A bit of Terry's sailing & cruising history

by Tammy on 9/3/2008

Terry learned how to sail when he was a kid in San Diego - probably started around age 13. He belonged to the Southwestern Yacht Club and participated in their youth sailing programs I think through High School. He remained close friends with a handful of his sailing buddies from those days. Terry was an incredible sailor, so at one with the wind and the seas. And he was able to analyze and repair nearly anything that went wrong on the boat or with the engine. A real cruiser. I would not have sailed from Seattle to Ecuador with many people, but with Terry I always felt safe, even when we sailed along the southern Oregon coast in 50 knot winds and 18 foot breaking seas! What a guy ...

Terry's first offshore sailing experience was in the summer of 1998 when he helped deliver a sistership, Mildred V, from Port Townsend, WA, to San Diego, CA. These were new friends that turned into lifetime friends, Dean and Anita Hansen. This was the final step in Terry deciding he was ready to take his own Union 36, Secret O'Life, south and begin cruising himself. He spent the next 10 months getting the boat ready and in June of 1999 Terry set sail singlehanded for point south (I was still working full time). On his way up the Columbia River to visit is old stomping grounds of Portland, just shy of Astoria, the engine unexpectedly quit! Turns out that during all the rolling out in the Pacific, salt water had gotten in where it didn't belong. Terry felt so lucky to not have had the engine quit while crossing the bar ... very close call! He made it the rest of the way down the coast pretty uneventfully although I know there are a few more stories there like when he was writing me an email and left the computer unattended for a moment and it ended up on the cabin sole ... fog going in to a small harbor on the northern California coast ... dumping the dinghy while surf landing near San Simeon ... but that is what shakedown cruises are all about, right?

We did the Baja Ha Ha together in 1999. Terry spent the winter of 1999/2000 cruising as far north as La Paz and as far south as Manzanillo, Mexico. He fulfilled his dream that winter of spending his 55th birthday in Mexico aboard his own boat. That was January 15th, 2000, and I was lucky enough to get away for two weeks and be there with Terry for this momentous occasion. In May of 2000 I met up with Terry in La Paz and we spent a couple of weeks cruising in the Sea of Cortez and up to Loreto Fest even. Oh, and we celebrated my 40th birthday in La Paz that May. In mid-May of 2000 we returned to La Paz and I saw Terry off on a singlehanded passage from La Paz, Mexico, to Hilo, Hawaii, so he could attend his daughter Hollice's wedding on Kauai. Terry's first ocean crossing! He was very excited and maybe a little nervous but not afraid. He had a great passage of about 23 days. I think he felt pretty on top of the world for having done this!

Terry spent June and part of July in Hawaii, visited Maui and Molokai and Oahu before going on to Hanalei, Kauai, for the wedding, with his son Brad as crew and companion. He of course experienced some of those challenging Hawaiian channel conditions but he was such a great sailor that he took it all in stride. After the wedding, it was time to cross back to the mainland USA so he sailed singlehanded from Hanalei Bay to San Francisco Bay. This passage took about the same amount of time, 23-24 days, but was much more challenging than the trip west. Terry had some weather systems as he was approaching San Francisco, a very regular occurrence. I remember getting all the emails he wrote to me while out there (I wouldn't get them until he was in port, this was before we had winlink!) and one email he had found heaven on earth then the next email was I'd rather be anywhere other here! That is so what cruising can be like, feast or famine!

I met Terry in San Francisco in August 2000 and we spent some wonderful time sailing together on San Francisco Bay. What a fantastic place to sail! Terry made his way south along the coast again while I returned to work. The only memorable story I can recall is the day he lost the boat in Monterrey! Terry was up doing laundry and when he looked out, the boat was gone! (it had been at anchor). Turns out someone had come in and anchored and called the Coast Guard because they thought Secret O'Life was dragging. The Coast Guard had Secret O'Life safe and secure in a slip and Terry's heart was able to return to it's normal rhythm.

