Sailing on the Chesapeake, at first in rented boats and then the family's Catalina sloop "Hilde M", then the Southern Cross cutter "Hilde M2" led to an offshore sailing trip for Karl and Jan to Bermuda and a coastwise trip to Block Island and Long Island Sound for Karl and Hilde. Eventually Karl single-handed (with occasional help from Barbara, Jim Wall, and Joe Consolo) for a two year long voyage from Cobb Island, MD to Townsville, Australia via Morehead City SC, The Virgin Islands, San Blas and through the Panama Canal, the Galapagos, Marquesas Islands, Tuomotos, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and New Zealand. The short wave ham radio kept Karl in touch with Barbara and they produced a journal describing the adventure.