John & Kara Pennington

13th January 2024 & a Long Overdue Update

I’ve been blessed to stay in touch with Kara, John and Dean.

‘Sentijn’ and her crew returned to the USA from the UK whilst ‘Sentijn’ underwent upgrade after upgrade.  Just about 100% of the work, some of it extraordinarily complicated, was carried out by ‘Sentijn’s’ crew.  The ship is now as robust as her crew.

They have returned to their beloved Pacific Ocean.  How did they get there?

Read John’s second remarkable book ‘Thicker Than Ice’.  His second classic after his first book ‘Orca’.  See the link to the book further down this page.  It is a remarkable account of their recent transit of the North West Passage.  I cannot think of a more suitable crew, or boat, to undertake such a difficult voyage.  See also the link below to their film of their North West Passage.

1215 BST 6^th October 2017 DIARY

I spent yesterday with US sailors John, Kara and their lovely baby boy Dean. They are now in Ipswich. They are trying to find somewhere good for the winter. Woodbridge Tidemill have turned them down due to winter work in the marina. It seems their only options are Ipswich or perhaps Tollesbury.

They sailed around the world in a 30’ boat ‘Orca’ and John (Pennington) wrote a fabulous book about their circumnavigation. Its very funny and well worth reading. Order on Amazon for a paperback edition or a digital copy.

This book is an absolute MUST read for non sailors and sailors alike. And for a first time author its superbly written and very funny. But make no mistake! John and Kara are right up there with the small band of serious long distance cruising sailors who are quiet, inquisitive, generous, incredibly self sufficient and skilled at what they do in one of the harshest environments in the world. Its very nice for Kara and John to get to know Candy and David from ‘Endeavor’.  And ‘Taipan’, Kris and David (who they met in the Indian Ocean) return to Ipswich this evening!!

Their new boat is a project. She’s 45’ and aluminium and she is for going places.

Last Monday I had supper on Australian SV ‘Taipan’ with Kris and David. John and Kara were eating with them too so I met them properly for the first time then. It was great fun listening to these long distance sailors who pretend to go from one disaster to the next. You know underneath all this that they are immensely resilient, incredibly self reliant and terrific sailors.