Bob and Becky Preston are now cruising off Roque Island, all the way up the coast of Maine, just short of Campobello Island and the Canadian border. So far, they’ve cruised 542 nm this summer on their Sabre 48, Family Ties 3, and they’re still going strong.
The Prestons are certainly dedicated cruisers. But what makes their cruising remarkable is that Bob has had Parkinson’s Disease for the past ten years; he just had serious surgery this spring. And he’s still cruising.
Actually, Preston has been boating since he was six months old and his father took him out on the family outboard. He and Becky started serious cruising on a Back Cove 33. But in 2007, when he was 49, his car was rear-ended when he was stopped at a traffic light. Doctors told him he had Parkinson’s, and they said he’d be in a wheelchair in five years.
Preston sold his insurance business in Wickford, RI, and he and Becky headed south, to Florida and the Bahamas, starting three Optimism Tours to raise money to fight Parkinson’s. To make their cruising more comfortable, the Prestons moved up to a Back Cove 37 and then the Sabre 48, all painted a distinctive Wasabi green.
The Sabre 48 has extra handholds to help Preston move around; it has a powered helm seat that’s set back a bit so it’s easier for him to get in and out, and the joystick is raised an extra three inches. Both Bob and Becky run the boat, although she drives in bad weather. And they’ve raised more than $375,000 to fight Parkinson’s.
For now, they’re enjoying their end-of-summer cruise up the Bay of Fundy. For his part, Preston has no plans to slow down. As he wrote on Facebook, “Many, many people ask how or why I do these long off-shore trips with PD and doesn’t it change my plans. NOPE. And it won’t.”
