Summer months have come to an end, so now it is time to take advantage of Autumn cooking, some healthy but satisfying dishes.
SIMPLE BAKED CRABCAKES AND YOGURT SAUCE
Prep time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 15 minutes. Makes: 8 patties 1 egg plus 1 egg white 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard 3 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice ½ tsp. ground dry paprika ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper 8 oz. crab meat, picked for shells ½ cup whole wheat Panko breadcrumbs 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 green onion, finely chopped Olive oil
Preheat oven to 400ºF. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, mustard, lemon juice, paprika, black pepper. Add in the crab meat and breadcrumbs. Gently fold all the ingredients together. Form mixture into 8 patties and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Lightly brush or spray the top of each pattie with olive oil. Bike 15 minutes or until the top are lightly golden. Remove from oven and serve with Yogurt Sauce, recipe below.
YOGURT SAUCE: ½ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt 1 tsp. Dijon mustard 1 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 green onion, finely chopped ¼ tsp. cayenne Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
In a bowl combine yogurt, mustard lemon juice, green onion, cayenne, and black pepper. Whisk together until both are smooth. Hint: In a hurry, skip making the sauce and just use fresh squeezed lemon juice. Or, be creative, try dill, chives, red pepper flakes, or other seasoning that you like, or maybe finely diced pickles.
Note: Serve these crab cakes with your favorite sides, or over a salad for a light lunch or as an appetizer
SWEET POTATOES STUFFED WITH GOAT CHEESE,HONEY, AND ROASTED GRAPES
Prep time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 45 – 60 minutes. Serves: 4 4 sweet potatoes, similar size 2 cups red seedless grapes 1 tsp. Grapeseed oil or other high heat oil 1/4 tsp. Salt 1/2 tsp. Pepper 4 oz. Goat cheese, room temperature 2 Tbsp. Honey plus additional for drizzling Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Poke holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork, then wrap eachone tightly in aluminum foil. Depending on size, bake for 45 -60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender to the touch. Remove from oven and unwrap foil. Cut a slit down the middle of each potato, lengthwise, then let sit until cool enough to handle.
Increase oven temperature to 450ºF. On a baking dish, lay grapes in a single layer and drizzle each with the grapeseed oil and a pinch of salt and pepper; toss to coat. Roast for 20-25 minutes or until grapes begin to burst. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Once sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the flesh with a spoon, keeping the skin intact. Place the flesh in a large bowl. Add 3 ounces of goat cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, pepper and honey. Scoop flesh back into potato skin. Rewarm in oven if too cool. Top with remaining goat cheese. Add grapes on top and drizzle with the additional honey.
Farmers Markets are the best place to find seasonal fruits and vegetables in your area.
Jan Robinson, Health Coach, 2019 CYBA Hall of Fame, Chef Competition Coordinator/Judge and author of the Ship to Shore Cookbook Collection; available on Amazon and at CaptJan2@gmail.com
There are not many sports where you can move from beginner to Olympian in a decade. An even bigger feat is a woman doing so in what has long been the male-dominated sport of sailing. Yet, that’s just what Puerto Rico’s Gretchen Ortiz has accomplished, getting her feet wet first on a Beneteau 40.7 in local and Caribbean regattas and then reaching the pinnacle of the sport as crew in the Mixed Nacra 17 representing her home island at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
“I started sailing later in life, at age 24,” says Ortiz, who lives in San Juan, yet had never tried any water sports despite being surrounded by sea. “I used to play soccer and in one of the games I had an ACL (knee) injury. While I was recovering from surgery, I read many of my boyfriend’s books. These were about rogue waves, being lost at sea, sailing around the world, and these types of topics. Somehow that translated into ‘I want to learn how to sail’.
Gretchen Ortiz and Jaime Torres, at left, of Smile and Wave at the podium at the St Thomas International Regatta. Credit Dean Barnes
Learning to Sail Ortiz studied the basics of sailing by book. However, it was sailboat racing and a real love of the sport that she learned from Jaime Torres. It was 2011 and Torres had purchased a Beneteau 40.7, called her Smile and Wave, and was putting a team together to compete in the Caribbean regatta circuit.
“I asked him if I could join. I told him straight up, ‘I don’t know much about sailing, but I can put in the time, and I learn fast,” Ortiz tells.
Her first regatta, the 600 nautical mile Caribbean 600 around 11 Caribbean Islands, was a long-distance baptism by sail. She got seasick. The entire three days and nights of sailing she spent on the rail. Eating, sleeping, everything on the rail. All the while Ortiz was sick, she looked out and the ocean was comforting. The sound of the water rushing by the boat when going downwind, the pounding of the boat with the waves when going upwind, the sparkling water at night, the dolphins, the turtles, and a shark or two were all part of the scene. Ironically, between her sailing tasks and being sick, and with everything else going on out on the sea, as Ortiz says, “I just fell in love with the sweet and sour of it all.”
She continued crewing onboard Smile and Wave for a half dozen northern Caribbean regattas – including the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, Puerto Rico Heineken Regatta, St. Thomas International Regatta, and BVI Spring Regatta – over the next three months. She started midbow, learned from the bowman, and soon took over the bow position. A decade later, with Torres trading in his Beneteau for a Melges 32 along the way, it’s safe to say that Ortiz has been on the podium every year in almost every regatta she’s sailed in the Caribbean.
“One of the most important things I learned while sailing on Smile and Wave is the importance of the joy of sailing on a ‘Drama Free Zone’ boat. No yelling, other than because of wind noise, no cursing at others, and we all do our best at all times and in whatever way it means that day,” she says.
Gretchen Ortiz in the front. Credit Nacra 17 Sailing
Olympic Opportunity Ortiz’s path to the Olympics came via mutual friend and fellow Puerto Rican sailor, Enrique ‘Keki’ Figueroa. The two knew of each other but hadn’t sailed together. Ortiz raced keelboats while Figueroa, a five-time Olympian, raced multihulls. Halfway into Figueroa’s 2020 Olympics campaign, he found himself in need of crew.
“The sailing director where I teach sailing (Club Nautico de San Juan) recommended me. We did a tryout, and the rest is history,” she says.
One big difference between racing one hull versus two, Ortiz tells, is that “Everything is so fast. I used to joke that I would hoist the spinnaker at the windward mark and by the time I finished getting out on the trapeze it was time to put the spinnaker away again. It took me a while to get used to the pace, but it is doable.”
The Nacra 17 class for the 2020 Summer Olympics was mixed, meaning one male and one female crew. It was also full foiling. Figueroa, whose competed-on Tornados, Hobie Tigers, Hobie 16s, and Formula 18’s, only had a one-month head start on Ortiz when it came to getting the foiling aspect down pat. Training, on the water, at the gym, running, reading up, sailing seminars, and more proved a full-time job.
“The greatest part of the Olympics is to be able to represent your country against the best of the best of other countries. It fills you with pride and puts your game in a gear that you don’t even know you had. You can get a real high, but you also can get a real low if you don’t perform as you thought you should,” she says.
Gretchen Ortiz on the bow, St Maarten Heineken Regatta. Credit Laurens Morel
Looking Ahead Since the Olympics, Ortiz has been teaching youth sailors, especially beginners, in the Optimist, Laser, 420, Open Bic, and IC24.
“I love teaching the kids. I love seeing their progress from being attached to their parents to being able to rig their boats, launch them, sail them, and de-rig them all by themselves and take pride in doing so,” she says.
Ortiz continues to race keelboats. In 2023, she raced with fellow Puerto Rico sailor, Sergio Sagramoso, on his Melges 32, Lazy Dog, which won its class at the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. With Torres and the Smile and Wave team, she enjoyed podium-placing finishes at the St. Thomas International Regatta and BVI Spring Regatta, and Antigua Sailing Week.
Looking ahead, Ortiz plans to keep racing keelboats, teaching sailing, and practicing wing-foiling. Off the water, she enjoys completing mini building projects on her house and garden, and taking care of her chickens and her 17-year-old dog, Almendra.
For women who would like to follow in Ortiz’s footsteps, her advice is this: “Just get out there and sail. Sail, meet people, and sail some more. No matter where you start, or what boat position they put you in, you can always learn and prove your worth in the other positions you aim for. Just sail and meet people.”
Fresh from the triumph of the inaugural Antigua and Barbuda Yachting & Marine Association (ABYMA) Industry Showcase in 2022, ABYMA gears up to unveil its second showcase, slated for November 16-17, 2023.
Engaging a Wider Audience
Reflecting on the inaugural event’s accomplishments, ABYMA president, Franklyn Braithwaite remarked, “The first year was a resounding success. We engaged with numerous students and adults eager to delve into the yachting industry. This year, we’re anticipating even greater participation, especially from educational institutions and individuals keen to adapt their skills to the yachting sector.”
Falmouth Harbour Marina: The Perfect Venue
Falmouth Harbour Marina, with its newly constructed super yacht dock from 2022, will proudly host this year’s event. The marina is already gearing up for the 2023-24 yachting season with yachts poised for display. Attendees can look forward to exploring exhibits from sailmakers, engineering firms, provisioners, sailing training entities, boat builders, and a plethora of other businesses integral to the yachting ecosystem.
