What do you do when you need to deliver a boat from Florida to Connecticut and your three teenage sons are suddenly on an extended break from school because of the coronavirus? For Tom and Robin Caruso, the answer was simple: bring the boys along and turn a necessary boat delivery into a family adventure and an opportunity for bonding.
On March 23, the same day Connecticut announced a partial lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19, Tom posted on Facebook about taking their Fairline 65 Flybridge north from Fort Lauderdale to Norwalk. I’ve known Tom and Robin for years; they run Total Marine, a boat dealership and service shop in Norwalk, and I’ve spent time with their family around Long Island Sound. Tom’s offhand line—“This trip should take at least a week, probably more. We’ll see if we can make it without killing one another.”—made me laugh and hinted at the mix of humor and realism that guided the trip.
The run from Ft. Lauderdale to Norwalk covered roughly 1,400 miles and ultimately took 15 days. That pace was deliberate. First, they wanted to conserve fuel on the Fairline 65 Flybridge during long runs along the East Coast. Second, they chose to slow down so they could savor the experience: the coastal scenery, quiet anchorages, and the rare chance to spend uninterrupted time together while following strict safety precautions during the pandemic.
Although Tom has made the trip up the coast before, this was the first time he did it with his family. They planned carefully to minimize risk: provisioning the boat for meals to limit stops at grocery stores, staying at marinas each night while keeping distance from other crews, and avoiding extended onshore excursions in each port. They became as accustomed to Lysol wipes and hand sanitizer as they were to chamois cloths and fenders, adapting their usual cruising routine to the realities of social distancing and pandemic-era travel.
I followed their progress through daily updates on Facebook. After finishing my own work each evening, I would lace up my sneakers, put on a coat and walk the two miles to the small yacht club in my town to stare out over Long Island Sound. Those lockdown days made every view feel more precious. Watching the horizon, I imagined the Carusos picking their way up the coast. One post from a stop at St. Simons Island, Georgia, showed a sailboat silhouetted against a blazing sunset; Tom captioned the photo, “Moments like this make all the work worthwhile.”
The journey wasn’t all calm and leisure. As they moved north, the runs lengthened and the temperatures dropped. They logged demanding days at sea—one 12-hour leg covered the 175 miles from Virginia’s York River to the C&D Canal, and another 12-hour day took them from the canal straight to Norwalk. Those long passages required careful watchstanding, prudent fuel management, and steady seamanship.
Amid the work, one of the trip’s most meaningful outcomes was the father-son time. Teaching navigation and seamanship became an explicit goal for Tom. His sons—TJ, Michael and Nicholas—had been handling lines and running the boat for years, but the trip gave them a chance to deepen their chartwork and navigation skills. After schoolwork at the big desk in the stateroom, the afternoons were devoted to plotting courses, studying charts and refining practical skills under their father’s guidance. It was, in many ways, an ideal way to shelter in place: productive, educational and bonding.
In an era when travel and normal routines were upended, the Carusos made the best of a tense and surreal situation. They blended careful planning with an appreciation for the simple pleasures of coastal cruising. The result was an unforgettable family delivery aboard a Fairline 65 that combined work, learning and moments of beauty along the U.S. East Coast.
Jeanne Craig
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This article originally appeared in the June 2020 issue.