EDITOR’S LETTER
For our editor-in-chief, adventure is an endless voyage that takes many forms on the water, in the shipyards and beyond the horizon.
Ad v e n t u r e . The word conjures up myriad images. For some, it’s a singular event, such as climbing a peak or crossing an ocean. For others, it’s a lifetime of adrenaline rushes. ¶ In this issue, we look at yachts outfitted for adventure: one refitted to cruise Antarctica, and one built to search the world for novel-worthy pelagics. We also explore a growing trend in personal submarines, which yachtsmen are using to explore under the sea in luxury. ¶ All of these things are worthy of the name adventure, but for me, the term is open-ended. When I was 2 years old, my parents put me on our boat. I didn’t like the sound of the engines starting, but I enjoyed leaving the slip. Our adventures consisted of heading into the bay and drifting or dropping the hook. My parents would place me and my siblings in PFDs and tie us to the tuna-tower legs so we had the option of sitting on an engine box or walking around the cockpit, but so we couldn’t get close to the gunwale or reach over the side. ¶ By the time I was 9, our cruises went beyond the inlet and the sight of land. That’s when the hooks sunk into me. I found something relaxing about
When I was 2 years old, my parents put me on our boat. I didn’t like the sound of the engines starting, but I enjoyed leaving the slip.
watching the coastline disappear into the wake and seeing only the next horizon ahead. ¶ During college, my brother and I would venture to the northeast canyons on charter boats or as crew for private owners to see what was beyond the range of my dad’s boat. We had some memorable adventures in the deep, ranging from epic fish battles to sagalike weather yarns. Each trip left me both satisfied and yearning to do and see more. ¶ In my late 20s, I found myself covering the marine industry as a journalist. And during the past two decades, the adventure has continued in amazing ways. I’ve cruised the fjords in Sweden. Run a 96-footer off Tangalooma Island in Australia. Experienced the rough water in the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Skirted a hurricane off the mid-Atlantic. Cruised the British Virgin Islands and snorkeled the teeming reefs off Anegada. Watched a 350-foot superyacht being built. Fished for marlin in the waters off Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Been aboard hundreds of yachts of all shapes and sizes. And so many more—and so many more to go. ¶ What will your next adventure be? It doesn’t matter if it’s the local bay or a far-flung destination. The important part is to go.