FIGMENT
Boat Type: Kadey Krogen 48NS
Owner: Donald Gillings
Club: N/A
Home Port:
Built: 1997
Year Purchased: 2010
Favorite Cruising Destination
Alaska! Enjoyed the people, wilderness, beauty, wildlife, fishing, cruising challenges, seclusion, and so much more…
Favorite Boating Experience
Our cruises to Alaska in 2013 and 2014.
About the Crew
Jan Gillings, Admiral
Gary and Jackie Gillings have been involved in boating activity most of their lives. Gary has a background in Marina and Real Estate Development, and Jackie was a special needs teacher prior to her retirement. Gary and Jackie have cruised for many years around the Great Lakes, southwest Florida, Florida Keys, and the Caribbean Islands. They have enjoyed cruising on Figment in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Boating has given them many great experiences and has provided wonderful memories.
What’s in a Name
Figment was a fun and cute, little purple dragon our family met during a visit to Epcot Center. Thereafter Figment appeared in various family settings as well as in Jan’s classroom. The idea of owning/operating a larger boat for cruising was one of Don’s dreams/goals of sorts for many years. Whenever the subject would come up in discussion, he would joke that it was probably just another figment of his imagination. The two perspectives just came together. So when we purchased our Kadey Krogen, Figment just seemed to be the proper name. We refer to our tender as Magin (as in imagination) though Don’s brother thinks we should have named her Reality.
Reason to Buy This Boat
Seaworthiness, vessel quality, livability, relative economy of operation.
Previous Boats Owned
Formula F25SC
Interest in CUBAR
After cruising the last seven years in the Northwest US and British Columbia we’ve decided to head Figment south and through the Panama Canal. We expect to learn a great deal about dealing with official requirements and a new (to us) culture and language. We also hope to meet and create relationships with folks having similar interests and challenges.
Boating Story
We are headed to Isle Royale from Copper Harbor, MI in Sea Legs, our 25’ Formula. This is a 50nm run across Lake Superior. We cast off to a glorious sunrise with glassy smooth conditions. At that early hour Jan and our daughters are still sleeping below. About 10 miles out we run into fog with a very heavy overhead layer and reduced visibility at the surface. We do not have radar. I throttle back and am sort of mushing along. At the speed we are making we are experiencing a significant amount of torque steer from the stern drive requiring a lot of attention to the compass to hold the heading as Sea Legs really wants to turn to port. I struggle at the helm trying to maintain a side to side watch and focus on the heading. I finally open the door to the cabin and ask Jan to please come to the helm and help. A few minutes later she appears. I ask her to take care of the forward to port side watch area so I can deal with the helm and starboard side. About 30 seconds later she shouts, “What is that building doing out here?” I quickly look to port and see this huge brown “building” that says Inland Steel on the side. We make a quick turn to port and run parallel to the “laker”. As we clear its stern, we turn back to our heading and I make a quick look to get the name of the freighter. However, there is no freighter! Not any sign of it. I get this tingling down my neck and immediately understand the many Great Lakes’ stories of ghost ships. We’ve just experienced one.