  JoeRobertJr
|
Last Activity: 07-06-2025 08:15
About Me
- About JoeRobertJr
- Vessel Make/ model
- Mariner 39
- Vessel Name
- Rudbeckia
- Location
- Rock Hall, MD
- Occupation
- Circuit Designer
- Biography
- Currently preparing for offshore cruising.
I first learned to sail as a young teen in the Boy Scouts. That hooked me for good. In high school, I bought my own small sailboat, a 13' Zuma with a radial rig. I sailed that on Canandaigua Lake, NY, and the Niagara River while in college.
After college, I served 11 years as an officer in the US Navy, where I gained much experience and certification in large ship handling and navigation. There was not much training there specific to sailing vessels, but in Newport, RI, I did the certification necessary to rent small day sailers.
In 2017, I introduced my wife of 20 years to the joys of sailing through a captained charter in the BVI. Now, she is hooked, too, and we have plans for our impending empty-nest phase of life.
Sailing certification: ASA 101, 103, 104, 118.
2017: Captained charter in BVI. Logged 50 hours underway, 63nm,
2018: Bareboat charters in Chesapeake Bay, MD and Penobscot Bay, ME. Logged 89 hours underway, 196nm.
2019: Purchased a 1984 Catalina 25 and named her Starfish.
2020: Trailered on weekends to cruise around the upper Chesapeake Bay. Closed out the season with a week-long cruise.
2021: Slipped for the season near Rock Hall. Weekend cruising in various creeks off the Chester River. Closed out the season with a week long trip circling Kent Island with key stops in St. Michaels and Annapolis. Logged 335NM for the season.
2022: Sold Starfish, our Catalina 25. Purchased a Mariner 39.
2023: Spent the entire season in the yard doing urgent repairs and upgrades: replaced all engine control wiring, refurbished seacocks, blasted and repainted the bottom, replaced and replumbed aft bilge pump, replaced the rudder.
