Caribbean Adventure Sailing
Come sailing with Andy in the Caribbean next winter! Serenity, a 43-foot classic Shannon ketch will be our home and sailing platform for a few weeks of offshore sailing and island exploration. A tentative plan is in place, but it’ll be flexible. Price is all-in, less meals ashore and travel to/from the boat. All provisions onboard, safety gear, etc. is covered. Here are the details:
- Feb. 14-21, 2015: BVI to Grenada.We’ll assemble on the boat on the afternoon of Saturday, February 14, departing BVI on the morning of the 15th (Sunday). This will be a one-stop passage, calling at Dominica, my favorite island in all the Leewards & Windwards. We won’t have much time, but might be able to get in a hike to the Boiling Lake and a visit to the Caribbean’s best local market in Roseau. This is a tough passage, mostly to windward or close reaching, but it’s worth it.From Dominica we’ll sail onwards to Grenada, the ‘Spice Island,’ where crew will disembark in St. Georges for the journey home. It’s worth spending a few days ashore in Grenada before flying home. Check out the Seven Sisters waterfalls and the incredible markets around the city. And make sure you catch a ride in one of the local rasta buses!
- Feb. 22-Mar. 1, 2015: Grenada to BVI.We’ll again assemble on the boat on the 22nd, and depart on Feb. 23rd. This is a one-way, nonstop passage of over 400 nautical miles offshore in the boisterous Caribbean. A great test of offshore sailing on a wonderful boat, and should be reaching conditions most of the way. You’ll get the full deal here, and it’s long enough to allow you to get into a nice rhythm. This is Caribbean passage making at it’s best! Crew flies in to Grenada to meet the boat in St. Georges, and flies out of the BVI on completion of the voyage. Celestial Navigation package available as well. Contact Andy for details.
This might be our most exciting trip yet! It’s too early to name names, but I have an opportunity to bring north a Swan 57 from the Virgin Islands back to New York. I won’t disclose the boat’s name yet but it will be a very cool trip on a very cool boat. it’s in immaculate condition and is a hell of a sailing boat, Scandinavian boatbuilding at it’s best.
Trip will start in the British Virgin Islands and we’ll be sailing some 1500 miles north to New York (Note: destination is still flexible).
Total cost is $2,750.00.
We’re currently taking deposits and enquiries for this trip. Due to the nature of this trip (and the fact that we don’t own the boat), the deposits are fully refundable (less a $250 admin fee) until January 1, 2015. Balance must be paid by March 1, 2015. In the event that the trip is cancelled on my end for any reason, a full refund will be issued, with no admin fee. It’s a big boat – we have space for 6 crew.
We’ll meet in the Virgin Islands (location TBA) around April 10, 2015, and the trip, depending on destination, would be 10-14 days at most, with perhaps a stop in Bermuda along the way. As with our other ocean passages, it includes all food onboard and all safety equipment (including PFD’s / harnesses). Food ashore, transportation and personal items are on the crew.
This will also be a celestial navigation passage for those of you interested in the lost art of the sea. Our first mate is working on his Yachtmaster Oceans qualification, which requires a passage of at least 600 nautical miles, navigating by celestial alone, so this will be his qualifying passage and a great way to learn some really cool stuff offshore on a very cool boat! We’ll do a brief celestial crash-course before we leave, and get lots of practice under way, taking sun and star sights and maybe even a moonshot here and there! That said, it’s not required that you do any celestial on the trip, only an option!
Annapolis – Lunenburg Passage
Summer 2015 is shaping up to be an exciting one! By then it’ll have been 4 years since we last sailed to Nova Scotia on our way across the North Atlantic, and we’re finally going back! If you’ve never been to Canada, this is the trip to make!
Join Andy and crew for a 600+ nautical mile passage to the heart of the Canadian Maritimes, on Sojourner a Wauquiez Hood 38. Lunenburg is loaded with history, and you’ll be met on arrival by the fishing schooners of old and some seriously friendly folks. The water’s refreshingly chilly for an early morning swim, and it’s easy to come and go from the big airport in Halifax.
We’ll depart Annapolis on July 5 and head up the Chesapeake, through the C&D Canal and down the Delaware where we’ll make a brief refueling stop in Cape May before heading offshore in earnest (there is also an option to join in Cape May on July 6, if that works better logistically). From Cape May it’s 600+ miles up to Lunenburg, and it’ll be proper ocean sailing, with fog, fishing boats, possible heavy weather and chilly conditions as we approach the Canadian coast. Expect the trip to take 4-6 days from Cape May, with arrival in Lunenburg around July 12 or sooner.
Andy Schell loves ocean sailing, and is passionate about all aspects, from proper yacht design to sail selection for offshore sailing, yacht rigging (in particular synthetic rigging for cruising boats), gear, safety equipment and more. He’s got lots of experience, and some strong opinions, but his ideas are constantly evolving as he continues to sail a variety of boats on the world’s oceans. He hosts the popular ’59 North Sailing Podcast’ and ocean sailing website 59-north.com.
He and his wife Mia Karlsson, only 30 and 29 years-old respectively, have nearly 40,000 miles of bluewater sailing experience on their yawl Arcturus and as professional delivery and racing sailors, including a combined five Atlantic crossings. Andy is particularly interested in mentally preparing for ocean sailing, leadership and crew/skipper dynamics, and how to conservatively and smartly outfit the ocean sailing yacht, with an approach based on simplicity and robustness.
He holds both USCG Master and RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Oceans credentials.
Andy earned his sea legs growing up on his family’s various Sojourner’s sailing mainly on the Chesapeake Bay. When he was 9, and his sister Kaitie 7, his mom and dad, Gail and Dennis, took them out of school to spend a winter in the Bahamas aboard their Allied Princess ketch, where they lived as a family of four, with two cats, Ketchie and Salty.
Andy worked as crew on the 74-foot schooner Woodwind in Annapolis on and off from 2006-2010. He led sailing-based adventure travel and leadership programs with Broadreach in the eastern Caribbean for two summers and two winter seasons from 2009-2011. In 2009, he and Mia, as skipper and first mate, led the Broadreach ‘ARC of the Caribbean’ trip, a 32-day travel and leadership program for 16, 17 & 18-year-olds, based on a 50-foot Beneteau and exploring from St. Martin to Trinidad and back.
Their sailing adventures have taken them to the South Island of New Zealand, the Whitsunday Islands in Australia, the BVI to St. Martin to Trinidad and everywhere in between in the Eastern Caribbean, New England, Nova Scotia, St. Pierre, Bermuda, the Azores, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Ireland, Scotland, the North Sea, Sweden and Finland. They hope to eventually sail Arcturus north to Arctic Norway, Iceland and Greenland.
Andy is also a prolific sailing and travel writer, having published nearly 200 articles in some of the world’s most popular sailing magazines. He’s written several features in Yachting World and is currently a Contributing Editor for SAIL magazine, writing mostly about offshore sailing and his own sailing experiences in the Caribbean, Europe and beyond. He’s also appeared in Ocean Navigator, All at Sea Caribbean, All at Sea Southeast, Yacht Essentials, Good Old Boat, SpinSheet and others.
In addition to their freelance careers, Andy & Mia manage the USA office of the World Cruising Club and are the event managers for the Caribbean 1500, ARC USA and ARC DelMarVa rallies. They also work on the ‘yellow shirt’ team for the ARC and ARC Europe rallies.