Bobby Reis, ABYMA vice president and representative of Falmouth Harbour Marina—a company wholly owned by Antiguans and Barbudans—stressed the marina’s commitment to the local community. “Our primary goal has always been to ensure that our fellow citizens reap the benefits of the yachting industry. This showcase provides an unparalleled opportunity to present our industry, our members, and our world-class marina not just to our local community, but also to international yachts arriving for the winter season.”
Simon and Gemma McMahon may have missed seeing Martinique. They didn’t. The UK couple, who sailed in the World Cruising Club’s ARC+ in 2022 aboard their Moody 46, Evangeline, had family commitments at home after they arrived in Grenada and couldn’t get back until April. “As time was short, it was invaluable to have up-to-date advice on what others in the rally had enjoyed,” says Simon. This proved especially true when newfound cruising rally friends recommended a stop in Martinique. “It was not only for its delightful mix of French and Caribbean style and food but also for an excellent chandlery resource for parts that we’d not been able to find since our arrival. We had broken a winch and as we were still in St Vincent our friend found and reserved the necessary parts for us, so they were ready for our arrival several weeks later,” he says.
Like birds fly south for the winter, so do hundreds of boats cast off from colder climates in the fall en route to the warm sunny Caribbean. Caribbean cruising rallies, starting with the UK’s World Cruising Club’s Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in 1986 followed by the USA’s Caribbean 1500 Cruising Rally in 1990, were first conceived as a way for sailors to travel offshore ‘in company’. As Hank Schmitt, founder and organizer of the North American Rally to the Caribbean, is fond of saying, “Like the caravans of old where travelers were tethered by strings of camels traveling between oases, offshore rallies today tether their boats by AIS, e-mail and satellite trackers.” However, what has been increasingly evident for many participants is that the rally, and benefits of rallying, don’t end once the boat hits its tropical slip. Indeed, it’s not just the journey, it’s the destination, and being a rally member can enhance an entire season’s cruising experience.
Arthur Daniel – Activities to learn about the Caribbean. Courtesy WCC
Firsthand Briefings
Participants join ARC+ and ARC to explore the Caribbean for the season, or multiple seasons and the November departures from Europe enable crews to enjoy the festive period in the islands and benefit from several months to explore, according to Sarah Collins, communications manager at the World Cruising Club, headquartered in Cowes, UK. “Before the rally departures, representatives from the Tourism Authorities of Grenada and Saint Lucia deliver seminars for participants, highlighting what they can expect on arrival, suggested activities, and highlights of the local cruising grounds.”
Similarly, says Carlota Texeira Saavedra, one of the organizers of the Viking Explorers Rally, “Before taking part in the rally, pre-departure information in the form of Newsletters and the Rally Handbook is packed with advice not just for the crossing, but also advice to preparations for comfortable living for the Caribbean season. Through our seminars, we also prepare the participants as to what to expect on the other side. We go through all the items from shopping, anchoring, pests, festivities, what to do, and what not to do. All destinations are well exposed at our new edited 108-page interactive Crossing Guide.”
Bahamas Raft Up. Courtesy Salty Dawg Sailing Association
Camaraderie
It’s the camaraderie of being a part of a group that has been a long-lasting benefit to Michael and Marita Lysaght, who sailed their Australian-flagged Fontaine Pajot Elba 45, Let’s Dance, in the 2023 Viking Explorers Rally. “Being involved in the rally was a positive experience for so many reasons.Sailing into Grenada after crossing the Atlantic Ocean was made easy knowing that the organizers had everything pre-arranged for our arrival at the marina. Rum punches for breakfast were a pleasant shock to our systems and an apt way to celebrate our arrival in the Caribbean. Since then, our rally group has continued to stay in touch sharing favorite locations, restaurant recommendations, tours, information about Customs formalities, anchorages to visit, and Hurricane plans.”
Without the friendship and camaraderie offered by fellow Salty Dawg Sailing Association (SDSA) Fall Rally sailors, Diane and Don Mackenzie who’ve sailed the event several times on their 46’ Hylas, Hylander, would have missed so many harbors that they now call our favorites, says Diane. “Sundowners on the beach, Dinghy floats, a rum tasting on a friend’s boat, sharing a special anchorage, a Greek restaurant on a cliff, a great hike complete with a fantastic SDSA guide, exploring a hidden snorkeling gem – all of these experiences included our SDSA Caribbean Rally buddy boats and friends.”
Nelson Dockyard. Courtesy Salty Dawg Sailing Association
A Menu of Opportunities
New for this upcoming season, the SDSA will expand and formalize its opportunities for sailors to meet and explore post-rally.
“Rally participants have long met up informally as they’ve cruised the Caribbean. Our SDSA flag has become well known, so even cruisers from past rallies will find that common connection. This year, though, we’ve decided to formalize this with several planned rendezvous,” says Bob Osborn, SDSA president. “No rally boat has to attend any or all. We’ve planned it so that there will be meet-ups for those boats that are heading south or north.
SDSA’s 2024 Northbound Rendezvous includes Dominica (February 8-14), BVI at Nanny Cay Marina (March 5-12), Dominican Republic, Puerto Bahia Marina (April 8-12), and Exumas/Bahamas. The SDSA’s 2024 Southbound Rendezvous includes Martinique Carnival (February 16-22), Bequia Easter Regatta (March 29-April 2), and Carriacou (April/May TBA).
“We call it a menu of opportunities,” says Kathy Kubic, who sailed the Leopard 45, Island Time, in the 2022 SDSA Fall Rally to the Caribbean. “Cruisers are fiercely independent, so there is no requirement to do any or all. But the opportunities are there to meet up, share experiences and recommendations, and enjoy the island destination.”
Let’s Dance arrives in Grenada. Courtesy Viking Explorers
2023 RALLY UPDATES:
NARC Rally 2023 – North American Rally to the Caribbean
October 28, 2023: Newport, RI Destination: Bermuda – St. Maarten – Antigua|25 Boats www.sailopo.com/NARC_2023.aspx
The biggest news about this twenty-plus-year rally is that this year will be the last. Hank Schmitt, NARC founder and organizer and the chief executive officer of Offshore Passage Opportunities (OPO), based in Halesite, NY, is introducing the Salty Dawg Sailing Association (SDSA) to his contacts in Newport, Bermuda, and St. Maarten and offering his rally participants the option to continue to Antigua by Nov 15th if they wish to meet up with the Dawgs. “I organized the rally to make more passage opportunities for my OPO members and to make it more fun for the people who paid to be on one of the Swans in our fleet where I charged crew to join us,” says Schmitt, who will continue to run OPO. www.sailopo.com.
Salty Dawg Sailing Association (SDSA) Caribbean Rally
Start October 28, 2023:From Newport, RI Start November 1, 2023:From Hampton, VA Destination: Antigua|90-plus boats www.saltydawgsailing.org/caribbean-rally
This year marks the 13th that the SDSA has rallied to the Caribbean in the Fall. Half the boats are multihulls, a big increase over a couple of years ago when monohulls ruled. A new mentoring component is helping first-time ralliers feel more comfortable about casting off, while the widespread installation of Starlink among cruisers today means rallying to the Caribbean isn’t just for retirees. Most of the fleet is U.S. based, although UK and European sailors who have summered in New England often join in the sail south. The bulk of the fleet heads directly to Antigua, but some choose to make landfall in the Abacos, Bahamas. Post-rally activities run from November 10 through U.S. Thanksgiving in and around Nelson’s Dockyard.
Viking Explorers
Start January 2024 Destination: Grenada|25 boats www.vikingexplorersrally.com
The 7th annual rally is full of 25 boats, 17 monohulls, 6 catamarans, and for the first time two Nordhavn motor yachts. The fleet casts off from Gran Canaria, with a stop in Cape Verde, before finishing in Grenada. The Viking Explorers have signed new contracts with the main sponsors for up to 5 years, until 2029. Also, new sponsors such as Mount Cinnamon Resort and Sevenstar Yacht Transport are now supporting the rally.
ARC – Atlantic Rally for Cruisers
Start November 19:From Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Destination: St. Lucia|162 Boats www.worldcruising.com/arc/event.aspx
The 38th ARC fleet sails 2,700 nm directly to IGY’s Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia. Most of the fleet is set to arrive between December 7-12, with prizegiving December 16. What’s new is this year’s fleet statistics. The smallest boat is the Italian-flagged Grand Soleil 34 Lady Eleonora at 34.7’, and 8% of the fleet is under 40’. The largest boat is Irelanda a Hoek-designed, Alloy Yachts built 104’.Over 50 different boat brands/builders are represented, with boats sailing under the flags of 30 nations. Family boats include 19 children under the age of 16.
ARC+ – Atlantic Rallyfor Cruisers Plus
Start November 5: From Las Palmas de Gran Canariato Cape Verde Start November 17:From Cape Verde Destination: Grenada|96 boats www.worldcruising.com/arc_plus/event.aspx
Now in its 11th year, the ARC+ features a 4-6 day stopover in Mindelo, Cape Verde, before restarting with its final destination of Camper & Nicholson’s Port Louis Marina in St George’s, Grenada. What’s new is the ever-changing mix of boats and sailors that participate. This year, the smallest boat is the French-flagged Beneteau First 31.7 Freebooter at 31.7’ and 10% percent of the fleet is under 40’. The largest boat is MRS. G, an Amel 60 at 60’. Over 40 different boat brands/builders are represented. Boats are sailing under the flags of 24 nations. Sailors include families with 45 children under age 16.
