By John Gregg Watsonville, CA April 24, 2006 — Aboard their stunning 46-foot boat Summer School the Clausen clan have had more their share of family adventures.
             
They now call Orlando, Florida home but the Clausen's feel equally at ease on the water. Led by their intrepid father Jim and his lovely wife Patti, they have made a point of making sure that their four children Aaron, Jay, Karyn and Laura have all enjoyed the best of all possible summer vacations.

The family has made a point of spending time together while cruising and that has meant some fantastic summer vacations navigating the Great Loop. The result has been a family of sailors and kids who actually like spending time with their folks.

We recently caught up with Jim and Patti, as they were making plans for their next big adventure this summer. The kids are a little older now but Aaron 19, Jay 18, Karyn 17 and Laura 14, are probably just counting the days until they can get back to Summer School.

PC: My husband jokes that it's "daddy's time", he puts up with them going to school during the year and this is our time. Some people wonder if we home school them but we just supplement their education.

JG: Tell me a little about your boat, it's gorgeous.

JC: It is! I was actually going over all the things that we did to it to make it even better and I was pretty impressed with it. It is a great boat and we bought it because of the specifications. Size, length and what would fit through the locks. What it would draw so we could go through the Rideau and the Trent-Severn.

JG: Jim I know that you have owned 12 boats over the years, what started this passion for boating?

JC: I think that my passion was that I lived by the water and my mother and father hated me going near the water and I just loved being near it. I was rebellious and I just loved going by the water. We would skip school and hang out by the docks.

JG: Now where was this?

JC: In New Jersey and I always had a passion for boating and you couldn't get me away from the water. It is just a pleasant place to be. We lived there and up in Newport, Rhode Island for a while and down here in Florida. We now boat on the Great Lakes for two months of the year during the summer.

JG: What is it about cruising that both you and Patti enjoy?

PC: It is just great being on the water, you life just becomes more simple. Being on the water you have the scenery around you. Your main thing is where are you going to get food and where are you going to do your laundry. The pace just really slows down on the water.

JG: In terms of the Great Loop what was the draw there? What did you enjoy about it doing it as a family?

JC: I think that was it, I enjoy doing as a family. I'm not sure Patti and I would have done it alone.

PC: The funny part we did before I even realized there was a Great Loop was that we did a trip in 1998. I called it the Circle 8 and it was a road trip that we were going up to New England but we were in Tennessee and Jim was looking at the water and he had this glint in his eye and he was looking at those marinas. I was thinking, he looks like he wants to go by boat.

JC: Actually I was. We didn't have a boat that summer and we took a trip to the locks up on the Tennessee River and then we circled up to Rhode Island to visit friends. We then went up and visited the Trent ?Severn and we went up to the Big Chute Railway. We went across and over to Lake Huron and I was looking at things and just checking them out. We also went down to the Mississippi on that trip and to the main office of the Corps of Engineers and took the tour. We went down to Vicksburg, Mississippi just to see different things that we wouldn't normally see and if you aren't on the boat you sure want to be near the water and it was a great trip and we did a lot of things with the kids.

PC: That was '98 and we got the boat in '99 and we started taking our trips in 2000.

JG: The first time that you did the Great Loop it took you two years?

JC: Two years with the kids. It was one summer up and that was about two months and we left the boat up there. We went back and picked it up again and it took two more months to finish it, so it was four months all together to finish the Great Loop. It is a great place to go and a great trip to make! There are less than 200 people a year who do it.

PC: Even fewer with family (laughter).

JG: How is that traveling with six people on a boat? With four kids I think that might be a little challenging.

JC: It probably would if you didn't travel with them on boats all their lives. If you didn't have a boat and all of the sudden the kids are 13, 14, 11 or so, you grabbed one summer and said we're going on a boat I think there would be a mutiny. Our kids have traveled every summer. They have been to every state except maybe six in the country. They have always gone, get a hotel room and everybody sleeps on the floor. Bring your pillow, bring your blanket and dig you piece of turf out, mom and dad get the bed and the kids get the floor we are going traveling. They are use to that and they are use to going different places. We have taken them to New York for 23 days, we have taken them to different states on different trips. So they have always traveled and they have always had boats. It is normal but to try to grab a boat when kids have never been on boats and to try to instill that 'we are going to do this,' I can't see how you could do anything but fail.

PC: Especially if the parents are learning how to how to handle the boat.

JC: The stress level for that is through the roof.

JG: I meant to ask you Patti before you met Jim, were you a sailor?
          
PC: Actually I was but he thought I was more of a sailor than I was. My parents had a boat and that's what brought me up to Newport, they had a 32-foot sailboat. My parents would charter the boat out when they weren't using it and I was working at the marina. Jim had a boat that he chartered out and that's kind of when we all met.

