One of my most treasured memories of 2014 was a sailing trip in late September, aboard the Jubilee. This 43ft sloop was once known as the Megan Jaye - the sailing boat on which John Lennon voyaged to Bermuda in 1980.
The boat is still in immaculate condition 34 years later, and it is regularly sailed off the East Coast of the United States by its owners Stephen Fuller, a university professor, and his wife Susan.
The story of Lennon’s sailing adventure is told in the Lennon Bermuda book, which includes a chapter on what became of the boat. The Fullers subsequently invited Heather and I to come and see the Jubilee and take a short trip. That kind invite was fulfilled in the last few days of September when we joined the couple for a short excursion along the coast of Maine.
Given the time of year, we had been warned to expect possibly chilly weather. Instead we were greeted by horizon-to-horizon blue skies and the calmest ocean imaginable. The benign conditions meant there would be no unfurling of the sails, because there wasn’t a breath of wind to be caught. The Jubilee’s small engine was put into action and we motored at a steady six knots, initially weaving through tranquil waterways, where a seal would occasionally raise its head out of curiosity. Forests fringed the craggy coastline, and before long we were heading out into the ocean, charting a course southwards, staying about a mile or two from shore.
Out on the ocean all we had to do was steer a course to avoid the lobster pot buoys, feel a rush of excitement at spotting a passing dolphin or two, enjoy the perfect late summer weather, and reflect on what it must have been like for Lennon when he helped sail the boat 700 miles across the ocean to Bermuda.
Steve and Susan spoke about the pleasure they get from sailing the Jubilee and knowing that the famed musician also enjoyed an open-ocean experience on the boat. Every summer the couple sail between the Washington, DC area and Maine, and in the winter the boat is hauled out of the water and stored in a heated shed for protection.
A plaque on board commemorates the journey Lennon took in June 1980 when he, together with a crew of four, sailed from Newport, Rhode Island to St George, Bermuda. The boat encountered a fierce storm and the former Beatle steered alone for a number of hours as the captain, Hank Halsted, rested and the other crew members recovered from sea sickness. One of the songs Lennon later completed in Bermuda was the lullaby Beautiful Boy, which features the line “out on the ocean, sailing away”. The plaque inside the Jubilee mentions that of all the songs that were influenced by the voyage, Beautiful Boy perhaps best reflects Lennon’s “blue water sailing experience”.
Steve bought the Jubilee in 1997 and estimates he has sailed her 20,000 miles, going as far north as Cape Breton and also enjoying trips to the Caribbean. The boat was built by the Hinckley company in 1977 and was originally named Megan Jaye.
The Jubilee has had only a handful of owners, with the Fullers owning the sloop the longest. It was a year after he had purchased the boat that Steve discovered Lennon had once chartered her.
He feels a connection with the late musician through the shared sailing experience. Coincidently, he was born in 1940, the same year as Lennon, and sailed to St George in June 1980, on a different boat, arriving one week after the former Beatle. Like most people at the time, he had no idea the singer was on the island.
Lennon stayed in Bermuda until the end of July that year, working on songs that appeared on his final album Double Fantasy and the posthumous Milk and Honey. His sailing experience is credited, in part, with reawakening his creativity after a five-year period when he did not release any music.
“It gives me some psychic release and pleasure to know that he enjoyed and met some of his musical ambitions through his sailing journey,” said Steve.
“When I am sailing I experience the pleasure that he got. It gives me a better sense of who he was than if you only knew him through reading about his music or his causes. It shows me that those guys [The Beatles] wanted to enjoy a regular life. He got lucky to be away and to test himself. He grew. It was a reaffirmation of sailing and connectedness with the sea.
“I think about the pictures I've seen of him sitting on the boat. I've sailed with people who are famous, but they are not famous when they are sailing. We are all the same people out here.”
This summer, the boat's former captain, Hank Halsted, returned to Bermuda and visited the John Lennon sculpture in the Botanical Gardens, which commemorates his stay in Bermuda. Hank has been back on board the Jubilee in recent years and gave the Fullers an insight into what it was like during the trip to Bermuda with Lennon.
During our journey I wandered below deck, into the galley and the bed spaces beyond. I rested on the bed which has been identified as the berth Lennon took during his journey. I wanted to get a sense of what it would have been like on that 1980 voyage. On the wood panelling beside the berth is the plaque commemorating that trip. The only sound I was aware of was the quiet whisper of the boat gliding through the ocean. Turning, I looked around at the semi-darkness of the interior, the polished wood panels and a storm lantern gently rocking in a cradle on the opposite side of the cabin. It was hard to imagine a more peaceful spot to be.
The Fullers take great care of the sloop, and say they enjoy their own magical moments when sailing.
Susan said: “I miss it when we are not out on it. I feel 'transported' when we sail. I do not think about work or about family. I feel the wind, the waves and the night.
“It's sleek and beautiful. It embraces the water, especially when you have the sails up and the wind.
“The conversations you have on the boat are not day-to-day conversations. We have conversations that we never have any other time. I sleep better on the Jubilee than when I'm on land. There is a rhythm, you slow down, you don't rush around and every move is measured. You pay attention to more of the things around you. It becomes your world.”
Steve said: “It's about the journey. Getting from A to B is half the pleasure. You don't complain about things when you are out here.”
It felt as though the journey was over all too soon, yet we had been sailing for many hours, and had enjoyed an alfresco lunch on deck. Now we had reached our destination. The Jubilee would shortly be hauled from the water and stored safely indoors for the winter. It had been a magical experience, and we thanked the Fullers as we said our goodbyes.
There was an unexpected coda to our day a few hours later. Heather and I caught a bus service to Boston’s Logan International Airport from where we would connect with a hotel shuttle. We arrived and entered the terminal building to hear music playing on the public address system. The song being played was Lennon’s Beautiful Boy, and the line being sung … out on the ocean, sailing away.
Our day was complete.
Photos from the trip (a few of Lennon in 1980). Music: An instrumental version of Beautiful Boy