Earlier this year, Dream Yacht Worldwide teamed up with Fountaine Pajot to embark on a groundbreaking venture — the inception of the world’s first global line of electric catamarans. The collaboration proudly stands as the pioneering force behind the large-scale introduction of electric yachts tailored for yacht charter vacations and retail sales to global consumers.
The Aura 51 Smart Electric: A Flagship Introduction
Marking its premiere, the Aura 51 Smart Electric was inducted into the expansive fleet of Dream Yacht Worldwide, becoming available for charters in Italy from April 2023.
Courtesy Dream Yacht Charters
Global Expansion: The Electric Vision
Angela Tuell, the spokesperson for Dream Yacht Worldwide, emphasizes their vision: “The plan is to have them (electric catamarans) everywhere, including the Caribbean.”
The Aura 51 Smart Electric isn’t just another catamaran. It’s an embodiment of innovation. Fountaine Pajot has furnished this model with state-of-the-art electric motors and a smart energy management system. Born from the collective genius of over 60 technicians, engineers, and electrical connoisseurs, the mission was clear — devise a zero-emissions propulsion energy system specifically crafted for the yachting realm. With the support of two potent lithium technology battery banks, the Aura 51 offers hours of motor cruising and up to a week of anchored relaxation, all sans emissions.
Looking Ahead: More Electric Ventures on the Horizon
The synergy between Dream Yacht Worldwide and Fountaine Pajot promises an electrifying future. By spring 2024, the Dream Yacht fleet anticipates welcoming over 22 electric yachts, encompassing 10 sailing catamarans and an additional 12 sailing yachts from the esteemed Dufour, a pivotal member of the Fountaine Pajot Group.
Back in the spring of 2017 I was fortunate to sail to the rarely visited island of Barbuda. Sadly, a few months later the island was hammered so hard by Hurricane Irma that every resident was evacuated to its sister island of Antigua. This was the first time in hundreds of years that the island was uninhabited. As we approach the six year anniversary of their hardship I want to focus this month’s Top 10 on Barbuda to celebrate the strides the locals have made in their recovery.
10.George Jeffery – Mr. George was my contact on the island and helped in every way possible. When we needed a water taxi across the lagoon from the anchorage off 11 Mile Beach to the town of Codrington, he was there. Frigate bird colony tour, check. A guide to the sinkhole, yep. Just general information, again he was the man. He can be reached at phone # 268-788-7067 or on the VHF with Garden of Eden call sign.
9. Codrington – This is the only settlement on the island and it sits on the lagoon instead of the ocean, making it impossible to get to it with the big boats. This is why a water taxi across the lagoon is needed. The cool thing about Barbuda is that the entire island is communally owned and has been since the day of emancipation. There is an elected council that everyone must get approval from before doing any improvements on the island, which in turn helps keep the island from being over developed.
Me On Beach
8.11 Mile Beach – As the name implies this beach goes on forever and it is absolutely gorgeous. When I was anchored off of it there might have been four boats all along the entire 11-mile stretch. The one caveat is not to be here if the north swell is rolling!
7.Bike Riding – There are several dirt roads around this flat island and a bike is the best way to explore the various sites. Besides a couple cars passing you, the only thing you have to worry about is the herds of goats getting in your way. 🙂
6.Highland House Ruin – From 1685 until the local slaves were emancipated in 1834, the entire island was owned by the Codrington family and used as a hunting retreat, to grow food for plantations on Antigua, and to sell slaves. Their great house is now the Highland House Ruins and it is worth poking around the foundations of the various buildings in this compound.
Gravenors Bay
5.Gravenors Bay – Another beautiful bay on the southern coast due to the coral and reefs. This is a great bay to weave your boat in behind some patch reefs and find even more seclusion. The bay is protected from the north swell and wind from the southeast and north. If you want to take the dinghy a mile or so further south there is a large reef to explore. Otherwise hop ashore and walk the trails among the scrub bush and wild sage.
4.The Highlands – A few paragraphs ago I said Barbuda is flat and that is true…except for the Highland, which is a large oval area that is jutted up around 115 feet. From a distance I simply found the geology and topography very interesting. On top it is as flat as the rest of the island and home to the next two entries.
3.Two Foot Bay Caves – A couple miles along the road heading east from Codrington you will come to Two Foot Bay. The beach is nice, but wild. Due to it being on the windward side of the island, my favorite part of this area is the caves. There is one cave called the Indian Cave that has a sand bottom, holes in the ceiling for light, and some cool rock formations. One of the formations looks like a giant skull you can enter. Another cave is a bit higher up the cliff forming the Highland and provides a great view out to sea. My favorite of the caves is an angled shaft that takes you from the beach up to the top of the Highland. Incredible!
Cave – To The Sea
2.Darby Sinkhole – The Highlands is a hot and scrub brush filled arid plateau, but in the middle is a sinkhole filled with palm trees. There is no way you are going to find this gem without a local guide, but it is worth it for the view across the hole. Going down into the sinkhole is otherworldly and feels as if you are entering The Lost World. All around the rim is a 60+ foot cliff protecting this oasis.
Darby Sink Hole
1.Frigate Bird Colony – When you add the largest frigate bird colony in the Caribbean with a remote island you get a must-see location. It is against the rules to go without a local guide, so we had Mr. George take us to the far end of the lagoon to see these amazing birds. He informed us of several facts. First, the males have a large football size red sack under their throats they use to court mates. Second, the young males and females are indistinguishable until their second year when the males’ heads change from white to black. Third, they cannot land on the water, so they usually steal fish from other species of birds.
Captain Shane & Lily are currently in the Western Caribbean checking out the north coast of Panama from the canal to historic forts to the San Blas Islands. Join the adventure at svGuidingLight on the web or social media!
“Where’s the best place you’ve ever sailed to?” is a frequent question that we circumnavigators get—especially during our fourth circ. The problem is that the question itself is too broad.
Let’s narrow it down so the answer has some merit.
My favorite ocean is the Indian because, one, it has lots of wind (the Tradewinds reached gale-force every afternoon of our 3,000-mile passage between Cocos Keeling and Reunion). And, two, because it has so few people.
Most circumnavigators love the Pacific, dig New Zealand, and have a blast with the decadence and moral vacuum of Thailand—but then storms and pirates? No, thanks!
I, of course, like storms. If not for storms, all the rummies lying about the bars of Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean would be out there floundering in deep ocean—instead of diligently working on their cirrhosis psychosis. Storm management is dead simple—and if you can’t figure it out, you’re dead.
Ocean storms are what separate the real men and their sturdy craft from the boys and their plastic toys.
I know one billionaire with two huge satellite domes on his mizzen who frantically pushes away the approaching storms on his computer screen with his cursor! Is that crazy or crazy? Instead, I tell myself the truth, I love the sailing life and have for the last 63 years of living aboard and ocean sailing. And, since storms are an integral part of my lifestyle, I love storms too.
Dayak Chief. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Few people have seen a mature full gale from the deck of a small boat—and very very very few for a second time. That’s why we circumnavigators have that demented gleam in our eye—who wouldn’t have after witnessing so much massive power so indifferently applied?
The Pacific, however, contains my favorite people—the sensuous Polynesians. Both the men and the women are utterly beautiful. In their laidback culture, children are sort of demigods. Yes, Poly kids have genetic parents—not to teach them so much as act as support crew. The kids, being half gods, get to pick and choose their everyday parents and the most respected adults in the village live in a hut with the most children.
After all, if the gods like it there—that’s a pretty powerful review, right?
Now Polynesian houses are one room, open-air affairs—and children are cherished. And, rightly so, the adults aren’t ashamed that they reproduce—especially while surrounded by the lovely, joyous results of their sexual labors. Thus, the children see their parents have sex almost daily.
So, a playground in Polynesian has kids pretending to be Spiderman, pretending to drive a car, pretending to shoot a gun—and, just as naturally, pretending to have sex.
Yes, it is a bit of a shock to repressed, guilt-ridden Westerners with puritanically trained eyes.
The most beautiful island/harbor in the world is Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas. My favorite anchorage is the Bay of Penises where boiling and cooling lava re-erupting caused giant, slightly-curved phallic-shaped rock columns to jut up from the harbor bottom. Some are so large that they have exclusive resorts on them. Amazing! (Hint: the people of Fatu Hiva are friendly if you don’t mess with their graves like young Thor Heyerdahl did.)
My favorite gravesite is nearby on Hiva Oa. I shoved a note between the crumbling rocks covering Paul Gaugin—reassuring him that the names of the religious fanatics persecuting him were now long forgotten, while he and his art will live forever. (His erotic carving on the walls of his hut are still faintly visible.)
New Zealand is one of the three places where I’d consider living that speaks English—Singapore and St. John USVI being the other two.
Certainly, in terms of engineering marvels, the Panama Canal takes the cake. Yes, a thirsty Paul Gaugin commanded a shovel here for a few months. At one point the malaria was so bad that no matter how many folks they hired to bury the mountains of dead—they’d die too.