Terry got the boat back to San Diego and spent some time there, well in to Fall, before continuing south to Mexico once again after Thanksgiving and the birth of his grandson Chance. This time he sailed nonstop from San Diego to Mazatlan, singlehanded. He spent the winter of 2000/2001 enjoying the cruising grounds from Mazatlan to I think as far south as Barra de Navidad that winter. I of course joined him several times, as much as I could. I flew in to Mazatlan just before Christmas and we spent Christmas at anchor at Isla Isabela. Terry got a real thrill on Christmas Day when a huge Manta Ray paid us a visit. Terry swam with the Manta for about an hour, a real thrill! We spent some time that June cruising once again in the Sea of Cortez, then Terry hauled the boat out in La Paz and traveled via ferry to mainland Mexico, took the train north through the Copper Canyon, then bussed into the US and was off on a real adventure to see all of his kids. This would be Terry's final bout of hitch hiking (at one point he figured out that before getting into a car with a stranger he should establish that they are verbal!!) but a great trip. In very early October of 2001 Hurricane Juliet would march through La Paz and give Terry a big scare, as Secret O'Life was still sitting on the hard awaiting his return. He road down to La Paz immediately after with Dean and Anita of Mildred V, whose boat was hauled out next to Terry's. That rip was quite an adventure, with washed out bridges and roads, but they made it and were so relieved to see their boats upright and fine. It's hard to believe that just 7 years ago communications and information exchange were much slower than they are now. Until they arrived, they had no idea what the status of their boats was!

Terry spent the winter of 2001/2002 cruising Mexico mainland as far south as Zihuatanejo. We attended our first Sailfest in 2002. Terry practically became a resident of Zihua that winter! He stayed until late April and spent several weeks there at anchor stripping the teak decks and replacing them with fiberglass non-skid. What a hard worker! Terry decided at this point to sail Secret O'Life back to the Pacific Northwest for a short break from cruising. He sailed singlehanded non-stop via the Clipper Route (See July 2002 Latitude 38 for a nice article he wrote for them about this) from Zihua to Newport, Oregon. He left the boat in Newport for the summer while he helped his daughter Christen and her husband Christian build a new bungalow home in Bend, Oregon. In September Terry secured a job in Olympia, Washington, to start on October 1st, 2002. I drug Terry away from Bend and took him back to Newport to get ready to sail the boat up to Olympia, once again singlehanded. Terry had just enough time to get to Olympia with about 36 hours to spare! What a guy. This ended up being a motor trip most of the way, a bit challenging but mostly just arduous with all that motoring. Terry did not like to motor! He was a sailor.

Secret O'Life spent most of Fall 2002 to Winter 2003 in a marina in Olympia. Terry worked for one year, and earned enough to help him continue cruising. In June 2004, I quit my job and began cruising with Terry on a more full time basis. We delivered the boat together from La Conner, Washington, to Pittsburg, California (that is up the Sacramento River inside San Francisco Bay). That was my first northern Pacific ocean passage, and it was quite a challenge for me! We of course got into some unexpected weather off southern Oregon. Of course the windvane broke at midnight. Terry spent 9 very tiring hours at the helm in incredibly challenging conditions; we were lucky to be able to make it in to Crescent City, California, and spend several days waiting for this weather to finally pass. With Terry at the helm, I was not afraid. It was not fun for either of us, but we got through it. Those are the worst conditions Terry ever faced and I'm glad I could be there with him although at the time we would both have liked to be someplace else!

We left the boat in Pittsburg marina for 6 months and Terry headed off to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to help his son Brad build his first home. I spent 2 or 3 months there with them, being Terry's first mate on land. Once again, I had to drag Terry away! We trained from Colorado to the Sacramento area and continued our passage south. Christmas was spent in Morro Bay. New Years in Santa Barbara. Then on to Oxnard and San Diego. We spent Terry's 60th birthday in San Diego on 1/15/05 then continued on south. We buddy boated with our friends Scott and Colette of Aphrodite and Billy of Blue Horizon all along the Baja. We stopped in Turtle Bay, Bahia Santa Maria, and Magdalena Bay. We even went up to the town of San Carlos in Mag Bay and checked in to Mexico. Then it was off on a long passage directly to La Cruz, in Banderas Bay. We spent the rest of the winter going as far south as Santiago Bay I think that winter. We cruised part of the Sea of Cortez that May then by mid-June the boat was on the hard once again, this time in Guaymas, Mexico.

