This time last year we were settled in Bahamas, drinking beers and enjoying conch, just after completing the first race of our winter season: The Nassau Cup Ocean Race. This year… not so much. Due to COVID-19 (and a relentless hurricane season), we clearly are not in the Bahamas, and instead we did as we … Read More
As we prepare to finally depart from St Maarten, after over two months ‘stuck’ in paradise, I can’t help but reminisce about the Caribbean racing season that came and went too soon. For us, the Caribbean 600 is a roaring start, immediately followed by the St Maarten Heineken Regatta in which we get into the … Read More
I write this on quarantine month two, beginning lockdown week four in St Maarten; it is Friday, April 24. The date matters because the situation develops seemingly by the hour at times. Just a month ago we were blissfully racing yachts around paradise by day and partying with 1,000s of international sailors by night — … Read More
This article was originally posted in Scuttlebutt Sailing News, January 16, 2020, and shared over 800 times. Thirty years after Maiden set off on a bold round-the-world race mission, a boat full of women still brings pause. Why are we still wowed by women sailing, and why has it not yet become a norm? This … Read More
Even the world’s solo sailors have teams behind them. Building an effective team can take years, something that professional teams spend millions of dollars in campaigns in attempt to create. But what happens when you have just a few short days to build a team; is it possible? Can a freshly formed team of strangers … Read More
This opinion might get me banned from some clubs, but I’m going to go ahead and say it anyway: Antigua-Bermuda is the better Bermuda Race. Now before you reach for the pitchforks and damn my ignorant youth, hear me out. Confession: I’ve never done any of the other Bermuda races, but I’ve done those passages … Read More
Never before had gangster rap been so inviting in St Barths. Familiar sounds and faces lured us to the deck of Summer Storm – a NYYC boat that was celebrating a week of bullets at Les Voiles de St Barth. Down below an empty magnum bottle of rosé, the team’s winnings, sat next to the … Read More
The Rolex Middle Sea Race Weather Briefing confirmed: it was going to be a wet and wild one. Race start was Saturday, October 20 from Malta, and we had the weekend to get acclimated before the Hell ride began. Light air and tacking around the south easter coast of Sicily separated us from the rest … Read More
As we hold our breath during this Hurricane Season, I look back on the regatta season we spent in the islands still reeling from last year’s catastrophic events. By the time Hermes made it down to the Leeward Islands, it had been about 6 months since Cat 5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the Caribbean. … Read More
Beached boats and debris beaches. Marinas that fell from grace, and those that rose from the ashes. Closed businesses, and open ones with no one to enjoy them. The US and British Virgin Islands had a tough recovery season, but a full come back wasn’t possible unless people… well… came back. (Read Part 1 here) … Read More