Dayak bones or skull in religious Sky House. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Madagascar is stranger than strange. Even the Baobab trees look like tormented souls screaming at the heavens. The residents talk to their dead all the time—and various relatives follow them around whenever they leave their hut. Yes, the dead are, like big in Madagascar.
For example, a family came down and asked us if we could give them a cassette tape. I said, “Sure! What kind of music do you like?” They seemed puzzled. They didn’t have a cassette player and weren’t going to listen to it—they were going to use the tape for decoration.
Oh, and did we have any old tooth brushes we didn’t need?
Huh?
In a few days, because of a flat tire on the eldest son’s bike, they were having a family reunion. Did we want to come?
Flat tire? Yes, one son had had a flat tire and this younger brother had broken the strap on his flip-flops—so, of course, something must be done to stop the bad luck, right?
The family party was almost exactly like a Fourth of July party in the US. Only after the BBQ, they dug up all their dead relatives from behind their house, cleaned the mud off the bones with tooth brushes, and, finally, tied the unspooled cassette tapes in bows to decorate the bones in a very festive manner—well, to their eye, anyway.
In a different nearby village, we found all mud huts—with one guy building a cement block structure. I was impressed and started helping him and lending him tools.
“This is going to be a great place for you and your family to live,” I said one day.
He looked at me like I was nuts. “Are you crazy?” he asked me. “This isn’t my house! I’m only going to be alive for another ten years at most. This is my grave, Fatty. I’m going be in here forever. Of course, I want it nice!”
That makes sense… I guess.
Our favorite headhunters are the Dayaks of Borneo. The village that we anchored off had nine heads. The village across the way had (sadly) only three. Headhunting is now illegal, of course, but it is amazing how imaginative the city fathers are at dreaming up various reasons why so many local corpses lack anything above the shoulders. “Oh, he must have stupidly stood up while zooming under a bridge,” applies to almost every dead, headless fisherman they find floating.
Here’s how, FYI, to shrink a head. Carefully cut it away from the skull with a sharpened seashell, then sew the eyes and mouth closed. Next heat up some smooth rocks and coarse sand—not too hot, but hot enough—and pour in through the neck. Then immediately begin turning the head over in your hands—never stopping or the stationary heat will deform the facial features. Repeat many times over the course of the week or two.
Dayak village—note the long houses on stilts. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
The three keys—low heat, constant turning, and different-sized grains of sand.
The result is a perfect miniature face—with what appears to be artist’s paint brushes sticking out the nose. (Nostril hair doesn’t shrink, only the skin.)
Damn, you can’t say circumnavigating isn’t educational!
These head hunters were totally shocked that I wasn’t impressed with their hunting skills.
“That’s because you don’t understand the rules,” the chief of the village told me.
Huh? There are rules for headhunting?
Of course!
1. You can’t headhunt a crazy person.
2. You can’t headhunt a pregnant lady.
3. You can’t headhunt a sleeping person—however, you can gather around him with machetes, wake him up, and once he confirms that he’s awake, CHOP OFF HIS HEAD!
“Oh,” I said contritely, “that does sound quite reasonable!” (Hint: never piss off a dozen cannibal warriors in the middle of a jungle in Borneo!)
Papua New Guinea is almost as cool. If a stranger kills your father, you have a year to stage his funeral and then another year to kill a random member of the tribe that killed your father. (Don’t believe me? Just ask that dead Rockefeller boy—oh, wait, you can’t!)
Southeast Asia is currently my favorite cruising ground. It’s deserted, totally safe, and they have a reverence for the elderly. Everyone calls me uncle in respect—often touching their heart as they do so.
I currently live in a city of six million people called Singapore where I don’t lock my moored boat, my dinghy, or my expensive and computer-laden bike. Lunch costs $2.50 here and the food courts are bustling. Finding a communal table with an open seat isn’t easy. If you do find one, ladies leave their purse or gentleman their iPhones—before wandering through the crowd for five to ten minutes to find their food.
The last thing which might have been stolen at the Changi Sailing Club was in the early fifties—but was more likely the cockpit cushion being blown overboard in a squall, not stolen. (Nothing else has ‘gone missing’ in the ensuring 70 years or so.)
Of course, I dearly love St. Barth’s and Bequia too. And my finest carnival experience took place in Trinidad nearly 40 years ago. San Blas is out of this world as is the Galapagos. It’s impossible to exaggerate the tranquility of the Greek isles. Suakin, Sudan, in the Red Sea is like cruising aboard a time-machine. You can’t take a photograph that doesn’t look like it was taken in Biblical times.
Africa, of course, has a powerful allure—it is, after all, all our ancestral home.
St. Helena is amazing. Where else can you grab the guy from the French Embassy and end up bouncing on Napoleon’s death bed as he watches in abhorrence? (The bed is about four feet short!)
Sadly, I’ve never anchored off Pitcairn—which is something I look forward to during circ #5.
Actually, what is always my favorite port? The next one I’m sailing to—be it Pitcairn or Fiddler’s Green.
Editor’s note: this week Fatty gave an SRO $100/seat lecture in Bukit Batok to solicit charitable donations for the Singapore Sailability program, a program that allows wheelchair-bound sailors to sail/race together each weekend in the waters off Pulau Ubin.
Aqua Mania Adventures Raises Funds for Breast Cancer Awareness
October 4, 2023 – Simpson Bay, St. Maarten – Aqua Mania Adventures proudly hosted the 8th annual Pink Sunset Sail on September 30th, 2023, marking the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month. With over 150 attendees, the event aimed to raise funds and awareness for local foundations.
Achievements of the Pink Sunset Sail
This year, the sail collected $5,527 from ticket sales and a raffle. The proceeds will benefit the Elektralyets and Positive Foundations, organizations that champion breast cancer awareness and early detection in St. Maarten.
Event Highlights and Contributions
150 participants sailed on Aqua Mania’s catamaran, Tango, and Out Island Charter’s Eagle IV. They journeyed on a coastal sail, enjoying raffles with prizes donated by local businesses.
Michele Korteweg, from Aqua Mania Adventures, praised the support and enthusiasm seen at the event, emphasizing local business contributions and the educational potential of the Pink Sunset Sail.
The Pink Mixer preceded the sail, offering guests drinks and hors d’oeuvres, courtesy of Domino’s, ILTT, Captain D, and La Patrona. Awards were given for the Best Dressed, recognizing creativity in attendees’ outfits.
Korteweg expressed gratitude for the raffle’s success, crediting the immense support of the local community and businesses.
Breast Cancer Awareness Initiatives in October
Throughout October, collaborations between the Positive and Elektralyets Foundation, St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), and other partners will offer free screenings and mammograms, workshops, presentations, and educational resources. The Foundations are also relaunching a screening program for women, aiming to identify early-stage breast abnormalities.
Elektralyets Foundation President, Mercedes” Elektra “van der Waals-Wyatt, highlighted the importance of community engagement and education.
Shelly Alphonso, President of the Positive Foundation, emphasized the vital role of community businesses in supporting breast cancer awareness.
The 9th Pink Sunset Sail is slated for Saturday, October 5th, 2024, hosted by Aqua Mania Adventures. For more information on their year-round sails and trips, please visit www.stmaarten-activities.com.
The Positive and Elektralyets Foundations have a history of promoting breast cancer awareness since 1998. For more details about their October events, visit www.positivefoundationsxm.com.
The charter yacht community mourns the loss of one of its stalwarts, Frances David, who passed away on the morning of September 26, 2023. Despite her health setback from a stroke in 2018, Frances’s presence was always impactful. With her classic English wit, she’d throw remarks like “And your point is?” and then flash a reassuring smile, reminding all of her unwavering spirit.
Born in Surrey, Southern England, in 1950, Frances’s passion initially revolved around horses. She is survived by her brother, John Dyer. Upon her arrival in the BVI in 1981, Frances embarked on a journey that would cement her legacy in the Caribbean yacht industry. Initially working as a secretary at Island Gases, Frances soon recognized the need for a ‘Girl Friday’ secretarial service in Road Town, Tortola. This venture was the stepping stone to her establishing Caribbean Connections in 1985, a charter yacht clearinghouse that became an integral part of the flourishing charter industry.
Frances’s contributions to the Charter Yacht Brokers Association (CYBA) were invaluable. She played a pivotal role in setting guidelines for trustworthy charters. Besides her contributions to the charter industry, Frances was also recognized in other spheres. She was among the first trio of women inducted into the Rotary Club of the BVI, eventually rising to its presidency. Her leadership was also evident during her tenure as the Fund Raising Chairman for VISAR and her stint as the president from 1990-1991. Frances’s expertise was further sought as a board member of the BVI Hotel and Commerce Association.
Following the evolution of Caribbean Connections into CharterPort BVI in 2003, Frances’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to inaugurate Shoreside Services. This venture catered to Superyachts across the VI, Windward, and Leeward islands. Frances’s passion for yachting took her to global boat shows from Monaco to the Mediterranean, ensuring she was always in touch with the pulse of the industry.
In her professional journey, Frances lived her dream – one filled with travels, luxury yachts, and gourmet experiences. Her absence leaves a void in the yacht charter community, but her legacy remains undiminished. Frances David will forever sail in our memories, leaving behind a wake of inspiration and cherished memories.
