{"id":91746,"date":"2019-11-12T23:40:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T23:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-man-completes-around-the-world-sailing-voyage\/"},"modified":"2019-11-12T23:40:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T23:40:39","slug":"durango-man-completes-around-the-world-sailing-voyage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-man-completes-around-the-world-sailing-voyage\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango man completes around-the-world sailing voyage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Avalanche crew navigates the Great Barrier Reef in 2016. Capt. John Barry III completed his eight-year journey in September to circumnavigate the world, with help from Durango and Pagosa Springs residents.<\/span>Courtesy of Martina Collins<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Capt. John Barry III, a Durango resident, once spent 2\u00bd days chopping his sailboat out of ice while sailing alone in the Arctic Circle. He was in the first half of his expedition to sail around the world, and treacherous icebergs almost ended it early.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was it for the kid,\u201d Barry said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Barry, and a revolving crew of Durango and Pagosa Springs residents, finished the eight-year journey in September to circumnavigate the world, but the adventure won\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n

As a result of the trip, Barry received a sponsorship to participate in 10 sailing races around the world over the next three years. In the meantime, he has speaking engagements scheduled to tell \u201cscary\u201d sea stories and more. Barry and the crew had wild adventures, endured a tragic loss and felt the bittersweet ending of a trip well-traveled.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn is a very iconoclastic individual,\u201d said Chris Bettin, a Durango city councilor who joined the expedition for a month in 2015. \u201cHe flies planes, he kayaks big rivers. \u2026 Ever since I\u2019ve known him, he\u2019s been on the move.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2011, Barry set off from San Francisco to see the world. Barry, the only person to complete every leg of the voyage, sailed for six months each year on a 54-foot trimaran sailing yacht, named Avalanche. Over the years, 24 people, mostly locals, rotated on and off the yacht. By the end of the journey Sept. 17, they had visited 76 countries.<\/p>\n

Through the expedition, Barry fulfilled a dream he had since he was 6 \u2013 a dream inspired by his father who passed away 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good we crossed the finish line in the dark,\u201d Barry said. \u201cI kind of choked up thinking about all the friends, all the trials and tribulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Avalanche sails last summer near Fiji in the Pacific Ocean. John Barry III and his boat, Avalanche, finished its journey around the world in September.<\/span>Courtesy of Thomas Waret<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Shortly after the expedition ended, the crew lost one of its members, Chad Easley, a Connecticut resident who died in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is pretty upset. They\u2019re pretty broken up,\u201d Barry said.<\/p>\n

The crew will remember him the only way a group linked together by the ocean can: They plan to spread his ashes in every ocean in the world as Barry travels to compete in sailing races.<\/p>\n

Easley was on the Avalanche when the crew saw dolphins \u201cglowing\u201d in bioluminescent water and when the crew hunted wild boar with residents of the Chatham Islands in the Antarctic Circle.<\/p>\n

At night, the crew saw every star in the sky. Other crew members saw the water turn crimson red in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean as locals killed a pod of pilot whales, their winter food source.<\/p>\n

In Central America, some crew members faced less-than-honest customs officials. Others fled typhoons and hurricanes or were kicked out of three countries. In the Mediterranean, they were constantly on guard for pirates.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are out in the wilderness. It\u2019s just like being way up in the Weminuche. \u2026 You have to be self-reliant,\u201d said Amy Knight, a Durangoan who periodically joined the expedition. \u201cIt was exhilarating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Capt.
Capt. John Barry III, left, with crew members John Spier, middle, and Marjorie Cole in Greenland in 2013. Crew members cycled on and off the sailboat, Avalanche, as Barry made his way around the world.<\/span>Courtesy of Marjorie Cole<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The novice to experienced sailors were in safe hands with Barry, a former U.S. Sailing Team member. In 1994, Barry was the winner and world champion in the Royal Western Yacht Club of England\u2019s Two Star Two-Handed Transatlantic Race.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a lot of people, sailing is a very leisurely activity,\u201d Bettin said. \u201cFor John, it\u2019s an absolute full-contact sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barry started sailing as a child. His parents would spend all their time and money taking their children on sailing adventures off the coast of New England, he said. In the family of five, Barry and his father, John Barry II, were a unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kind of did everything together,\u201d said Cassidy Barry, John Barry III\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n

They started a propane company together. When Barry joined the U.S. Sailing Team, his father was at the start and finish line of every race, even leading the team\u2019s pit crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the kind of dad where he was always there,\u201d John Barry said.<\/p>\n

After spending eight years focused on the trip \u2013 and fulfilling a lifelong dream \u2013 Barry had a strange feeling that his life had lost its purpose when the voyage came to an end.<\/p>\n

But Barry is always searching for the next adventure.<\/p>\n

He is selling Avalanche, which is now \u201ca little bit tired,\u201d he said. He will take the next boat, also named Avalanche, to compete around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so hooked on this sailing around the world and meeting people,\u201d Barry said. \u201cWhen you think about it, my tiny little line around the world \u2026 I\u2019ve just seen a fraction of what the world has to offer. And the people, the people have been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

smullane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journey spanned eight years, 76 countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-91746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91746"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=91746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}