When she was 14 years old and growing up in Florida, Rose Loper had an epiphany as clear as a Caribbean sea.

“I’m going to sail around the world in a 48-foot boat,” Loper told herself.

On the other edge of the country, Jani Way had the same vision. Growing up on the shores of Washington’s Lake Sammamish stirred her ambitions of circumnavigating.

“I watched the neighbors sail, and I just got on a flattie and taught myself,” she said. “My dream was to sail the whole world.”

In a stroke of serendipity, the two women met some four decades later on a church trip to Beijing and discovered their shared goal. They became friends, then romantic and sailing partners. Four-and-a-half years after that fateful meeting, Loper and Way set out this week on the adventure of a lifetime, putting into motion the plans made all those years ago.

Newly retired as of April 1, the pair plan to cruise their 46-foot Hallberg-Rassy, Lovely Lady, through the San Juan Islands until Labor Day. They’ll head down to San Diego to join the Baja Ha-Ha race to Cabo San Lucas at the end of October and then cruise further south to the Galapagos Islands. They’ll turn north, go through the Panana Canal and travel the Caribbean, then head up the east coast of the United States, to the Bahamas and across the Azores.

Removing the ship’s mast will allow them to cruise the canals of Europe. After that, it’s on to the Red Sea, North Africa, Australia, New Zealand and wherever wind and fancy takes them. With 10 years allocated for the trip, there’s not much need for a timetable.

Friends and family gave Loper and Way books and postcards as going-away gifts.

On Sunday, Loper, 60, and Way, 61, joined friends and family for a bon voyage party at Shilshole Bay Marina before departing the following day. Per the couple’s request, they were given books and Pacific Northwest postcards with written messages to read when they’re missing connections with home.

Sipping champagne and hugging friends good-bye, Loper was excited and confident about the trip.

“I don’t have any anxiety,” she said. “I’m fearful and respectful, but I don’t have any anxiety. If you don’t have fear, you can do stupid things.

“Ninety percent of the time (cruising) is spent in pretty benign conditions,” Loper said. “And I chose the right boat with the right equipment.”

A former test pilot for The Boeing Company, Lopez bought Lovely Lady new in 2000 as a 50th birthday gift to herself. She added various systems to the boat over the years, learning how to maintain and repair each before installing the next. To test her long distance mettle, she sailed from Victoria to San Diego with Mahina Expeditions, which teaches sailors to prepare for offshore cruising.

“It was excellent training,” Loper said. “It validated that I had done all the right work and I was ready to go with my own boat.”

Voyaging holds somewhat different appeal for the two women. Loper is most excited about meeting people from other countries and cultures, while for Way, the attraction is more fundamental.

“It’s mostly the basics of the wind,” said Way, a former registered nurse. “It’s the sailing I really like.”

Lovely Lady, a 46-foot Hallberg-Rassy, will take the couple to far points on the globe.

Loper and Way will chronicle their voyage on their blog, Rose & Jani’s Sailing Adventures, so friends and family can keep apprised of their experiences. Mike Cox, who came by the bon voyage party, said he’s excited for the women, though envious.

“I’m jealous,” he said. “It’s been a fantasy for me to do something like that at some point. We’re hoping that when they get to the Mediterranean, we’re going to try to join them for part of it.”

Cox said he wasn’t surprised to learn of the women’s plans, pointing to Loper’s background as a U.S. Army Reserve brigadier general and the first female pilot hired by Boeing. “Knowing Rose, I’m not surprised that she’s doing this,” he said. “She sets her mind to things and they happen. Being a pilot, she knows how to plan things and prepare for any eventuality and has a level head.”

The women’s families, however, have a different take on the matter. “They think we’re stupid,” Loper said, smiling.

Their voyage might be unusually adventurous for a couple in their 60s, but as Loper points out, her 93-year-old mother isn’t in a position to talk. As a child living in Rochester, New York, Loper’s mother would dive off a bridge into the Erie Canal if someone gave her a dime to buy an ice cream cone. During the winter, she jumped off the same bridge onto a sleigh positioned below on the frozen ice.

“She always told me if I took lessons and I was safe, I could do anything I wanted to do,” Loper said. “That’s a wonderful thing for a mother to tell her child born in 1948 who’s a female.”

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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