Les Bissell left to serve in the Peace Corps and was sent to the beautiful island country of Western Samoa, in the South Pacific
The Captain and Crew
The Captain's Story
I was born in New York and raised in the small suburban town of Maywood in lovely northern New Jersey. My childhood was pretty typical of that of many kids I guess. I had supportive and caring parents and two older sisters. At about the age of fifteen I became interested in sailing. In fact, before I had even been on a sailboat, I could tell it was something I would really enjoy. The freedom, the motion, the cleverness required, the self-reliance and the adventure of it! How could it be topped!? Where do I sign up? I had my first sailing lesson in a daysailor at South Shore Marina on Greenwood Lake in northwestern New Jersey, and that, as they say, was it. No doubt, I was hooked for sure. Soon thereafter, I went to work building a "Roberts14," a small wooden Australian-designed boat, in our garage. We regularly towed the boat with the family car to beautiful Hudson River to sail, much to the dismay of my mother who used to sit nervously in the passenger seat. (I had only a learner's permit to drive at the time.) I clearly recall dreaming about sailing around the world while collecting shopping carts in the parking lot during my job at a local food supermarket during high school as if it were yesterday.
Unfortunately, I also recall how my father had a major stroke and lost all memory of his entire past. What horrible things these stroke are. Nothing could have been worse or debilitating to an active, highly intelligent and caring person. In an instant my life was changed forever and sailing had to take the back seat. Sadly, my father passed away about three years later, shortly after I started college. I miss him.
After graduation from James Madison University at the end of the 1980s, I immediately bought a sailboat with my best friend, Ken. For four years sailed our Sovereign 23, VICTORIA, all over Sandy Hook Bay and along the New Jersey coast. We had a lot of fun and many adventures with VICTORIA, until we sold her in 1992. Ken, the co-owner, "got that job" he was looking for and I left to serve in the Peace Corps. I was sent to the beautiful island country of Western Samoa, in the South Pacific. Calling it beautiful is definitely an understatement. While there, I taught physics, mathematics and computer studies primarily to senior secondary students. An awesome experience! I also managed to take a trip to beautiful and relatively nearby New Zealand for a few weeks where some friends and I chartered a pair of 18-foot pocket cruisers and sailed around the Bay of Islands for a week or so. It's an amazing and lovely place. Can't wait to get back there!
Two years in the balmy tropics passed quickly and I returned back to California. With the urge to explore, I decided to ride a bicycle alone across the United States towards my mother's house in Clifton, New Jersey. Five months, nearly 5,000 beautiful miles, 23 broken spokes, two chains and 15 states later, I made it to New Jersey. What a beautiful ride and scenic (and big) country! I was very proud.
In the fall of 1996 I entered a master's program at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, studying Environmental Policy. After graduating in 1998, I landed a job and moved to Washington DC, where I lived and worked until the beginning this Voyage of Hope. A lot has happened in the past few years since moving to Washington, including having a debilitating stroke in January 2002. I was lucky to recuperate relatively quickly. I have many thanks and appreciation for the support from friends and family, my employer (Booz Allen Hamilton) and many of the myriad of medical professionals who tried to help.
Stay tuned for more of this story as it develops!
Les Bissell