Robin Pinfold is an energetic octogenarian who walks half marathons in the noon day sun. He is a nimble ole sailor who loves to sail, cook and be a part of his grandchildren’s colorful island life. He always has a story to share with us all, so I felt it was time to share his story with you.
I met Robin and his family when I was running Soper’s Hole Marina in West End Tortola, in 1989. His children Thomas and Tasha were very small and running around the marina all the time while daddy was daysailing KURALU the family home and day sailing business there. One day I heard a howl and little Thomas had managed to ride his bicycle off the quay into the warm clear waters of. the marina. He was not happy but that is another story.
Robin was born in Arbroath, Scotland, near Montrose on the east coast of Scotland. His father was a flying instructor for the RAF, so when his parents were abroad Robin went to boarding school, sailing was not an option at this time of his life.
It is rumored however, that his first dip in the sea as a small tyke was in the cold clear waters of Bude, near Cornwall.
Years later he went to Ibiza where his illustrious sailing career began. Once as mate on a motor sailor in the Bay of Biscay, his captain saw the barometer plummeting and calmly said ‘prepare to meet your maker’. Shortly thereafter Robin, who was off watch, awakened to a huge crash as the boat took a knock down which blew out the windows in the main salon, flooding the cabin. Using his adrenaline he tore the salon table from the cabin sole and used a Spanish windlass to lash it over the gaping holes to the keel stepped mast nearby. His quick thinking and actions earned him the respect of the captain and as I am told he was amply rewarded for his efforts.
Later, while a mate on a small daysailer in Ibiza, he happened upon ELELE at the dock there in 1981. The previous owner bought the boat to offer guests an ‘experience of a lifetime’ but soon lost interest and like so many vessels of distinction it languished at the dock. ELELE was built in 1901 and was a Whitstable Oyster Smack. She was a gaff rigged cutter, thirty nine foot on deck but fifty eight foot overall as the main boom overhung the stern by a yard and the pine bowsprit was an impressive nineteen foot over the bow. She was a versatile craft which Robin sailed for years.
While in Ibiza Robin met his future wife Caroline who became a master varnisher and an accomplished mate and partner.Over time, they met a Dutchman named Harm who owned a double ended schooner named GASTEN which resembled Noah’s Arc and they decided to cross the pond and sail to the Caribbean in 1983. Fond memories of rum, freshly baked bread and other pungent aromas from GASTEN still linger. Once in Antigua many of Robin’s mates decided to remain there, however Harm and Robin decided to sail on and ventured North to the Leeward Islands.
As years went by Robin sold ELELE and returned to Europe where he made the transition to faster and more modern watercraft. In fact when he entered the first ARC race with two hundred and fifteen boats at the start line, Robin was in a fleet of seven, thirty seven foot Snowgoose Prout catamarans, where Robin finished first in his class.
When Robin returned to the Leeward’s with his family in 1987 he was aboard Kuralu a larger Quasar forty nine foot Prout Cat, which was his new family’s home and business as a daysailer operating out of Soper’s Hole In West End, Tortola. He would prepare fresh quiches aboard while the guests snorkeled and made sure they were well cared for. In fact I’m told he received a five thousand dollar tip from a wealthy Venezuelan which has to be some sort of record in the daysail business.
That being said, Robin is worth every penny as he continues to surprise us all with his wit, humorous acumen, and colorful past and future here in the BVI.
She’s back! Florette, the 131-foot brigantine launched in 1921 by Italy’s famous Picchiotti Shipyard and one of the last wooden windjammers that still sails actively, will return to the Caribbean this winter. She’ll arrive in Barbados in December and offer one-week and multi-week charters for up to 22 guests in her 11 cabins while sailing between the islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Martinique until May 2024. The cost per berth or cabin is less than typical skippered charters where guests hire the whole boat, making this chance to blast into the past an affordable opportunity.
Setting Sail to the Caribbean
“Florette has sailed the Caribbean before and was stuck there during COVID but has not been back since. Unlike other charter vessels, she does not go to the Caribbean every winter. The family who owns and lives on the Florette want guests to experience different locations with them, so that is why they are now planning new adventures and destinations for 2024/25,” says Jo Downie, managing director for VentureSail Holidays who works with Florette.
Florette boasts a fascinating history. One particularly interesting chapter is her time spent as a Q/guard ship for the Italian Navy during World War II where she took part in the battle of Taranto. In September of 1943, she was stopped by the Germans who ordered her captain to return to the Port of Livorno where she would be loaded with ammunition for transport. Rather than help the enemy, the captain scuttled her the evening before during an air raid. Her masts were still showing in the fall of 1944 when the American military raised and restored her. In 2007, Ron Haynes Jr and his wife Nicole formed Historical Tall Ship Sailing Ltd and conducted a major rebuild. Today, Florette is home for the Haynes family, which includes two daughters they ‘ship school’ onboard, as they sail around the world with charter guests. www.svflorette.com
HeliFlite and IGY Marinas Kick Off a Strategic Partnership at the Yacht Haven Grande Miami
The partnership facilitates deluxe helicopter travel throughout Florida and the Bahamas for guests berthed at the Yacht Haven Grande Miami.
As of September 17, 2023, HeliFlite is excited to announce a strategic partnership with IGY Marinas’ exceptional Yacht Haven Grande Miami at Island Gardens, tucked away just inside the Miami Causeway. This seamless relationship brings together the best companies in their respective industries, providing clients with unmatched luxury in air travel and nautical tourism.
Unfurling Opportunities at Miami Seaplane Base
HeliFlite’s operational access to the recently modernized Miami Seaplane Base (X44), next door to the Yacht Haven Grande Miami, is the perfect convenience for its guests desiring timely, comfortable, enjoyable and safe point to point travel throughout Florida. In just minutes Yacht Haven Grande Miami guests can be on their way to a Miami Dolphins game, the Hard Rock Casino, Palm Beach, Disney World, the Polo Championship, Naples Winter Wine Festival, Key West, Nassau and more. At the conclusion of a day’s adventure, Yacht Haven Grande Miami guests will appreciate the short stroll back to the marina.
With HeliFlite, Yacht Haven Grande Miami will delight its guests with yet another superior amenity, embodying IGY Marinas’ philosophy to exceed customer expectations and “create IGY guests for life.” This collaboration kicks off at Yacht Haven Grande Miami with the plan to extend the partnership to additional IGY locations. Together, HeliFlite and Yacht Haven Grande Miami will redefine bespoke travel and hospitality experiences to and from Miami, Florida.
About HeliFlite
HeliFlite has been the leading, private helicopter service of choice, serving the Northeast, South Florida and destinations along the eastern seaboard for over 25 years with over 55,000 safe flying hours. HeliFlite owns and operates the largest selection of twin engine, dual-piloted, aircraft on the East Coast. With HeliFlite, your travel needs are served in a way that’s personalized, flexible and with an unrivaled travel experience.
IGY’s worldwide network of properties sets luxury standards for service and quality in nautical tourism. IGY has the only global portfolio of premium yachting destinations, serving over 8,000 annual customers at 23 marinas in 13 countries. IGY’s unprecedented collection of marinas in the U.S., Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America caters to a variety of vessel types and serves as the exclusive home port for many of the world’s largest superyachts.
The herald of a sustainable marine era is here with the completion of the first phase in the installation of 200 new secure Helix-type moorings across various bays in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This installation is now open for use by both local and visiting boaters, inclusive of private/recreational and commercial entities, set to be fully operational in the upcoming season. Discover the moorings locations live at boater.boatyball.com/map. This endeavor marks a fruitful private-public partnership between the non-profit Virgin Islands Professional Charter Association (VIPCA) and the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Boosting Marine Infrastructure and Employment Opportunities
Governor Albert Bryan expressed his gratitude towards the collaborative forces of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR), the Office of the Governor, and VIPCA. This project, fueled by a federal Economic Development Authority (USEDA) grant of $562,000 and supported by DPNR’s regulatory guidance, aims to invigorate the marine industry, create job openings through moorings maintenance, and ensure the protection of the territory’s underwater environment.
Embracing Tranquility: A catamaran nestled against the new Helix-type mooring system in the serene harbor off of St. Thomas. Credit-Steve-McCauley
Mooring Details and Usage Guidelines
Any marine vessel ranging from 1ft to 65ft, whether private/recreational or commercial, local or visiting, can utilize these moorings for up to 14 days. Blue-banded moorings cater to overnight stays at a fee of $35 per night, available online at BoatyBall. Whereas, yellow-banded moorings are designated for day-use at a donation of $10 per use, also payable online at BoatyBall. The generated fees are channeled towards third-party liability insurance and year-round maintenance of these moorings.
Community Support and Environment Preservation
The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) has generously extended grants totaling $175,000 to support this territorial-wide marine moorings project. This includes a $100,000 grant from the Fund for the Virgin Islands and a $75,000 grant for St. John moorings from the Friends and Family Fund for USVI Renewal.
Impact on Marine Ecology
VIPCA Executive Director, Oriel Blake, underscores the monumental benefits of this project. Unlike conventional anchoring that could potentially damage centuries-old corals, the Helix-shaped moorings only disrupt a 2-to-3-inch area on the seafloor. Additionally, the floatation buoy eliminates the destructive actions of lengthy anchor chains, preserving soft corals, seagrass, and the habitat of endangered sea turtles.
