Good Old Boat Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022

Sailor Profile

While Nathan worked to earn his licenses to become a delivery captain, Vivian worked to develop skills across all aspects of the professional yacht world. She started as a stewardess, became a deckhand, upgraded to a mate, and eventually flew to Palma de Mallorca to complete a yacht cooking course, letting her take work as a chef. She took courses to qualify her for all the basic requirements of working on luxury yachts including STCW, a five-day, safety-at-sea training focusing on fire- fighting, life raft deployment, swimming, and first aid. A job as first mate on a 108-foot yacht sounds glam, but it was, Vivian says, “the most physically demanding job I’ve ever had. But I enjoyed the challenge. I wanted to learn. I wanted to know how to effectively sail, maintain, and repair everything on the boat. I wanted to make sure I know how to deal with any situation that arises at sea.” Responsible for mainte- nance above and below deck, Vivian polished stainless fittings until her fingers bled. “Motor yachts have to be clean, shiny, and sparkling, along with their tenders,” she

and repainted it from end to end. I spent countless hours in bilges finding and fixing leaks, scrubbing, fixing broken mounts and pumps, and running hoses. Above deck there was endless polishing of brightwork, sanding, taping, and varnishing. And then, when guests or owners were aboard, I had to do all those things while wearing a clean white polo shirt—plus launching jet skis, paddleboards, fishing and diving gear, and all the other water toys.” Between seasonal gigs on yachts, Vivian would join Nathan on deliveries to gain more sailing experience. Over five years, she sailed on more than a dozen deliveries— including a transatlantic on a Helia 44—and worked as crew on another dozen vessels, racking up over 30,000 nautical miles on boats and yachts from 37 to 150 feet. Once Nathan earned his licenses, the teambegan double- handing boats between the Caribbean and the United States and up and down the East Coast. In 2019, they achieved their goal of owning their own boat when they bought a 1981 Angelo

Lavranos-designed Compass 47, built in South Africa. “We found her on the hard in Cambridge, Maryland,” Vivian says. “The engine was brand new, only eight hours on it. But everything else needed to be replaced or fixed. We took off old standing and running rigging and replaced it with new. She had no working electronics, so we rewired and installed a new depth gauge, wind instruments, VHF, autopilot, AIS, and solar.” Over a year, they meticu- lously restored and upgraded Ultima in preparation for launching their sail training business, Ocean Passages. In this, they had found a powerful mentor along the way. Vivian had met John Kretschmer’s

Ultima underway in the Virgin Islands, at right. Photo by John Kretschmer.

wife and sailing partner, Tadji, after replying to a comment on her Facebook page; both Nathan and Vivian were fans of John’s books. “When Nathan returned from the United Kingdom after finishing up his Royal Yachting Association Yachtmaster Offshore training, they came to our Christmas party, and a fast friendship took root,” John says. “When we decided to expand our offshore sail training busi- ness, we knew that Nathan and Vivian were the perfect couple to work with.We were attracted by their sheer hard work and

tireless dedication to upgrading every aspect of their sailing and seaman- ship skills. They’ve done the hard work of logging miles, deep ocean miles aboard a variety of different boats and have become highly accomplished sailors along the way.” Helping the bringing them into his own successful enterprise, John has been a driving force, believing in Vivian and Nathan young couple develop their business and

laughs. “When I wasn’t cleaning, there were anchor windlasses to be refurbished, LED lights to be replaced, VHFs to be rewired, and new electronics to be installed. I stripped paint in the engine room (L to R) Rob, Nathan, Lee, and Michael with Vivian on a training passage from Maryland to the U.S. Virgin Islands via Bermuda. Photo courtesy Ocean Passages.

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