JG: Have the kids enjoyed these various adventures with you guys, I would imagine they would?

JC: We ask them every summer if they are interested in going with us or if they want to go home and do something else. We've always got, 'we're going with you.' When we travel on the boat and people see us we get a stock line at least once a week, 'can I be one of your children?', or can I be part of your family?' It is something to that effect and we hear it at least once a week when we are on the road. People want to get on the boat and go along with us.

JG: Do the kids have different duties on the boat...how does that work?

PC: They do have different jobs. Part of the different jobs is like when we are leaving the boat is communication. Communication is very important on the boat. We are starting up the engines and OK, we are untying the lines and they communicate back we're untying the lines, 'the lines undone." We repeat everything back that you've completed the job. The kids do all the lines, disconnect the boat, unhook the water and the power when we are leaving. Karyn or Laura usually brings up the bridge. We call it the bridge bag, which has three GPS onboard and the charts and the binoculars, sunglasses and that goes upstairs. So basically when the captain gets up there it is opened up and ready to go.
           
JC: The night before after dinner we usually sit down with the charts and go over where we're going to go and how we're going to get there and match the chart books to the charts. We program the GPS the night before, so we are ready to go in the morning. Everyone in the morning has pretty much their standard job. If we are going to do something that's a freak maneuver, if we are going to spring out of a dock or something. We go over the maneuver and who is going to do what and how it is going to work hopefully in my mind, then we try to translate into reality. So there's no surprises, and no one is getting too excited. So if we're going to spring out we're going to put a ball down along the dock to protect the bow of the boat while I swing the stern out. I tell everybody how we are going to do that and we're going to watch that and bring the stern out and then power out from the pier. A lot of it is communication and a lot of it is people knowing what they are doing. As we are going Patti gets the Triple A book out and starts reading about the towns. We go over what is in the town, how many people in the town, we have regular maps that we follow along with and guide books that tell you where you are at and what you are doing. So the kids can pretty much tell you everything along the coast up and down and all the inland waters.

JG: I would imagine they are fairly well versed in geography and all the local landmarks and everything else. It seems like an incredible education.

PC: We have them look out for markers on the Intercoastal, or some areas in which you have crab pots. Somebody has to be looking out for that, somebody has to be checking along the GPS. Usually we also follow along with a paper chart as well. We use those sign here arrows and it has a boat we keep moving along.

JC: If you take your eyes away from the chart or somebody new grabs the chart they know exactly where you are. There's no question or you happen to flip it, you don't put the wrong side up and try and find your location.

PC: It's great when we get into the dock. Some like the stern better than the bow but they do all the lines, so there's hardly anything being said. There's no yelling or screaming just, 'stern attached.'

JG: It sounds like an excellent crew.

JC: We get offers to take them aboard and ask if they will clean their boat next because as the waters connected they'll be cleaning the boat. Patti and I will walk over and sign in, and we'll look around to see what kind of amenities they have; if there's dining, if there's anything to see or do, or if there's a car we can use for an hour or so. By the time we're back the power is on, the water is in, the air conditioner is on and the boat is pretty much clean and everybody on the dock is looking and wondering where did these kids come from? When we travel everybody gets one bag for the two months; Patti and I included.
          
PC: They have backpacks also and the other stateroom has places they put their stuff in it. As far as being six of us onboard the famous words are always, 'scooch over and while you're up.' People also learn if they sit on the inside during dinner they learn that they get trapped, so whoever sits in there does the dishes.

JG: You weren't on the water last summer but what does 2006 hold for you and the crew?

JC: 2006 we all ready have a plan. We are going to try and do 1,000 miles on Lake Ontario and that will bring us up to 5,000, so I can get the Admiral Benfield Award from the Great Lakes Cruising Club. That's 5,000 miles of cruising on all five of the Great Lakes. You have to at least 4/5 of the way across each lake and there's less than 100 people who have that. So we should be able to pick that up this year. We will go over to Kingston first, up the Rideau to Ottawa, down the Ottawa River and stop visiting friends. Down to Montreal, continue down the St. Lawrence to Quebec where they have the 18-foot tides, continue down to the Saguenay, where they have one of the biggest fjords in North America and they have whales about 12 months of the year. We will spend some time up there and they have a festival that we are going to hit that they have for about 45 days or so. We will head back all the way on the St. Lawrence again and do our 1,000 miles on Lake Ontario.

If you are an armchair sailor and would like to have some fun be sure to check out the Clausen family website at maxumowners.org/MVSSl You just might want to go back to Summer School.