Larry Jacobson was 13 when he shattered his right leg while skiing. He was in a cast from hip to toe for three months, and miserable.
"I was desperate to move, get out, do things," Jacobson recalls.
He read a lot at the time and almost anything, especially magazines.
One day, his mom brought him a magazine about boats. Something clicked inside the bright-eyed teenager.
"I realized that boats could take me places, thus I wouldn't be stuck in one place," he said.
Jacobson eventually learned to sail near Long Beach, Calif., and, by the time he was in high school, he was racing competitively. Jacobson eventually became a California state champion sailor. Then, he progressed into larger, more advanced boats.
Jacobson ultimately went to the University of California-Irvine, and spent two years on the school's sailing team before quitting. "But I just kept dreaming about sailing," he said. "I always had it in the back of my head that, someday, I was going to go sailing further."
Boy, did he.
If you're a mountain climber, the ultimate is climbing Mt. Everest. If you're a marathon runner, the dream is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. If you're a sailor, the golden goose is circumnavigation.
From 2001-2007, Jacobson circled the world in his 50-foot boat, Julia. His travel companion for the six-year odyssey was Ken Smith—and the two are believed to be the first, and only, gay couple to sail around the world, a feat accomplished by fewer than 100 people annually.
"It was absolutely incredible," said Jacobson, now 56. "I had some amazing adventures—from being chased by Komodo dragons in Indonesia to being caught in huge storms in the Red Sea."
They visited 40 countries along the way—with a rainbow flag sailing from their vessel throughout, except when they approached several traditionally anti-gay countries, such as Oman and Yeman.
"It was exhausting, draining, exhilarating," said Jacobson, who lives in Emeryville, Calif. "I wasn't very mechanical when I first started, but I now could fix a diesel engine with a piece of bubble gum and a rubber band."
Yep, Jacobson developed into the McGyver of the sea.
"It's great to do what you can to make your dreams come true, learning to let go," said Jacobson, who had worked 20 years in corporate America before setting sail.
"[The trip] was way more than I expected, way more difficult than I expected. When most people, myself included, think about sailing around the world, you think of Tahiti and it's [simply gorgeous] like that the whole way. But it's not. Sure, there were wonderful white sand beaches with gorgeous palm trees, but there also are mechanical breakdowns, weather issues, etc.
"It was scarier than I expected.
"Just leaving the dock and truly not knowing where I was going … that was scary. Our next stop [after starting out in 2001] was 3,000 miles away, across an ocean. That's kind of a scary feeling. Being caught in a storm also is very scary. When you're on a boat [together] for six years, we called each year as a dog-year, so it really was 42 years."
Still, Jacobson added, "I wouldn't trade the experience for anything."
Jacobson has chronicled his six-year journey in a book, The Boy Behind the Gate: How His Dream of Sailing Around the World Became a Six-Year Odyssey of Adventure, Fear, Discovery and Love. (It's now available.)
"I didn't anticipate how much I would learn [while at sea,]" Jacobson said. "I thought I would just go out there and go sailing, but I had so much to learn, such as, being decisive, facing your fears, becoming mechanical, etc. That was a great, positive experience."
The worst part was the amount of mechanical breakdowns they endured, breakdowns that "nearly broke me—until I got a handle on how to deal with them," he said.
Jacobson sailed routes known for evil, troublesome pirates. He also stopped in Cartegena, Columbia—actually, he was forced to stop in Cartegena, Columbia.
"We were surfing down the faces of 15-foot waves and 30-knot winds, and all of a sudden we lost our steering gear; a cable broke," Jacobson said. "So we were forced to sail into Cartegena, where we were planning to skip.
"It turned out to be one of our favorite places in the world."
His least favorite spots were in the Middle East, he said.
"When we were approaching Indonesia, we got a warning from the state department, telling us that we weren't supposed to go there because it had been declared a no-go country," Jacobson said. "But we got perhaps the warmest welcome we got anywhere" when we landed in Indonesia.
Jacobson is taking his experience and turning it into a speaking career, driven to motivate others to follow their dreams—regardless of how wild they may be, or how difficult they are to attain.
"I like the idea of inspiring others," he said. "Not just others who want to go sailing. But rather, the high school kid who doesn't see a bright future [for himself or herself]. Heck, I was the fat, Jewish kid. I was teased for both, and also for being gay. Now I've sailed around the world. I want to inspire kids, especially those in the gay community."
Jacobson's journey was self-funded, and the trip also included scuba diving with poisonous sea snakes in the country of Niue (an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean). It's a trip he would "absolutely" would do it over again, if he had the chance.
"It was the greatest thing that I've done in my life," Jacobson said. "I took a big risk. … I left my business; I left my home; I left my partner at the time—all for a dream. And I'd do it again."
Jacobson and Bob Joyce were partners for 20 years. The day they met, Joyce learned that Jacobson was hooked on the high seas and that, someday, he was going to sail around the world. Sailing, though, was not Joyce's dream.
Joyce did not join him for the trip.
Ken Smith, a friend of both Jacobson and Joyce, was Jacobson's right-hand man for the trip—and by day five, they had fallen for each other.
Jacobson and Joyce are still now the best of friends, Jacobson said.
Jacobson and Smith are the world travelers.
Note: The Boy Behind the Gate was awarded a Silver Medal in the Independent Publisher Book Awards. The ceremony was in late May at the Book Expo America in New York.
Top four spots visited during Larry Jacobson's six-year sail around the world:
1. New Zealand: "I loved the energy, friendliness and independence of the people."
2. Tel Aviv: "It's one of the most exciting, magnificent, friendly, warn, welcoming and safe places that we've ever been to. It's such a fun city."
3. Vanuatu: "They were the friendliest, most generous, loving, warm-hearted people that we met."
4. Thailand
