Hello!

We are Karen and Dean Bensley from southern Maine! We are parents to two grown sons, Ethan and Gage, and “in-loves” to their lovely wives, Lia and Katelyn. We have a close extended family and multigenerational friends that we adventure with: sailing/boating, biking, hiking, and skiing, and gathering for pot-luck celebrations. We are blessed beyond measure!

Dean retired as an engineer/ business manager from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery in 2016, after 34 years. He now works part time as a consultant contractor there with a private company. Karen is a pediatric physical therapist with an awesome pedi team at York Hospital and part time core faculty member on a LEND grant. We are thankful to our employers for the time they’ve allowed us to take this trip.

Dean grew up sailing throughout New England. Karen grew up boating on lake Winnepesaukee and married into this adventuresome sailing family almost 40 years ago. We’ve owned two sailboats, a 34’ C&C named Genesis and a 39’ Pierson named Antares. In the fall of 2017 we purchased our current boat, a 36’ Monk trawler which we named Clare after Dean’s mom, who lived with Dean’s dad, Dean, on their boat for several years and sailed the world. Clare spent 2018 in Maine cruising the coast and gearing up for our anticipated Great Loop adventure in 2019. While we loved sailing, cruising trawler-speed to explore the inland waterways of the northeast is exciting and new.

By the grace of God we go!

~ Karen and Dean