For 2 English Sailors, Pompano Beach Marks End of Long Trip Across Atlantic

John Searle made the 5,600-mile trip for a family reunion, and his friend Allan Fawcus came along the ride

Wednesday night, two men sat around a table laughing and telling stories. Boy, do the two from England have a lot to talk about.

Allan Fawcus, 57, and John Searle, 64, arrived in Pompano Beach aboard a sailboat Wednesday. They left England March 23. That's 65 days at sea on the Atlantic.

"I've always loved the sea and I wasn't getting any younger," Searle said. "My brother was over here. It was just something I wanted to do. It is something in my blood."

Searle made the 5,600-mile trip for a family reunion. His friend Fawcus came along for the ride.

"Every day we laughed about some stupid little thing. If you can laugh every day, there's nothing wrong with it," Fawcus said.

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Sailing and sleeping in four-hour shifts, the two saw some pretty cool stuff like dolphins. They experienced scary things like rough seas. They were even arrested and held for four hours in Portugal for entering a closed port.

"Were there days when I thought, 'What the hell am I doing out here? Yes,'" Searle said. But he added, "You've got good days and bad days like life. To me, the good days outweighed the bad days."

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Fast forward to Wednesday, when the two pulled the boat named Moody into a dock behind Northeast 9th Court.

"I have this thing I do when things go right. I go, "YES!" and I had one those moments," Fawcus said. "Yeah, we did it and I'm proud of it."

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For now, the "Two Moody Old Blokes," as they call themselves, are enjoying time with friends and family. But in a week they will start another journey, heading back home to England – the same way.

To follow their trip home, log onto share.delorme.com/JohnSearle.

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