In October of 2005 we returned to the boat, spent a couple of weeks doing the bottom of other little jobs that were due, then put her back in the water and began our final winter in Mexico. We sailed south from the Guaymas/San Carlos area stopping at Topolabampo, Mazatlan, San Blas, Chacala, La Cruz, Chamela, Tenacatita, Barra de Navidad/Melaque, Santiago Bay, and on to Zihua for another Sailfest and now we were southbounders! We continued on to Acapulco, Puerto Angel and Huatulco with our friend Colleen as crew. We spent two wonderful months exploring the bays of Huatulco (our favorite place) and even had the pleasure of Terry's son Brad joining us for a week. Then it was time and we headed out on a good forecast in late April 2006 to cross the dreaded Tehuantepec! Had an uneventful crossing along with our friends Derek and Zory of Celtic Dancer, who we buddy boated with all the way to Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. It was time for my first adventurous bar crossing at Bahia del Sol but with Terry at the helm there were no worries. We kept the boat in Bahia del Sol that summer and bussed all the way from there to Guaymas, Mexico, where we had left our van, visiting places like Mexico City along the way.

After spending the summer visiting our families and friends, we flew back to El Salvador in September 2006, did some inland travel to Guatemala, then in early November managed to escape back over the bar (a little more exciting this time but again, Terry's capable hands got us out without a hitch) and were off on an overnight passage to the Gulf of Fonseca and on to San Lorenzo, Honduras, where we would spend several weeks. We encountered a huge squall line that night just off the Gulf of Fonseca entrance, what an exciting experience! We tracked the squalls using radar and chose the narrowest spot to poke through. No worries, all was well aboard Secret O'Life. What a sight that is to see! By mid-December we were in northern Costa Rica, after sailing along the Nicaraguan coast. Christmas & New Years was spent in Bahia Culebra, Costa Rica, then it was time to sail south, once again with our friend Colleen as crew, to the Gulf of Nicoya. We cruised the gulf, visited Puntarenas, then headed south along the Costa Rica coast visiting Manuel Antonio National Park, Bahia Drake, and then on in to the Golfo Dulce and Golfito in February 2007.

I had a job offer I couldn't refuse for March through mid-April, so I left Terry in Golfito. He spent some time in Golfito and the Gulf, then cruised in Western Panama before single-handing from there to Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. In late November 2007 we sailed together from Bahia de Caraquez north to Western Panama. We spent December and most of January cruising the islands and anchorages of Western Panama, then continued on up to Golfito, Costa Rica and then on up to the Gulf of Nicoya and eventually Puntarenas for a haulout in late February. Basically, a reverse trip from the previous winter! We left the boat hauled out and returned to the states together in late February so I could work and Terry could visit his kids and grandkids and also spend a little more time with me as we wouldn't meet up again until early June. We are so thankful for that visit now ...

Terry spent the entire month of April and early May of this year doing a really thorough job on the bottom and doing numerous other important repairs and maintenance. In mid-May he left the Gulf of Nicoya on a single-handed passage to Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador via Isla del Coco with his good buddy Dan of Che Bella as his buddy boat. This would turn out to be a good passage, and Terry's final passage aboard Secret O'Life.

Terry fulfilled many of his dreams; more than most people who live much longer would fulfill. He was a very smart man and did not put off living. He continues to be an inspiration to many ... and will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him. He was a respected sailor, partner, father, grandfather and a great friend. He died in Bolivia, just like Butch and Sundance, and exactly 100 years later. Terry would have liked that ... except we're all pretty sure he'd rather be back aboard Secret O'Life and ready to head out to Easter Island and Chile and the South Pacific and beyond.

Terry Bingham Memorial -- Link

Story on 'Lectronic Latitude 38:

On Saturday, good friends Holly Serdy and Rob Lemmon hosted a "Celebration of Terry Bingham's Life" that was attended by more than 60 people. Holly and Rob produced a DVD of Terry's life, showing photos from his youth, and then of course hundreds of photos from his travels. We watched it at least twice, and lots of Kleenex was passed around . . .

Full Story at: http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2008-09-08&dayid=165#Story5