Boat Focus - Ocean Navigator

Boat Focus: Sorcerer II

Explorations of the globe under sail, like Darwin’s voyage aboard the ship Beagle and the voyage of the Royal Navy ship Challenger in the 1870s, were scientific milestones that greatly increased our knowledge of the planet. For biological scientist and lifelong sailor Dr. J. Craig Venter those passages provided a major inspiration for his extensive voyaging aboard his 95-foot sloop Sorcerer II. On two separate expeditions Venter, along with a group of fellow scientists and Sorcerer II’s crew, gathered biological samples from the world’s oceans. Sorcerer II sailed more than 65,000 miles and harvested a vast biological trove that is…

Boat Focus: Translated 9

When you’re preparing to sail in a race that hearkens back to an earlier age, a time when the equipment of the average ocean going yacht was much simpler, it makes sense to look for a boat that was a star of that era. When Marco Trombetti and Isabelle Andrieu, co-founders of the international translation company Translated, looked for a boat to sail in the fully-crewed Ocean Globe Race 2023, they chose a Swan 65 with a globe-girdling pedigree: ADC Accutrac was once owned and raced by British sailor Clair Francis. Aboard ADC Accutrac, Francis and crew finished fifth in…

Starr

Not many power voyaging vessels put 100,000 sea miles under their keels — a figure that includes multiple Pacific crossings. For the Northern Marine 75 Starr, owned by Don and Sharry Stabbert, that kind of mileage has become routine as the Stabberts have voyaged to more than 18 countries around the world. Starr was designed by Steve Seaton and built in Anacortes Washington in 1997. The 100-ton power voyager is currently homeported in Hawaii and Seattle. The Stabberts have owned a variety of boats, from a 17-foot Thistle sailing dinghy to a Cal 40 sailboat to 47-foot Bill Garden-designed trawler. Based in…

Twelve-Winded Sky

The prospect of racing a boat 2,000 miles from California to Hawaii can take an owner’s list of desired boat upgrades and make it considerably longer. That was the case for Mark Jordan’s Hanse 342 Twelve-Winded Sky, which is slated to start the Pacific Cup on July 4 (Ocean Navigator is a cosponsor of the 2022 PacCup). Jordan and his race partner, Randy Leasure, who will race together on Twelve-Winded Sky in the double-handed division, launched into an extensive series of refits and improvements to get Twelve-Winded Sky ready for the race. Jordan, who has been sailing for nearly 40…

Daybreak

A power voyaging boat with impressive passage-making “legs,” the Nordhavn 68, Daybreak, launched in 2021 and owned by Karen and Jerome Fisher, can easily voyage to far destinations. Daybreak is the Fisher’s second Nordhavn, the first was a Nordhavn 60 — also named Daybreak. The name is based on the first commercial fishing boat on which Jerome worked and the Fishers have re-used that name on multiple vessels. Aboard their Nordhavn 60 the couple voyaged south to Baja and north to Alaska and as far afield as New Zealand. According to Jerome, this bluewater capability was one of the reasons they purchased…

Arctic Earth

The vessel’s aluminum hull, lifting keel and swing up rudder aid it in dealing with northern ice. Some vessels just look the part and that’s certainly the case for the 56-foot aluminum expedition sloop Arctic Earth. Based in Camden, Maine, Arctic Earth is a vessel designed and outfitted to sail to high latitudes. The boat is operated by David Conover and Compass Light Productions, a documentary film company focused on science and environmental content and specially tuned to Arctic issues. Compass Light has produced more than 600 films for outlets like Discovery Channel, Science Channel, PBS Nova and more. A…