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Moments and stories: Around the Americas I hope it is normal for someone of a certain age to vividly remember titles of books or headers in a drawer full of files and then notice some details, backstories and descriptions are a little fuzzy, or missing altogether. It could be the case that after

It had been years since I first sailed through the Guna Yala archipelago (formerly the San Blas Islands) with Sarah, Paige, and John Dalton aboard his catamaran, Blue Bamboo. We always said we’d come back, and being here again has been unexpectedly emotional. I hear Sarah and Paige’s laughter in

One Ocean finally made it to Bocas Del Toro, Panama, surfing in on an easterly wind and a string of squalls—right up to the channel entrance. We even managed to arrive with daylight to spare, which felt like winning a small lottery. Normally I’m grateful for our electronics when entering new ports

St. Croix to Panama We seem to be storm magnets — and flying-fish magnets… especially me. One Ocean has been surfing through gusts into the mid-40s with huge, heaving waves. Who knew the Caribbean Sea could throw punches like that? The “Christmas Winds” — the seasonal trades get stronger as the

We left Culebra with Antigua on the horizon and a clean plan: slip past the island, push out to the windward side of the Caribbean chain, and begin our long run south toward Uruguay. The trades had other plans. Predicted 15–17 knots became a relentless 20+ from the E/SE, gusting over 30. The seas

Check out the latest newsletter issue below: ATA November Newsletter

Still bruised from our crossing south across the Atlantic, Tess, Mark, Charley, and I had just about finished repairing One Ocean from the beating she took when I first heard whispers about a hurricane forming to the south. We were at dinner at Wahoo’s in St. George’s, Bermuda — celebrating our

All good sea tales start with “It was a dark and stormy night.” I know for certain of the One Ocean crew wished this tale would have none of those words. Unfortunately it does. My ties to the Skagit Valley College Marine Tech Center have been strong since my retirement. I was refitting all the

During our crossing from Lockeport, Nova Scotia to Bermuda, One Ocean and crew faced a storm that lasted 3 days with wind up to almost 70 knots and waves larger than their 48 foot ketch. This is a glimpse into what the team of four was dealing with while out there. I wrote this in a text to a friend

As I started this engineering report, we were docked in beautiful Nova Scotia at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. From the moment we arrived, we were met with such warmth and kindness that I almost forgot we were in a foreign port — these folks made it feel like home. The onboard engineer (that

I was first introduced to the concept of whale hunting in Nome, Alaska. The dock where One Ocean was tied up also served as a popular fishing spot for local kids. On a hot summer day, I found myself chatting with one of them who hadn’t had any luck fishing that day—I wanna say his name was Billy

The wind had been rising all night. I lay in my bunk, listening to the familiar hum of One Ocean’s hull slicing through the waves, but I couldn’t sleep. It was still two hours before my watch, yet the pitch of the wind told me conditions were changing. We’d been short-handed the night before, a