Where are they sailing now?
For 10 years SpinSheet's Start Sailing Now campaign has been interviewing sailors who took up the sport as adults. Here we bring you updates on three sailors that we spoke to a few years back. You won't believe where sailing has taken them!
Shawn Owen has opened a sailing business and is planning a trans-Atlantic passage.
Sometimes great opportunities shower down upon us all at once, and it seems it’s been that way for Annapolis sailor and musician Shawn Owen.
We first interviewed Shawn back in February 2018, when he was in the process of applying for his captain’s license. Today Capt. Shawn is the owner of Chronic Sailing based out of Port Annapolis. Chronic Sailing offers ASA 101-106 and catamaran certification, bareboat and captained charters, private instruction, delivery service, and guidance to new boat owners who need to get up to speed on their vessels. The Chronic Sailing fleet currently consists of four catamarans and one monohull, but Shawn plans to add three more boats this season.
This summer Shawn will participate in the Clipper Round the World Race. He had signed up before the Covid pandemic, but of course his trip was postponed. In June he’ll finally get his chance. Clipper Race participants sail aboard 70-foot ocean racing yachts for a circumnavigation or just one of its eight legs. Shawn will be on the final leg, sailing from Washington, DC, to England.
Still making music with the Shawn Owen Band, Shawn plays about three to four gigs a week in the DC-Annapolis-Baltimore area. And if music, a trans-Atlantic sail, and owning a business weren’t enough, Shawn and his wife are proud parents of a one and half year-old daughter.
Jeff and Cameron Bach are cruising the Bahamas.
We introduced you to Jeff and Cameron Bach in April of 2020. Regular readers may remember that the couple was inspired by cruising videos on YouTube. Back then we referred to such content creators as vloggers. At that time the Bachs had connected with a few of the vloggers and even enjoyed some sailing adventures with them.
Flash forward to 2024. Jeff and Cameron’s sailboat, the 36-foot Catalina MKll Westwind (which they purchased in 2017) is slipped in the Bahamas, and the couple is splitting their time between Annapolis and exploring the islands and beautiful blue water.
Jeff explains, “In November we took Westwind as far south as Fort Lauderdale, came back to Annapolis for a week or so at Christmastime and returned to the boat. On New Year’s Eve our friends Matt and Jessica from MJ Sailing hopped aboard. The next day we slipped the lines bound for the Berry Islands.
“Now we keep Westwind at a marina in a hurricane hole in Palm Key, not far from Nassau, and we travel back and forth from Annapolis. Cameron still has her pottery studio in Eastport, and I’m working full time, but Starlink and direct flights from Nassau to the BWI airport make it all possible.”
And the vloggers they befriended? If you’ve recently attended the Annapolis Sailboat Show you’ve probably seen the wildly popular Cruisers Creating Content Booth—it’s the brainchild of Jeff, who realized early on how much cruising content creators inspire and entertain others. Cruisers Creating Content brings together the creative genius behind video channels, social media posts, and podcasts that celebrate and chronicle the cruising lifestyle. During the sailboat show the line to meet these very popular stars often wraps up one aisle and down another.
What’s next? Jeff says, “We’ve always wanted to explore this part of the world. It’s absolutely beautiful here, and we have friends on boats in the area that we sometimes run into, which is great fun. At some point in the future, we hope to sail Westwind to the BVI. Eventually we’ll bring her back to the Chesapeake; she belongs there.”
