Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Around the world in 882 days
Lauren Leifeste, above, welcomes her fiancé Eric Bihl, right, and his shipmate Kennon Jones as they come into the Hall of Fame Marina
in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday after spending 882
days at sea. Bihl and Jones circumnavigated the globe in a 34-foot Tartan 34C sailboat
and arrived in an America that has changed more in the last 6 months than the last 10
years.
Lauren Leifeste stood at the edge of a dock in Fort Lauderdale peering across the water and squinting closely at each boat.
“Is it them?” She anxiously asked a group of friends from college.
On Thursday afternoon, as black clouds rolled overhead, the worn boat finally pulled into view. Leifeste saw her fiance and his sailing partner, waving. Leifeste’s face lit up with a grin. The group yelped and cheered from the dock.
Their friends had just successfully circumnavigated the globe.
Eric Bihl, Leifeste’s fiance, and Kennon Jones left Fort Laudedale about two years and half year ago on Temujin, their 34-foot sailboat, to sail around the world. On the dock at the Hall of Fame Marina, the small welcoming party popped a bottle of champagne and embraced in the rain. The sailors, both 32, were finally home.
But, the home Bihl and Jones returned to on Thursday was a very different version than what they left behind two years ago. In the past three months, COIVD-19 shut down businesses, confined families to their homes and changed standards for some of the most basic social interactions.
“Am I supposed to be wearing a mask?” Jones asked when got off the boat. “Are things open?”
Leifeste, who has lived and worked in Bangkok, came back to the U.S. in March for wedding planning. She wasn’t able to return because of coronavirus and has been stuck here since. She said even though Bihl and Jones got updates about what’s going on, they haven’t had to experience all the changes.
“They don’t live it day in and day out,” Leifeste said. “So they don’t really know. They’re not going to the grocery store, or know what’s going on in the schools.”
Bihl and Jones were in Saint Helena, a small island in the Atlantic Ocean, when countries started closing borders due to the new coronavirus. As they were preparing for their next stops, they grew increasingly worried about closed ports and instead opted to stay a month in Saint Helena, Jones said. When they saw a window to get home before hurricane season, they sailed to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“The last six months threw a lot of things into question as to whether we were gonna get around, whether you’re gonna have to leave the boat somewhere, whether I was just gonna be sick of not seeing my fiance,” Bihl said.
The two friends met in college at Wake Forest University in 2007. Years later, when the two were living in Washington, D.C., they came up with the idea to sail around the world.
“It was like a pub night decision,” said Charley McColough, a friend from college. “Nobody really thought they were going to do it. There was a lot of doubt, even when they were working on the boat.”
They two set sail from Annapolis, Md., and made their way down the coast, hitting Fort Lauderdale before setting out around the world. Travelling by boat gave them the opportunity to see islands and communities that are otherwise inaccessible.
Leifeste said they picked up odd jobs along the way. They stayed in locations anywhere from a few weeks to their longest stay in New Zealand for six months. Before their days as sailors, Bihl worked in wine sales, and Jones worked at the Department of State.
Their accomplishment puts Bihl and Jones into relatively small number of people to successfully circumnavigate the globe. Jones said about 200 to 300 people complete the task every year.
A Guinness Book of World Records spokeswoman said that the book currently hold 75 different circumnavigation records including fastest circumnavigation on foot and first circumnavigation by helicopter. Guidelines for what constitutes the record is set for each application.
Bihl and Jones didn’t set any world records, but they saw the world in way most won’t.
So, what’s next for two people who just sailed around the world?
Jones said he doesn’t know what’s next for him. Maybe he’ll move back to D.C., maybe he’ll keep sailing.
For Bihl, it’s to get married. Leifeste made a point to meet him somewhere in the world every six months while he was on the journey but was so happy to have him home.
As Temujin, decorated with flags from all the countries they’ve been, sat in the Fort Lauderdale marina, the group shared drinks and laughs celebrating the conclusion of their very long journey.