I have been sailing on the Chesapeake Bay as long as I can remember. Growing up, trips to Havre de Grace, MD were the norm. Most of my memories are on my parents Sabre 28, now I am making memories with my own family aboard out Beneteau 50, Sol Searcher. In a previous life, I started a company doing validation work in the pharmaceautical/biotech/medical device world. Primarily servicing the need of these companies to comply with FDA regulations. Essentially creating the testing protocols and documentation to verify facilites/equipment, processes, cleaning, and computer systems could produce the desired product. That sounds sexier than it is, but I didn’t want to just skip over 15 years of my life. Chasing clients, dealing with employees, shareholder disagreements…it seized to be fine, I moved on. Starting small, sunfish, el toro, hobie cats, I never did take a sailing class. I learned everything early on from my dad. I never remember a contractor coming to our home or working on the boat. My dad fixed everything. Those hobie cats were other peoples yard pediments. One had a hole in the side and clearly would not float. Learning fiberglass is a necessity if you are young and broke. Precision 23, Grady White 25, I don’t discriminate power boats are fun too. As I got older, the boats become more complex, more electronics bigger engines. Sabre 38mkII, my dream boat. I loved this boat. New sails, full electronic installation, pull and rebuild engine, I even taught myself how to sew canvas. I would sail her up and down the east coast twice. So what? So I did this all through my own love of sailing, being on the water. Along the way I got a 50ton master license, I’ve taken both ABYC and NMEA courses. Sailed with a very competitive J/109 team, and I can say I learned a lot with them. I take charters on my own boat as well as others, do deliveries on the east coast, and work with owners honing their skills. And yes, the boat is even more complicated maintaining generators, bow thrusters, air conditioning systems, AIS…. I love people, and I work well with people to shorten the time between now and attaining their dream. Mitigating mistakes and downtime along the way is key to getting there, where ever there may be.