It all probably started 3-4 years ago when I started to watch Mike Beemer’s Tech Tips on the Skagit Valley College/ Marine Tech Program’s “Scallywags” YouTube Channel (highly recommended by the way). So, after owning sailboats (3), plus cruising and racing in and around the Salish Sea for 40+ years, I had suddenly found myself “boatless in Anacortes”…..a somewhat strange, new and hollow feeling in a town surrounded by water, boats, sailors and a vibrant marine industry. Then about a year ago, Mike made reference to “Volunteer Charley” in one of his regular YouTube videos (a guy I have now come to know well).
Given that, I marched on down to the Marine Tech Center in Anacortes (MTC) and talked to Mike to see what volunteer opportunities might be available. After all, I was always a DIY boat owner myself and had worked on plenty of friend’s boats too, something I actually enjoyed doing almost as much as sailing (weird, eh?). That’s when Mike filled me in on this “little project” he had starting in the fall of 2024 that might need some volunteers, i.e., the One Ocean project. Mike pretty much had me committed with the words “sailboat re-fit”, but it soon became apparent that this “little project” was anything but little and a serious challenge given the extent of the planned re-fit and the timeframe (7 months). I’ll spare you all the details of the re-fit but they’re all out there in previous One Ocean Blogs and Videos plus the aforementioned Scallywags channel.
So, considering myself an “active” retiree and sailor with a serious boat withdrawal problem, I signed on to help out. Although I didn’t realize the effort I’d ultimately put in, it became one of the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve ever done. First and foremost, getting to know the full One Ocean crew, Mike, Mark, Jenn, Tess, and Grace, plus the MTC staff, students and other volunteers was absolutely great, all of whom I now consider close friends as part of the One Ocean and MTC Scallywag community.
The volunteer work experience, at times, required some long days in addition to the rigors of working in tight spaces most of which were not designed to fit a human life form.
But, at the end of day things got done, and we all came back for more the next day until One Ocean set out from Anacortes on May 3, 2025.
In my professional life as a consulting engineer and project manager, I’ve worked with and observed hundreds of project teams, so believe me when I say the One Ocean crew, volunteers and MTC staff was/is one of the most competent, hard working, dedicated and committed groups I have ever worked with…..and they’re all gosh darn nice people to boot!
So, after eights months working on One Ocean, and observing their (now) four month trip to and through the Northwest passage, here I sit, September 13, 2025, on One Ocean, sailing from Pond Inlet, Nunavut, Canada to Halifax, Nova Scotia having answered Mark Schrader’s call to crew for a leg of their trip “Around the Americas”, a leg of some 2100 nautical miles (nm).
For a committed sailor, these opportunities don’t come along every day, so with a supportive spouse in Anacortes, it became a no-brainer for me and I signed on. To add some additional perspective to the trip, I did a Victoria, BC to Maui, Hawaii race many years ago, a 2300 nm trip.
So far, my leg of the trip has gone very well. Getting to Pond Inlet was no easy task, but the Baffin Island coast scenery is nothing short of stunning; the icebergs are large and truly impressive (and fortunately, relatively easy to identify and dodge);
the ship’s cuisine exceptional and the crew well fed;
the boat’s systems all performing and well maintained; the ship’s library well stocked; and the accommodations underway very comfortable…..all thanks to the outstanding One Ocean crew! Wishing them all fair winds and smooth sailing for the remaining 10 months of the One Ocean mission.
Bob Rosain