Yacht crew race, rest and retire

Jul 31, 2013 by Lucy Chabot Reed

Ah summer, traditionally a time for relaxing and playing outdoors.



Yacht captains and crew know that all too well because it’s other people’s holidays that keep them busy this time of year.



But for the rest of us, summer is an excuse to slow time, take some time off, and relax.



Unless you are Capt. Grant Maughan.



I can’t seem to stop writing about Capt. Maughan of M/Y Turmoil because every few months or so, he does something that makes me shake my head.



In April, he ran three marathons to help raise money for the three people killed in the Boston Marathon bombings, all that just a week after completing the Boston Marathon.



He’s no stranger to running 100 miles in a week. Heck, he can do it in a day. And in July, he ran the Badwater 135, an ultramarathon through California’s Death Valley where temperatures can reach 120 degrees and sand storms blow through without warning.



That alone didn’t really spark my “unbelievable” reaction. I’ve known Capt. Maughan to run 160 miles through a desert. But that race took him seven days, when he was able to sleep and eat each night. In Badwater, there was none of that, just 135 miles through the desert.



He finished second overall at a time of 24 hours, 55 minutes.



Yeah, that’s what I said, too. Wow.



Then he said he was doing the double, returning to the top of Mt. Whitney a few days later to run back to the start.



Yeah, that’s what I said, too. What?



Took him a little bit longer, but when last we corresponded, he was resting. I can’t wait to see what he does next. (We here at The Triton think he’s got a little bit of alien in him.)



On a not so extreme scale but pretty amazing nonetheless, Capt. Kay Marschke completed an Ironman competition in May. While he was too modest to offer many details, he did do well enough to qualify for the legendary Ironman world championships in Hawaii this fall.



The yacht he worked on for 10 years, M/Y Dancing Milly, has since sold and he was interviewing for another job this summer. Good luck finding the perfect fit.



When I take time off in summer, I head north to find mountains but I’m never too far away from the chance to get out on the water. And wouldn’t you know it? I ran into a yachtie.



After a pleasant Newport Charter Yacht Show in late June, my family took our little camper and headed out on the road. We wound up in Kennebunkport, Maine, where we took one of those tourist trips on a lobster boat.



 

We had a pleasant two-hour trip on the 1963 mahogany Rugosa, now run by Capt. Bob Danzilo, formerly of the 100-foot Broward M/Y Crown Jewel that was based at Ocean Reef.



Capt. Danzilo went north to retire, but as many yachties know, “retire” is sort of a loose term when it comes to boats. The captain of a sailing yacht asked Danzilo to help out on his lobster  boat for a month or so and of course, he did.



When that ended, the sailing captain suggested Danzilo buy the boat and the business. So he did that, too.

Capt. Danzilo now takes three groups of visitors out on Kennebunkport’s waters each day, explaining the lobster industry and driving guests around to get a look at the Bush family compound.

Yachting. We just can’t escape it.


Have you made an adjustment in your latitude recently? Let us know. Send news of your promotion, change of yachts or career, or personal accomplishments to Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at [email protected].

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About Lucy Chabot Reed

Lucy Chabot Reed is publisher and founding editor of The Triton.

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