Nicole

Nicole grew up in Wisconsin, but moved to western Massachusetts for college for a degree in Biology and East Asian Studies.  After college she moved to Boston where she worked for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She moved back to Wisconsin to work for Kimbery Clark as a systems auditor, but after a couple of years realized she missed the east coast.  It was back to Boston, this time working in computer security for Gillette.  When Procter & Gamble bought out Gillette, Nicole decided to test out retirement from the corporate world.  She became a kayak guide and went to culinary school, followed by a stint with a local specialty food store as well as a local Boston restaurant.  Retirement came to an end as she craved the normalcy of a steady paycheck, and this time she wound up with John Hancock/Manulife, most recently responsible for global cyber security operations.  Retirement started calling again, and she decided to take a sailing sabbatical.

Trip

So what does Uncle Trippy have to say about himself?

I’ve spent most of my life living in NJ.  Though I’d spent my earlier years rowing & paddling, it wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I decided to see what this sailing thing was about.  It was a Sunfish on Lake Champlain & I was hooked.  I then lived in Santa Barbara for a few years (mid 1970s) where I crewed on a Soling & a Cal 43 in races up & down the coast.  Though I loved the racing & there was no better way to learn sail handling, I knew that I was a cruiser at heart.  It was also during this time that a Tayana 37 (then called a CT 37) sailed into the harbor.  It was love at first sight.  Back in NJ my father, who had always wanted to get a sailboat, realized he’d have permanent crew.  Doing half the work, I got it for half the season.  Block Island, Cuttyhunk, Marthas Vineyard, etc, with my own crew was bliss.  When my father retired & he & my mother were moving to Hilton Head, he decided to bring the boat with him (can you believe that?!).  Shortly after, though, I acquired a Pearson 26 & for nineteen years I sailed that wonderful sloop.  Bigger plans were looming though, & in 2009, after two years of looking & with the blinders off (I swear) my wife & I purchased a 1986 Tayana 37.

After lots of cruising, improvements, additions & two round-trips between NY & Bermuda, Nicole & I are moving aboard where we will be spending a year (+) cruising the NE up to Maine, then exploring the Chesapeake and then an offshore sail to the Caribbean.

Nicole & Trip

The lovebirds first met through a common friend on a paddling and camping trip in the Adirondacks.  It was love at first sight for Nicole – with Trip’s dog Sunny.  It actually took a year and the subsequent camping trip for the two to reconnect and begin dating.  After several years of a long distance relationship, Trip finally decided to ask Nicole to move in – and more importantly to buy a boat together.  They made their first off shore run to Bermuda in 2011, and got married in 2012.  Trip’s son & Nicole’s stepson Chris is a filmmaker living in LA.  Chris was with them for the sea trial of Kalyra & several sails for the first season.  When not sailing, Trip & Nicole live in a 1760 house with their cat Lennie (Sunny passed away in 2011).