All told, the transatlantic voyage lasted two months, including some lazy island-hopping in the Azores and visits to towns along the Moroccan and Spanish coastlines. The crossing went without a hitch. “We left New York in June and arrived in Barcelona in August,” said Coplan, a lawyer and professor of environmental law at Pace University. “We had picture perfect weather to the Azores, day after day of clear skies and light winds. We only used the motor once for about four hours during the entire Atlantic crossing. The rest of the time we sailed.”
Dolphins accompanied them almost every day, and they also spotted whales on several occasions. “There were lots of dolphins,” said Coplan’s wife, Robin Bell. “They were curious about us and playful and followed the boat. Unfortunately, however, we also saw huge amounts of jellyfish, which is a clear sign of an ocean eco-system out of balance—jellyfish populations are exploding because we’ve over-fished their predators.”
Bell, a geophysicist and senior research scientist at Columbia University’s prestigious Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, took daily samples of ocean plankton during the voyage. “Some day I’d like to write a biography of the Atlantic Ocean,” she said, by way of explanation.
The couple have been sailing together for 30 years and once even built a boat together. The trip was the fulfilment of a long-standing aspiration. “In part, it was your usual mid-life thing where you say to yourself, if I don’t do this now, I’m always going to regret it,” said 48-year-old Coplan. “It’s been a childhood dream ever since I read Joshua Slocum’s account of being the first man to sail around the world alone.”
In order to make time for the voyage and the stay in Barcelona, Coplan took his first sabbatical in 12 years. Bell, meanwhile, after completing the transatlantic trip has since flown back and forth to New York twice or more a month to continue with her research work. Their 12-year-old daughter, Beryl, is a student at the Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona, while their 19-year-old son, Justin, went back to university in the States after the trip.
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