In all my chats with captains and crew about destinations and cruising grounds, most everyone wants -- at least once in their career -- to cruise the South Pacific.

There are captains and yachts that never leave there, of course, but in this great shifting world of yachting, a couple have crossed my path recently.

Capt. Paul Stengel has taken command of the 135-foot Feadship M/Y Odyssey and is in Tahiti as I write this. It’s his first time in Tahiti, and he’s enjoying the newness of it all. He took the yacht cross on its own bottom, moving slowly into the place instead being dumped there all at once by an airplane. 

(Call me crazy, but I believe it makes a difference. Capt. Winston Joyce-Clarke of the 45m expedition yacht M/Y Big Fish first told me of that theory in our chat about his trip to Antarctica. He and the crew took a month to get there and were adapted and slowed down enough to appreciate it. Unlike guests or perhaps even crew who fly in in less than a day.)

Anyway, the yacht had an 18-month refit in Holland and spent five months in Lauderdale before Stengel joined the yacht and took it to the South Pacific. He’s hoping to turn the yacht -- the old Bullish, which was 125 feet before the refit -- into a busy charter yacht based out of Papeete.

“I have a great crew and we are looking forward to having some great times with guests and owners here,” he wrote in a recent e-mail.

I last saw Capt. Stengel at the Palm Beach International Boat Show, flashing his great smile to people checking out the 124-foot Delta M/Y Sea Owl. He was happy there, too. It wouldn’t be three weeks later that he was heading for Tahiti.

Here’s hoping for a Triton spotter soon.

As one captain goes to the South Pacific, another has returned. Capt. Michael “Murph” Murphy left his last command in the South Pacific in November after two seasons in Australia and was back in Ft. Lauderdale this summer, refitting a condo for some land time. He planned to finish that refit before finding another yacht, but the yacht found him first.

Starting Sept. 1, he’s the new captain of the 140-foot Broward M/Y Just Enough.

In some news a little closer to home, Capt. Paul Knox and his wife, Lo-ami Knox, of M/Y Huntress have announced the launch of their son, Pieter Warner Knox, born on July 28 in Savannah, Ga.,

The birth announcement included more nautical references, including LOA (20 inches) and Gross Tonnage (6 lbs 12 oz.). Sorry, it’s still cute. 

And in some news even close to home, I have a 26-foot Herreshoff Eagle sitting in my front yard. Yup, I’m the proud owner (with my husband, David, and daughter, Kenna) of a sailboat. Allow me just this one moment to sound like I know what I’m talking about:

It’s a gaff-rigged schooner, complete with her topsail, original brass and kerosene running lights, barn-door rudder, and teak bright work. She has a full keel and we’ll keep her name, Skater. The gentleman we bought her from is the original owner. Built in 1974, we think it’s Hull No. 7.

Can you tell I’m excited? It’s been torture to be on deadline (at my desk too many hours each day) when I have a sailboat in my driveway.

She needs some basic cosmetic work (varnish lessons, anyone?) but basically she’s perfect and ready to go sailing. I think I’m calling in sick tomorrow.

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 lucy@the-triton.com.

About the Author

Lucy Chabot Reed

Editor

Lucy Chabot Reed is editor of The Triton.