MEDICINE ON THE HIGH SEAS
PHOTO COURTESY OF SOPHIE DOJACQUES
|
Gastroenterologist H. Leonard Bentch, MD, has long pursued a passion for sailing the open ocean. A boatman since childhood,
he had become a serious racer by medical school, and he and his wife competed in amateur sailboat races for eight years before
starting a family. Exploration, tourism, and simple pleasure cruising now take first prize.
"Being comfortable going to beautiful places is more interesting to my wife and me" than crossing a finish line, says Dr.
Bentch. Leasing has further simplified their lives. "We got out of the sailboat ownership business about 15 years ago, because
of the cost. And the boat was never where you wanted to be."
They now charter boats at locations of interest, with their trips ranging from two-week getaways to two-month voyages. They've
visited the Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland; cruised from Ipswich, England to the River Thames; and threaded through
the Stockholm Archipelago during the Baltic summer. Locum tenens contracts now complement his excursions. Retired from formal practice since 2006, Dr. Bentch has taken assignments
in Tauranga, New Zealand and in the U.S. Virgin Islands with Global Medical Staffing of Salt Lake City. Both offer unique
boating vistas; in fact, he only considers contracts near new or favorite sailing spots.
While Down Under, he and his wife sailed New Zealand's Bay of Islands near Auckland and Australia's Whitsunday Island chain
near the Great Barrier Reef. They also flew to Tasmania for part of the Sydney-to-Hobart Yacht Race. "Past the Bass Strait
and going along the eastern coast of Tasmania, you're talking about some pretty rugged seas," he says of the challenging,
630-nautical-mile course. Celebrating the competitors' arrival alongside racing enthusiasts from across the world provided
them with plenty of excitement. "We didn't do any sailing; we just sat there and watched the boats come in," he says.
Dr. Bentch's assignment in the U.S. Virgin Islands marked a return to the Caribbean, a favorite destination for the past 30
years. On this tour, several local friends introduced him to a local custom he'd previously only heard about. "The people
who live in the Virgin Islands will go off by boat on their holidays to some of the small, uninhabited islands," Dr. Bentch
says. Sailing north of St. Thomas across cerulean seas to Hans Lollik Island, they lived off the land, spear fishing, hunting,
and drinking from natural springs.
It definitely pays to escape the narrow, postcard-sized view of a tourist destination. "If you get off the beaten path just
a bit, it becomes very isolated. You get to see the real world," Dr. Bentch says.
Facebook
Twitter
