About
Some people might say ‘one man/woman’s trash is another man/woman’s treasure.’ Now I’m not calling Drew or myself trash. Far from it! But a mere two years ago we could have easily felt like nothing more than that when we were “discarded” by our then partners. Neither of us knew each other at the time. The only thing I knew of Drew was that MY boyfriend had just left me for HIS wife. Yeah, it sucked. A few months of “keep your head up, the days will get brighter” emails between two strangers, both trying to deal with very heavy hearts, led us to each other. Against the better judgment of most friends and family, we decided to meet for beers one day and the rest you can say is…history!
I walked into Poe’s Tavern on Sullivans Island in Charleston that Friday, spring afternoon, took one look at him and knew that I was in trouble : ) We never looked back from that moment on. That summer, the days were spent cruising the harbors of Chucktown with great friends on his dad’s sportfisher, Summertime. Many nights were filled with beers, talking, and picking through the whys and what ifs of life. On the good days we sipped, and on the occasional bad days, we chugged. Nonetheless, from day one it felt like we were two lifelong friends catching up on lost time.
Later that fall Drew was scheduled to return back to South America to Dosia around October. Lucky for me, it was another nine months before he actually put those miles between us. Throughout this time, you can imagine, I was all too curious as to what this sailing lifestyle was like that he had been experiencing prior to “dump day.” We did not have a clue what the future had in store for us. What we did know was that whatever the deck was dealing, we wanted to play the hand together.
Tons of planning and two months of not seeing each other later, I arrived in the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific to get a taste of my own of life on the open water. The bug quickly bit and here we are today, planning the second leg of our journey. We are so incredibly excited to have the blog up and running again as a means of staying in touch with family, friends, and hopefully welcoming new followers as well!
DREW’S STORY
I didn’t come from a long line of bluewater sailors and there’s no pirate in my ancestry. To tell you the truth, I don’t know when all this sailing, crossing oceans thing started or where it even came from. Although I didn’t grow up on the water, I spent most of my summer weekends as a kid on the North Carolina coast and much of that time I was in the water. Somewhere along the way I became infatuated with oceanography and marine biology so the day I turned twelve, having already taken the course and passed the test, we sent off for my PADI dive certification. I spent a few summers mating on boats and diving the Graveyard of the Atlantic in my teens. Maybe I went wrong one day at the magazine rack and came home with a Cruising World instead of a Sport Diver. I don’t know but by nineteen I was ready to drop out of the University of Miami Marine Bio Program and move aboard a sailboat (I was in love with the Willard 30 Motorsailor). My parents were thrilled. I had no money, no sailboat, and not a clue how to sail but I knew what I wanted and the desire never left. We worked out a deal to keep me in school. I moved to Charleston and took a couple of short sailing trips during my remaining years. Somehow I got myself into a semester at sea program to keep the dream alive. After five years of high school and five years of college I finally had me an education which means I’d made good on my end of the bargain with dad. It was time to find myself a boat. In what can only be described as the most uneducated impulse buy ever, I found myself knee deep in epoxy with Dosia. She was cheap but she wasn’t a bargain. I landed a job in the purchasing department at an online sailing retailer with generous employee benefits. With that hookup, it only took 3 years to turn her into a proper cruising yacht. People ask how I learned to sail or how I know about fixin boats, I tell ’em “the internet.” By the way, this blog isn’t new. This is the new version of it. The old one is still out there. If you want to know that story, google me. Any other questions…send an email
Favorite Movie : Cocktail
Favorite song : “Shine” by Lil Wayne
Favorite TV shows : Lost and No Reservations w/ Anthony Bourdain
Favorite Food : NY Pizza
Quote : “Joey doesn’t share food” from Friends
Dream Boats : Hallberg Rassy 62, Prout 69S Cat, 80′ Classic Steel Schooner
Dream Girl : the Marginator
MARGIE’S STORY
Hello (English), Ia Orana (Tahitian), Bonjour (French), Hi Y’all (the deep south)! The few ways I’ve learned to greet people in my minimal travels. Originally from the grand state of Georgia where I spent the first eighteen years of my life. Moved to Florida for two years to become a “professional” sunflower seed spitter/college softball player. Afterwards I returned to Athens to finish school at the University of Georgia. In the midst of slinging drinks as a bartender for four years and cheering on the dawgs on Saturdays, I somehow managed to sneak out of UGA with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism. Never been one to sit still for too long so eventually I wanted a change and people kept talking about this amazing city called Charleston in South Carolina. So I went and quickly fell in love. Hands down one of the greatest cities in the world. Got my real estate license and again pulled doubles between the food and beverage industry and working for a real estate development company. In the midst of it all, I met Drew and fell in love all over again in a different kind of way. It has been almost two years since we met and it’s like seeing the world through a completely new set of eyes. Last fall in my first two months of not only being on Drew’s sailboat, but a sailboat PERIOD, I divided my time evenly between being awestruck and being aggravated. We’ll just say the bathroom on the boat saw many of my tears in my first ever (longest was six day) sail on the open water. But now that Dosia and I have gotten to know one another, I am ready to add a few more foreign hellos to my list!