BoatyBall’s co-founder and CEO, Bob Wall, expresses pride in partnering with VIPCA to provide a simplified payment solution for boaters seeking maintained and insured moorings in the USVI. Through this partnership, a safer and environmentally-friendly mooring alternative to anchoring is now available to the boating community.
For further details about VIPCA and its programs, visit www.VIPCA.org, Email: info@vipca.org, or call (340) 642-0656.
There is no general recipe for a happy cruising life. Everyone has different predilections: a lonelyanchorage that seems a pristine paradise to one sailor may appear as a desolate wasteland to another. Some enjoy racing and being out on the ocean, others prefer to linger in anchorages or marinas. Therefore it is difficult to give advice to would-be-cruisers, but cruising all-year-round for eleven years, talking to fellow sailors and watching some crews succeed while others quit in frustration (or get a divorce or both), we have concluded that there are some general pillars on which a happy cruising life-style is based.
Realistic expectations The cruising life is more than daysails with a warm breeze on the beam, happy snorkeling in crystal-clear waters and cocktails on a sandy beach. It also means spending 24/7 confined in a small space, dealing with mechanical failures just with your onboard resources, facing foul weather, tricky anchorages and often unhelpful officials. Sometimes the challenges may feel overwhelming, but the beautiful sides of this alternative life-style make up for the annoyances (at least for us). Setting out with too high expectations can only end in disappointment.
Helmswoman. Photo By Birgit Hackl and Christian Feldbauer
Prepare yourself Doing sailing courses and accumulating miles is certainly a good idea for all crew members. But boating life requires more than just sailing skills. We need to be able to fix things or at least improvise solutions until a professional repair is necessary. Getting some knowledge about engines, electrical and electronic systems, plumbing, sewing, cooking—it’s not always necessary to do courses, but at least doing some reading and watching experts before setting out raises the self confidence immensely.
Know you can do it Having the right mindset is even more important. Sailing on an ocean, doing long passages as a short-handed crew means relying on each other. Out on the ocean we’re on our own and have to deal with whatever might come up. Reading tales of the cruising pioneers helps to put things into perspective: Hal Roth and his Margaret calmly tackling hair-raising emergencies. Lyn Pardey describing how they faced hurricanes in their tiny, engineless boat. The Smeetons didn’t panic just because their boat had lost the mast and was full of water in the Southern Ocean after doing a somersault. We are capable of much more than we think.
Make the dream yours Christian and I were lucky as we discovered sailing together and shared the dream of setting out towards the horizon. We have met many couples where only one partner was a sailor, while the other one was (reluctantly) dragged along without ever having the chance to gain more experience and confidence, resulting in general disharmony on the boat and finally deserting crew. Of course it’s hard for a skipper to watch the other one try a clumsy attempt at a maneuver, but nobody has ever learned without trying! On Pitufa each one of us has specialized tasks and duties the other one respects. E.g. I’m the helmswoman, so Christian wouldn’t try to take the wheel in a tricky situation, while I wouldn’t question his choice of an anchoring spot when he’s the lookout on the bow.
Keep learning We’re always eager to hear how other cruisers deal with situations and learn new techniques to enhance our system. A different way to store the dinghy or just a more energy-efficient method to cook rice—we’re open for improvements. We get the impression that some old salts are too stuck in their ways to contemplate new (and maybe quicker or more efficient) ways. For us cruising means learning that never ends, tackling new challenges and growing with them.
Keep busy Often people ask whether we don’t get bored living all-year-round on a boat. On the contrary, the days are never long enough to fit everything we want to do on top of what we have to do. We prefer to keep constantly up with maintenance instead of doing a repair-marathon once a year in a marina or boatyard. Firstly, it’s nicer to jump into turquoise waters after a dirty, sweaty project than to just dive straight into the next one without a break. Secondly, many issues turn from minor to major when ignored, e.g. a small seam repair can prevent major damage to a sail.
Many of the amenities we enjoy (fresh bread, yogurt, sprouts, a boat garden, self-brewed beer and ciders, etc.) are rather labor-intensive, but they enable us to spend lots of time autonomously in remote areas.
Sail work is men’s work on Pitufa. Photo By Birgit Hackl and Christian Feldbauer
Of course life can’t be all work and no play: we try to do at least one fun activity per day—going for a hike, taking the dinghy out for a snorkel or a sundowner on the beach. Being flexible and spontaneous is the key: in perfect weather and conditions we don’t hesitate, drop a project and head out to play with the fishies, as there are always enough gray days to keep up with tasks. We don’t mind the day of the week: any sunny day can be declared a lazy Sunday on Pitufa whereas a rainy Sunday may be the perfect time to change the seals on the toilet!
Birgit and Christian have been cruising on their S&S41 Pitufa for 11 years from the Med via the Atlantic and Caribbean to the South Pacific. Visit their blog www.pitufa.at for more info, follow SY Pitufa on facebook or order “Sailing Towards the Horizon,” the book about their journey, on amazon.com!
Puerto Rico has always been a beacon for cruisers, offering a blend of recreational and essential amenities. With attractions ranging from sightseeing to shopping and the essentials of chandleries and airports, Puerto Rico’s appeal is undeniable.
BIG Grant and Its Impact
Soon, finding a slip space in Fajardo’s sought-after east coast will be easier than ever. Marina Puerto Chico has collaborated with the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, securing a Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) totaling $1.137 million. This grant will pave the way for new dock construction, elevating transient dockage. A significant part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s BIG program, the grant is among the whopping $20 million earmarked for 2023, with a singular vision: enhancing marinas and related boating infrastructure, thereby promoting outdoor recreation.
With the grant’s backing, Marina Puerto Chico is set to unveil 41 slips. Among these, 19 will be transient slips, augmented by a floating wave attenuator. Designed to house boats of varying sizes, with a cap of 50 feet, the new slips promise versatility. But the expansion isn’t merely about numbers. Boaters can look forward to a slew of amenities, including:
A dedicated restroom/shower building
State-of-the-art sanitary pump-out facilities
An ADA-compliant gangway
A strategically located fuel dock
Further enhancing the marina’s resilience, the new docks, paired with the floating wave attenuator, are expected to mitigate wave and storm impacts. By targeting both local and out-of-state boaters for short-term stays, the marina’s expansion doesn’t step on the toes of local marinas focusing on long-term tenants.
Financial Backing and Future Prospects
Grand Caribbean Marinas, the proud owner of Marina Puerto Chico, is committed to the project’s success. They’ve pledged an additional $968,582, ensuring that the project sees the light of day.
Marlon Mellado, the driving force behind Grand Caribbean Marinas and a significant player in Puerto Rico’s marina landscape, pegged the project’s total estimated cost at $4.5 million as of January. Mellado believes this initiative marks a pivotal step in amplifying boating infrastructure while also boosting tourism in the Fajardo community.
In the scenic backdrop of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the global yacht charter market is on an unprecedented ascent. Projected to touch U.S. $11.06 billion by 2030, according to Fortuna Business Insights, luxury marine tourism is taking the world by storm. The local economic consequence? A whopping $88 million for the U.S. Virgin Islands’ marine charter industry.
This evolution in the marine industry isn’t merely about big numbers; it’s about images that resonate globally. Enter Mango Media, LLC, crowned as the official media company and Presenting Sponsor of the 2023 USVI Charter Yacht Show by none other than the esteemed Virgin Islands Professional Charter Association (VIPCA). With Mango Media’s breathtaking sea-and-shore photos, videos, print, and digital marketing campaigns, the U.S. Virgin Islands are placed prominently on the world yacht charter map.
USVI: The Yachting Capital
“The U.S. Virgin Islands is not just another spot on the map; it’s where charter yachts and business entrepreneurs converge. The upcoming USVI Charter Yacht Show in November is the place to be for charter brokers, yacht crews, and everyone who is anyone in the industry. Furthermore, come January 2024, we’re all set for the Virgin Islands Boating Exhibition (VIBE.vi),” states an elated Oriel Blake, VIPCA Executive Director.
What’s New? 3D Charter Yacht Photo Tours
Hailing from Yacht Haven Grande, Mango Media is revolutionizing yacht branding. How? By offering state-of-the-art 3D photo tours of yachts and creating custom websites complete with integrated booking platforms.
William Torrillo, owner and designer of Mango Media, expresses his enthusiasm, “The USVI Charter Yacht Show isn’t just another event; it’s a testament to the territory’s potential. After last year’s resounding success, we’re proud to sponsor the 2023 Show and the inaugural VIBE.”
Luxury sailing catamarans or large power yachts, the USVI Charter Yacht Show promises diversity. Exhibitors this year feature yachts like Outta Touch, a 105’ Intermarine, and Indulge II, a 90’ Ferretti.
Laurence DeBerry, owner of Indulge II, shares, “After a full year of refurbishing, we’re eager to present Indulge II’s upgrades to the Caribbean charter world.”
Register Now!
Yachts and brokers can register here. “The USVI Charter Yacht Show is the place where yacht charter brokers expand their horizons, from getting to know the crews to keeping up with industry trends,” says Lynne Campbell from Carefree Yacht Charters.
Membership with VIPCA isn’t just about free entry to the Show; it’s about the plethora of year-round benefits that come with it. Brokers can also avail discounted stays at Bluebeard’s Castle using the code ‘VIPCA Yacht Show’.
