported it to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our trawler was one of many yachts aboard the vessel -- and it certainly wasn't the largest. One of the other yachts on that journey was a huge (almost 130' long) yacht owned by Boeing.

It's fascinating to watch the yachts being loaded onto a Dockwise vessel -- and since many of you may never have had an opportunity to see this, I wanted to share some videos that will give you a better idea about what's involved.

This first one is a short, animated video from Dockwise:

This next one focuses on the maiden voyage of the 687 foot (longer than two football fields) Dockwise Yacht Express that left Fort Lauderdale for the Mediterranean on April 10, 2008. On board were 18 vessels with an estimated value of $154 million:

Ron Weed's book, "Kasekuchen in Baja Waters," is featured on the online version of Sunday's Daytona Beach News-Journal

We were absolutely thrilled when our friend Ron Weed sent us this screen print from Sunday's online version of the Daytona Beach News-Journal featuring a mini-review of his book, "Kasekuchen in Baja Waters," which chronicles our journey last year from San Diego, California to La Paz, Mexico aboard our Selene 53.

Click on the above image to enlarge it in your browser window if you want to read the text

Ron Weed has written and published a wonderful book about our participation in the 2007 FUBAR Odyssey from San Diego to La Paz, Mexico

When Bob and I invited our friend Ron Weed to crew aboard our Selene 53, "Kasekuchen," during the 2007 FUBAR Odyssey from San Diego, California to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, Mexico, we had no idea we would become the subjects of a beautifully written and illustrated book. We invited Ron to join us because we knew he was experienced in boat handling and navigation, having lived aboard and cruised the southern California coast and its Channel Islands since the 1970s. Of course we also knew he'd be good company.

Ron took lots of photographs during our cruise – and lots of notes, too. Using his flair for writing and design, and availing himself of the amazing advances in technology and printing that have occurred in the past decade, Ron crafted an absolutely wonderful book – "Kasekuchen in Baja Waters" – chronicling our trip that covered 1,057 sea miles in 18 days.

The book also features photographs of some of the other Selenes that participated in FUBAR, including "Annaruth" (Jake and Susanna Maizel), "Rediscovery II" (Richard and Jane Wenstrom), "Mystic Moon" (Kathy and John Youngblood), and "Voyager" (Les and Rosemary Dobbe).

We've been sending copies of Ron's book to our friends and relatives, but "Kasekuchen in Baja Waters" is more than just a book about our voyage. Reading it will give you a real taste for what it's like to participate in an event such as the 2007 FUBAR Odyssey.

Ron published his book using Blurb, "… a company and a community that believes passionately in the joy of books – reading them, making them, sharing them, and selling them." You can learn more about Blurb at its website – and you can purchase your own copy of "Kasekuchen in Baja Waters" directly from Blurb. There are two versions of the book available. We like them both, but are especially fond of the smaller-sized version because it contains lots more photos.

From my photograph collection: Selene women participating in the 2007 FUBAR Odyssey

From left to right: Kathy Youngblood ("Mystic Moon"), Cheryl Klein ("Kasekuchen"), Jo Salzer ("Wandering Star"), Rose Dobbe ("Voyager"), Roseanne Tilden ("Koinonia"), and Susanna Rybak ("AnnaRuth")

I love to take photographs when we travel -- both of our friends and the gorgeous scenery we often encounter when we're cruising on "Kasekuchen." However, I'm not very fond of what comes next.

Right now, I have so many different cameras that downloading and organizing my digital photographs has been a real challenge. That's why I haven't been posting photographs here as often -- or as promptly -- as I wish I could. Since Bob and I have so many wonderful photos we'd like to share, I've been making a real effort to master downloading and uploading. The photograph with this post was taken during the 2007 FUBAR Odyssey and shows some of the women aboard the seven Selene trawlers that participated in the rally from San Diego to La Paz, Mexico. There are lots more to come, so we hope you'll stop by and visit our revitalized blog again soon.

Make an appointment for a private showing of "Cronulla," a Selene 59, during the Palm Bach Boat Show (March 27-30, 2008)

There will be more than $350 million worth of boats, super yachts and accessories at the 23rd annual Palm Beach Boat Show at the end of this month – and one of the most beautiful and versatile of all will be "Cronulla," a Selene 59 arriving directly from the Jet Tern boatyard in Zhuhai, China.

A full-sized luxury yacht that is manageable without a professional crew, the Selene 59 was featured in the January/February 2008 issue of Power Cruising magazine. Writer Sven Donaldson, who participated in a sea trail of the trawler, noted that, "…Jet Tern has acquired a reputation for quality that extends well beyond the finely crafted furnishings." If you'd like to read the entire article, click HERE to download a PDF copy.

"Cronulla" – which was named for a beautiful surf beach near Sydney, Australia – will be the first Selene 59 to debut on the East Coast

Bob and I invite you to view this beautiful yacht during the Palm Beach Boat Show, which runs from March 27 to 30, 2008 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Please contact us for a private showing.

Visiting Miami this weekend? We invite you to make the short trip down the coast to visit our Selene Florida office in Fort Lauderdale

Selene Florida will not be attending the Miami International Boat Show on February 14-18, 2008. We are awaiting the arrival of a new Selene 59 that we will debut at the Palm Beach Boat Show on March 27-30, 2008.

We are inviting all of you who are in South Florida for the Miami Boat Show to take the short trip down the coast to our Fort Lauderdale office, where a Selene 40, a Selene 48, and two Selene 53s are available for you to view at a leisurely pace. You will also have an opportunity to talk directly with owners about their Selene trawlers and their cruising experiences.

If you are looking for a Selene that is available for immediate cruising, the Selene 40 and one Selene 53 are for sale. A brand new Selene 48 will be delivered to Fort Lauderdale in late spring and when it arrives, it will be available for immediate delivery,

This is a great opportunity to get away from the crowds and enjoy a day in Fort Lauderdale.

Please contact us by telephone or e-mail if you are planning to visit Fort Lauderdale and would like to make an appointment to see one of these Selene trawlers. You may also wish to visit our website for additional information about Selene Ocean Trawlers.

Our Selene 53 - "Kasekuchen" - has arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

"Kasekuchen" arrived safely in Florida on a Dockwise Yacht Transport vessel that brought her from La Paz, Mexico, where we left her after FUBAR. What a wonderful sight she is sitting at our Selene dock in Fort Lauderdale! Dockwise is a great way to transport your yacht from one coast to another if time is an issue. If cruising Europe on your own boat is a dream, but the long passage is not, Dockwise might be a great alternative.

Jake Maizel and John Youngblood after loading "Kasekuchen" aboard a Dockwise vessel in La Paz, Mexico (photo taken by Richard Wendstrom who also helped load her)

"Kasekuchen" is dwarfed by some of the other yachts aboard the Dockwise vessel (she's the "small" Selene Trawler on the left, near the rear of the photo)