P.E.I. man sailing around the world back on track for the Azores

After encountering some stormy seas, Alan Mulholland is back on track for the Azores in his two-year solo sail around the world.

Alan Mulholland and 26-foot Wave Rover push on through stormy seas

Tony Davis · CBC News · Posted: Aug 10, 2019 2:50 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 10, 2019

Alan Mulholland sailed out from Summerside at the end of July. (Travis Kingdon/CBC)

Alan Mulholland and his 26-foot sailboat called Wave Rover sailed out of Summerside about two weeks ago on the first leg of an around-the-world solo sailing trip.

While his wife, Glenda, helped him prepare for the trip by canning food, painting and sewing sails, she decided to stay at home on P.E.I.

But she is watching his every move and updating Islanders on his trip.

Now, Alan is headed for the Azores, mid-Atlantic islands that form an autonomous region of Portugal. It's a trip he expected to take three weeks.

Glenda said her husband is about a third of the way through that portion of the trip, but on Friday a live map of Alan's trip showed he was doing a circle.

"There is a little bit of a storm going on there," she said. "A couple days ago there was a 40-foot catamaran that capsized in a storm."

Sailing from Summerside to the world

Summerside man preparing to set sail for 3-year trip across the Atlantic

Safe and sound

She said Alan told her he was safe and he made it through the storm, but he wasn't able to make progress.

"I'm thankful he can communicate with me like that. It would be worse to not have any messages at all."

The online map showed Alan and his boat back on track for the Azores on Saturday afternoon and he was about halfway to his destination.

<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HamRadio?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HamRadio</a><br>Be aware small sailboat circumnavigating named <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WaveRover?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WaveRover</a> out of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PEI?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PEI</a><br>Hope you will enjoy following the adventure. <br>Follow his Satellite GPS link: <a href="https://t.co/iRz4k3HzCJ">https://t.co/iRz4k3HzCJ</a><br>Heading for Azores now. <a href="https://t.co/DCxdICoVWK">pic.twitter.com/DCxdICoVWK</a>
—@NavalTV

From the Azores, Wave Rover will travel to the Canary Islands, then the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal to the Pacific.

"I think he is on track," Glenda said.

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Lifelong dream

She said her husband is the type of person who always needs to have a project and the trip is good for him.

"It has been his lifelong dream to do this, so I was happy for him that he was doing it," she said.

She said her husband has a lot of experience and sailed the Pacific Ocean when he was younger.

Glenda Mulholland says she decided to stay at home because the trip round world on Wave Rover is not a 'pleasure cruise.' (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

Glenda said she decided not to go because Wave Rover is "rugged little boat."

"I like luxuries like hot and cold running water and he doesn't have that," she said.

Glenda admitted to being a "little bit nervous," but overall she is confident in her husband's skills. She said she plans to fly out and meet her husband at one of the stops on his expected two-year journey.