Our Gratitude to Our Sponsors
Our heartfelt thanks to our generous sponsors, including the USVI Department of Tourism, Yacht Haven Grande, IGY Marinas, Gowrie Group, Parts & Power Ltd., Mango Media, and many others.
Want More Info?
For further details on the USVI Charter Yacht Show, click here. For insights into the Virgin Islands Boating Expo (VIBE), visit vibe.vi. For all VIPCA related information, head over to www.VIPCA.org or drop an email at info@vipca.org or dial (340) 642-0656.
“Never trust a man who leaves his wood plane on its sole,” my father often told me. I grew up covered in wood chips and sanding dust in shipyards during the 1950s. Our medium was wood. We had no power tools—our extension cords were primarily for light bulbs. We were our own source of energy; our bodies, our brawn, our sturdy backs. And our vessels were the direct products of our muscles and, well, perhaps a few brain cells as well.
Take the lowly block plane, as example. We were careful with its blade, especially around used timber. If we hit a nail and nicked the blade, it would take a long time to grind, polish, and sharpen out.
Planes were all about the blade. That’s why we never set a plane on its sole—because continuously setting it on its fragile, thin cutting edge soon dulled it. And, of course, increased the chances of the blade getting nicked.
And, yes, nomenclature was important. Planes had soles, not bottoms or downsides. We knew that if we wanted to do precise work, we needed to have precise words to nurture it.
Sharpening the blade of a block plane was an art for two reasons. First, the blade had to be sharpened at the precise angle it was machined so it would be parallel with the sole.Second, it couldn’t be sharpened with a circular motion because that would, eventually, slightly round-the blade—making it more difficult to plane a truly flat surface.
Fatty replaced seven planks and 15 frames (and some of the deadwood) on Corina at 17 years of age
Silly? These tools-with-blades weren’t throw-aways. I still have planes I used with my father on the schooner Elizabeth (mid-1950s) and chisels my father used on the sloop Dorothy (late-1920s), nearly a hundred years ago.
We were so protective of our plane blades back in the day, that we carried in our toolbox a second plane with a damaged blade in case we had to plane some used timber that might have a hidden fastening lurking within.
Up until now, we’ve only mentioned small block planes—but there were also bench planes, jack planes, jointer planes, and more. Molding planes, intended to make multi-surfaced trim pieces often had numerous blades.
Want to shape your round spar? Then a compass plane with a curved blade (oh, what a bitch to sharpen!) was just the thing.
Bullnose planes could be finely adjusted and were great for delicate trim work. Rabid Filister planes had adjustable fences. If you wanted to prepare the edges of some Sitka Spruce for a glued box mast, a jointer plane was just the thing. And we haven’t even mentioned dovetail, router, chisel, or plow planes. Bench planes were called that because every shipwright had one on his work bench, within easy reach.
Even the lowly block plane came in two versions—a 20-degree angle blade for general application, a 12-degree blade for hardwoods like teak.
And some wood butchers (an affectionate name for a master carpenter) scoffed at metal. They had a whole tool chest of wooden-bodied planes with metal blades, but wood bodies. These were said to be ‘kinder to the surface’ and ‘less sticky.’
Fatty still has tools used to build this boat in 1930s. Aboard is his mother, Marie Goodlander
Yes, the soles of planes were sometimes waxed, especially if you were planning sappy, just-cut timber.
The wood itself was of utmost importance—the elm you’d steam for a deck beam was different than the oak you’d steam for a frame. (Boats don’t have ribs—and you’d be tossed out of a shipyard for such blasphemy.)
Mahogany was just soft and stable enough for planking—but not too soft, like the spruce that was perfect for spars.
Other considerations were: strength and rot resistance. Did the wood split at the fastenings? Did it warp? Could it hold paint? If the vessel was headed for the tropics, how did it stand up to teredo worms? Or, even worse, in some waters were the boring gribbles? (Great name for a marine rock group: the Boring Gribbles!)
For example: teak is wonderful because of its sturdy oils—which, alas, makes it a poor wood for laminating.
Everything on a boat is a compromise.
And we haven’t even talked about chisels. I still carry over a dozen on Ganesh—which is about half the number of different types in regular use when I was a child. Nowadays buyers at Walmart are usually limited to the flat chisel—good luck finding a firmer, mortise, paring, or construction chisel.
Yes, of course, paring chisels were used to gently pare joints. (Sounds quaint, doesn’t it?)
Fatty’s first vessel. Corina was built in 1932 out of Port Oxford cedar
And we haven’t gotten to a cold chisel yet—those were usually used on metal.
Shapes of chisels were important: flat, cross cut, side cut, round nose, diamond point, and cow mouth were common.
A close cousin to the chisel to a 1950s shipwright was a caulking iron.
Both chisels and caulking irons weren’t hit by hammers but rather hardwood mallets. These came in different varieties and weights. For carving, I used a large, round wooden shape—if made of Lignum Vitae, all the better. Rubber tipped hammers and bumping hammers were okay for chiseling, if the head was big enough.
Caulking mallets and irons were a ‘hole ‘nother story. I was taught to caulk seams by professionals at Rentner’s Boat Yard, every one of which had a large portable wooden bin with a long bar handle that he’d carry up onto the scaffolding with him while caulking. Inside were dozens of irons and at least six mallets.
Each seam varied in width. You caulked by sound, not sight and the wider the seam, the shorter the ‘tucks’ or ‘nips’ of cotton were. You didn’t fill the entire seam with cotton. You made the cotton into a tight ball towards the rear of the seam and used Woolsey’s seam compound to flush it out. (I still smell that seam compound in my dreams!)
That’s right—strands of cotton caulking were never laid upon each other. A single strand of cotton was used and the trick was getting the ‘packing’ tight yet not blowing out the inside edge of the seam.
If done right, the wood would squeeze around the cotton. When you removed a well-caulked plank, you’d be able to clearly see the round indentation of the cotton in the plank edges.
Caulking is nearly a lost art now in the West. Luckily, I can occasionally still hear the sound of mallets from Malaysia, where wooden boat building still thrives.
There’s a problem with wood—it is milled straight and flat but nothing on a boat is. I’ve Spanish-windlassed (wound two strands of wire with an inserted stick) my planks onto my frames. However, in the area where the garboard meets the horn timber, not only must the planks bend in, they must also twist.
Luckily, most shipyards in the 1950s had an old discarded metal/porcelain bathtub hanging around just for this purpose. We’d haul it near our vessel, fill it with water, then build a raging fire underneath. Next, we jammed heating ducts just above the water—and cover the whole mess with a tarpaulin, careful not to allow the tarred canvas to ignite.
Complicated? Difficult? Time-consuming?
You bet!
Then we’d slip our planks into those heating ducts and ‘cook’ them for just the right amount of time. Then we’d snatch them out and bend/twist them into place before they cooled.
On Corina, my 1932 Atkins double-ender, I steam-bent all my deck beams using a heavily constructed frame that was two inches greater than the crown of my deck. Once off the frame, the beams relaxed into the perfect crown. (Deck crowns are a whole different subject—just be aware that they are not a fair curve, even to this day.)
All this stuff wasn’t easy. It was fun to learn in the abstract but difficult to master in the practical. In fact, paying the deadwood seam on a wooden carvel vessel was so extremely difficult that the seam became widely known as the Devil.
This is where we get the saying, “…the devil to pay!”
And if a sailor falls overboard and starts drowning, he might be saved if still splashing on the surface—but he’s a goner if he’s ‘…between the Devil and the deep blue sea.”
I could, of course, go on and on. Drawspokes, anyone? Do you know how to swing an adze? Both were common in my day—as was splicing your own rigging wire, arming your own sounding lead with wax, and rocking the lower limb of the sun in your sextant mirror.
But if you added all of the skills above together, you could take on the second biggest challenge—to build a vessel from scratch.
I’ll never forget in 1971, after sending in my $25, unrolling the blueprints of a ferrocement Endurance 35 ketch, designed by Peter Ibold. Here were a dozen pieces of thin paper—and all my hopes and dreams within. Just paper. Nothing else. Just paper, mixed with dreams and irrigated with sweet sweat and grim determination. Three years later, we splashed. Three years after that, we sailed Carlotta across an ocean.
There’s nothing like that feeling. The poet John Masefield expressed boatbuilding best, “…built out of chaos, brought to law!”
If the Good Lord had taken me as I luffed up into Long Bay on St. Thomas, I’d have died a happy, fulfilled man.
So, dear reader, allow me the occasional secret smile of an old man.
Yesterday while dock strolling, I met an earnest young fella standing in the companionway of a Westsail 32. The Westsail is an extremely seaworthy design. Eight hundred and thirty were built during the ‘70s—from a discarded mold purchased cheap from the defunct Kendall Boat Corporation.
“Nice boat,” I said, being a great admirer of both William Atkins and Colin Archer.
“Thanks,” he said.
I started to move on but stopped when he said, “I built her.”
I wanted to keep going but could not.
“Really?” I said, and resisted the temptation to ask if he’d built her in the womb.
“Well, the original bare hull was built in California,” he said, “and a previous owner slapped together the interior—but when we got the ole gal she was a total mess! She needed new curtains, new chart plotter, new Bimini—hell, we even had to replace the refrigeration system!”
