After months at sea level preparing my boat and sailing across the Atlantic it seemed like a visit to a mountainous country like Switzerland would be the perfect counterpoint. 

There is a group of pilots who have flown small planes around the world known as Earthrounders (www.earthrounders.com).  Formed to 2000, the associated website is fundamentally a registry of such pilots who have chosen to notify Earthrounders of their accomplishment.  Every two years Earthrounders have reunions which thus far have occurred on all continents except Antarctica.  The most recent reunion was scheduled for September, 2020, but the pandemic caused it to be postponed twice.  If finally took place this year in Chateau d’Oex, Switzerland. Unfortunately, the dates conflicted with my sailing schedule so I couldn’t attend.  Instead there was a “pre-earthrounders” get-together at the chalet of Flemming and Angela Pedersen on the mountainside above the Swiss village of Champery. In addition to Flemming and Angela, the group included Thom Kane and Veronica Baird (also sailors), Patrick Elliot and Linda Walker, and Claude Meunier, the founder of Earthrounders. 

Although the weather in Switzerland was cool and rainy, for me it was a welcome break from the heat and humidity I had been living with since picking up my boat Phywave in Baltimore on June 1.