Family Shipping Out to Sea Where Tides and Time Take Them

I felt for the first time the perfect silence of the sea. . . . Nothing will compare with the early breaking of day upon the wide ocean.

--Richard Henry Dana, “Two Years Before the Mast,” 1840

*

As this Father’s Day approaches, here’s a salute to a Newport Beach father who is about to lead his family on the kind of adventure that most would only dare talk about.

Scott and Kelley Diener and 14-year-old son Brett soon set sail to see the world, trading in careers and lifestyles for a five-year odyssey by boat that’s been a longtime dream.

Brett leaves Orange County an eighth-grader. According to the plan, he will return ready for college. His parents, both teachers, will provide his schooling along the route. Talk about your great field trips.

“Our friends think we are insane,” Kelley Diener said. “Their reaction is, ‘You’re doing what? And for how long?’ ”

Scott Diener, 46, is an associate dean at Chapman University. He’s been on the faculty there for 20 years. Kelley Diener, 41, teaches science at South Lake Middle School in Irvine. They’re both severing professional ties to cast their fates with the winds, and the occasional rough seas.

During the next couple of weeks, they will make final preparations on their 43-foot sailboat--aptly named Sounding Free--and will leave Newport Bay in early July. They will spend a few months in San Diego, where Diener will finish up his college duties at Chapman’s site there. They leave U.S. waters in November.

It’s not like they are leaving home behind. For the past two years, the three of them have lived on Sounding Free, docked in an inlet in Newport Bay.

“We live simply--you can’t accumulate a lot of possessions on a boat,” Scott Diener said. “But we love it.”

He bought the boat, which was built in Orange County, in 1987, while teaching at Chapman’s San Diego site. It was then called the Milky Way. He and his young son moved aboard.

In 1988, he married Kelley, who adjusted quickly to boat life and cramped quarters. The Dieners like to use the word “efficient.” Kelley Diener says she found it “an adventure.”

In 1992, they decided to move into a condominium in San Diego--”land living” is their term--on the supposition that Brett might want to experience something of a normal childhood. A few years later, when Scott Diener’s career brought him to the main campus in Orange, the family looked long and hard at houses in Irvine, where Kelley Diener would be teaching. It was Brett who said, “Why don’t we just live on the boat?”

That’s when the five-year plan took hold. Money meant for housing was socked away for the trip. The Dieners had made some other investments that were successful. So they had the finances--$1,000 a month is the rule of thumb for these travels--and the time seemed right, before Brett was off to college and unable to go.

“We had some friends who did this and loved it,” Scott Diener said. “But they were in their 60s, and their one regret was that they thought they had waited too late.”

The Dieners do not think their son will lack for friends. Many other Americans nationwide make these trips, and the Dieners plan to meet some of them along the way. They also believe Brett will make friends at places they stay.

“This is a gamble,” Scott Diener said. “But we’ll have some great memories when it’s over.”

The Plan: The Dieners call this trip “variable destination navigation.” But they’ve roughly mapped out a five-year plan, one set up to avoid known hurricane seasons.

The first leg will take them to the Sea of Cortez. They plan to stay near Mexico for a year, to enhance Brett’s education and help him become fluent in Spanish. Kelley Diener is designing a curriculum for Brett that will help him immerse himself in the arts and history of the places they visit.

The second leg: to the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia). Tahiti will be included. That leg will produce the longest period at sea--35 days. The Dieners will keep the boat moving at all times, taking shifts at the helm. They’ll have enough food for that stretch. They’ve also got two huge water tanks and even a machine to desalinate sea water if needed.

The next leg takes them to the Tuamotu Archipelago (Marshall Islands). After that it likely will be New Zealand and Australia. The fifth year is undecided.

“We might decide to come all the way around the world,” Scott Diener said. “We’re going to leave that year completely open.”

The Sea Will Tell: Another line from Richard Henry Dana on traveling the world by sail: “If we get along well together, we shall have a comfortable time; if we don’t, we shall have hell afloat.”

The Dieners smile when asked about how they will get along. They’ve had good practice in tight quarters already.

“You learn to respect each other’s privacy,” Scott Diener said. “You also must have patience with each other. We think we will do fine.”

Final Land Thoughts: Brett Diener wrote this on the Internet about the family journey: “I can’t help wondering if I am going to miss out on something and how it might affect me, but I know that what I am doing is far more spectacular than anything I might do in high school. . . . The less you plan, the more you live.”

Wrap-Up: Sunday is the day when you shower your father with gifts and love. I’ve got a Father’s Day suggestion for fathers: Give yourself--and your family--a gift. Go take a PSA blood test.

PSA stands for prostate specific antigen. It’s a test to determine whether you might have prostate cancer.

Dave Lopez, who has covered Orange County for Channel 2 (KCBS-TV) for many years, decided to have the test done last year, when he was 48, because his father was having prostate problems. It turned out that both of them had cancer. Dave Lopez’s condition was more serious and required surgery. Without the early detection, however, surgery wouldn’t have saved him. Since then, Lopez has done a lot of research on prostate cancer, and even produced a TV special about it.

Lopez cautions: Don’t just assume the test will be given when you go in for a physical. Many doctors or clinics do not include PSA as part of their standard test. You have to specifically ask for it.

“Taking the PSA is the best Father’s Day present you can give yourself,” Lopez told me. “Once you reach 50, you should take the test no less than every two years.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com