I looked at him. And nodded.
“Good on ya,” I said as I sauntered away, “Good on ya!”
Editor’s note: Cap’n Fatty has penned many books about cruising—ten of which are still in print.
We always say yes when friends tell us they have a unique rum and ask us to share it with them. It allows us to share our love of rum tasting with others while discovering new rums. Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel 2009 was a rum we’ve been looking forward to tasting.
The History of Don Q Rum
In a past Don Q article, we highlighted the Serrallés family’s arrival in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1820, and the production of the family’s first cask of rum using an imported copper pot still. The rum was distributed privately until 1934, when the Don Q brand, named after Don Quixote, was launched for general consumption. The company produced aged rums until 1978, when the popular Don Q Cristal was introduced.
Don Q is distilled from boiled sugar cane, producing molasses that retains 50% of the sugar from the cane juice. The unique 75-year-old yeast is used in fermentation to transform sugars into alcohol. The liquid is distilled five times in a continuous still to remove any impurities, then aged in oak barrels for up to a year per Puerto Rican law.
Special Releases from Don Q
In 2005, Don Q created a Signature Release Single Barrel using rum from their private stock, which is blended by the master distiller before going into charred American barrels to rest for 10 years. They continued the same in 2007, releasing nine years later and again in 2009, which was released in 2019.
A Shared Discovery
What began as a teaching moment with our friends led to discovering nuances our friends never knew rum had.
Our Review of Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel 2009
Initial Impressions
For a rum aged 10 years in charred oak barrels, we expect a deeper hue than the golden liquid that clung to the glasses, creating tiny lacing. On the nose, we immediately picked up caramel, with our friends noting a slight alcohol note. As we continued to explore and discuss, Terry noted golden raisins, while Clint noted vanilla. We all felt there was another fruit on the nose that we couldn’t define.
The Palate Experience
After a long, contemplative first sip, our friends noted how smooth the rum was, even with a slight alcohol burn on the palate. Clint liked that the notes on the palate were the same as the nose but with a hint of oak. As we took additional sips, Terry identified the mysterious fruit as dark cherries, and there was a debate about the ever-present spice. We concluded the char of the barrel created it.
But it was the finish where we greatly differed. Some had a harsh experience with the spice burning the throat, while Terry said the finish was a non-event, and Clint enjoyed the smooth and lasting finish.
Overall Assessment
Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel 2009 is a great rum to share and experience with novice and seasoned rum drinkers. The character and complexion allow everyone to notice the subtleties a fine rum can offer. At $50/bottle, this is definitely worth finding.
Prep time: 10 min. Marinating time: 30 min. or longer. Serves: 4 2 large ripe tomatoes, sliced 1 sweet white onion, thinly sliced Fresh chopped herbs, oregano, basil Apple Cider Vinegar Olive oil Salt and pepper
Layer onions and tomatoes in flat shallow dish, sprinkle with sugar. Add herbs. Pour over a little vinegar and oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
SHREDDED CARROTS WITH CILANTROAND FRESH LIME JUICE
Prep time: 10 min. Serves: 4 6 medium size carrots (about 1 lb) 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro Optional: Cooked shrimp
Peel and grate the carrots. Use either the large holes on a box grater or a medium fitting on a food process. Put the grated carrots in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the oil and lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the dressing and chopped cilantro to the carrots and toss.
Prep time: 10 min. Cooking time: 15 min. Cooling time: 20 min. Makes: 4 cups 2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 4 large ears corn) 1 Tbsp. canola oil 1 large onion, coarsely chopped (1 cup) 1 large green or red sweet pepper, coarsely chopped (1 cup) 1 fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped 1 cup chopped, peeled tomatoes 1/4 cup lime juice 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Cook corn kernels in enough lightly salted boiling water to cover for 3 minutes or until tender; drain. Let cool. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sweet pepper and jalapeño pepper. Cook until onion is tender but not brown. Stir in corn, tomatoes, lime- juice, salt, cumin, and black pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Let cool. Transfer to a storage container. Hint: Serve or cover and chill up to 1 week. Serve with chicken, pork, beef, etc.
Jan Robinson, Health Coach, Charter Yacht Consultant, CYBA Hall of Fame 2019, Chef Competition Coordinator/Judge, and author of the Ship to Shore Cookbook collection; available on Amazon or email CaptJan2@gmail.com
Crossing the great blue gauntlet of the Atlantic Ocean by sail is a bucket list challenge and triumph for many. But for Nini Champion and Lisa Roland, this feat is a been-there, done-that not once, but several times. In fact, the 30- and 31-year-old professional sailors together have 60,000 nautical miles under their belts. Now, they are ready to challenge themselves in a new way. In December, Champion and Roland as Team Ocean Grown will be one of 13 pairs teams to depart from La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, rowing their way 3000 miles transatlantic to Nelson’s Dockyard, in Antigua. The duo is not the first. The four-women Team Antigua Island Girls became the first all-female Caribbean team to complete this epic row in 2019. Four-men teams before them, Team Antigua in 2018 and Team Wadadli in 2015, completed the challenge too. But for 2023, the next line in the sand is a two-woman Caribbean-based team.
Why?
“We have both been so privileged to spend time working and living in Antigua, the iconic sailing destination which also serves as the finish line for the race. Each year, the community welcomes the rowers as they complete this incredible challenge, and for both of us, a seed was planted. As sailors, crossing an ocean by the power of wind is such a remarkable feat. The thought of crossing by your own strength, while intimidating and terrifying, is an exceptional new challenge. We each have our reasons for deciding to come together, but the strength to rise to such a challenge, the perseverance required to get to the start line, and the cooperation, determination, and raw endurance required to row an ocean was intoxicating. It was over a dinner with friends in February 2019 where we first discussed our mutual desire to race, and in November of 2020, Team Ocean Grown was born,” explains Champion.
Nini Champion and Lisa Roland at Pusser’s in Annapolis MD. Photos Courtesy Team Ocean Grown
A Wealth of On the Water Experience
Champion, a professional rigger, and Roland, a licensed captain, have nearly life-long personal and professional experience on the sea.
Champion grew up in Annapolis, MD, and did deliveries from here to the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, as well as her first transatlantic from Annapolis to Portugal by way of Bermuda and the Azores, with her family. For the last five years, she has worked as a professional sailor in positions such as a first mate, a rigging technician, and last summer as a rotational captain in Denmark. Earlier this year, Champion crewed aboard Antigua’s Bernie Wong’s RP 37, Taz, in the RORC 600.
Canadian-born Roland grew up sailing dinghies such as Sunfish, Optis and Lasers. She started her career at 19, working on the 75-foot wooden ketch, Mar II, as a day sailor out of Halifax. In her career, Roland has worked on tall ships, sport fishing vessels, and sailing yachts. She served as a successful captain for Dream Yacht Charters in locations across the globe. This led to jobs on private, internationally run yachts, including a transatlantic voyage from Antigua to Palma six years ago. Then, she was recruited back as a base manager for Dream Yacht at its St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands location. Roland also does a substantial amount of work in the superyacht industry on topics of diversity and inclusion. She’s delivered keynote addresses to industry leaders on the topic.
Lisa Roland at the
helm in her professional charter captain role. Photos Courtesy Team Ocean Grown
The Row
Teams in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge row transatlantic in a self-contained, self-sufficient rowboat. The Rannoch Adventure R25 is a two-person design with two rowing positions and two berths in its 24-foot of length and 5.5-foot beam. Teams row two hours on, two hours off, 24 hours a day from start to finish. Last year, a British duo set the record for two-women teams at 45 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes. Champion and Roland have based their vessel in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, where they are training. Preparing for the challenge has also included seeking out tips from other successful women rowers.
“One of the most valuable tips we’ve received was from the woman last year who set the fastest solo record to date for this race. She told us to be sure to eat. We’ll be provisioned with freeze-dried snack meals, but she warned us there is a huge temptation at the end of a two-hour shift to just curl up and sleep rather than trying to heat up and eat a meal in the rolling swell. But it’s important to stay fueled and hydrated,” says Champion.
On average, rowers lose 25 pounds during the 1.5 million oar strokes it takes to cross the Atlantic.
Nini Champion and Lisa Roland publicize Team Ocean Grown. Photos Courtesy Team Ocean Grown
The Give Back
Beyond the incredible challenge and self-building aspect of the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, teams are encouraged to choose and raise funds for a cause important to them. For Champion and Roland, this is their Bridges over Water grant fund. The fund will finance young adults who have aged out of the foster care system to gain entry to and pursue careers in the maritime industry. It’s a topic near and dear to Roland’s heart, having experienced the challenges of the foster care system firsthand.
“We wanted to use our row to create an initiative to further the opportunities of these at-risk youths,” says Roland, about helping the next generation by removing the financial barriers to enter, receive mentorship and job placement, and make successful careers for themselves in the marine sector.
The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge will depart on December 12, 2023. Champion and Roland, Team Ocean Grown, will be among a total of some 30 teams with members representing countries from around the world. Each team has a Yellow Brick tracker so it’s possible to watch their progress towards Antigua from the event website: www.worldstoughestrow.com To learn more about Team Ocean Grown, visit www.oceangrown.co
