Where are they sailing now?
Since 2014 SpinSheet's Start Sailing Now has been chronicling the stories of sailors who took up the sport (or got into it in a big way) as adults. We’re going to keep bringing you such stories, but we also want to bring you updates on some of the sailors we interviewed years ago. Recently we caught up with Gabi Van Wie and Theresa Rosbeck to get updated on their sailing adventures since we first interviewed them. Read in their own words how sailing has changed their lives.
Gabi Van Wie: Never in my dreams did I imagine…
Since my first published sailing adventures in August 2019, I have continued to sail with my sailing club, Singles on Sailboats (SOS). In 2021 I successfully finished the SOS First Mate Program, which is a multiple step procedure. I needed three recommendations from skippers who thought I was knowledgeable and confident enough to maneuver a boat, a recap of theoretical sailing knowledge, a sailing resume, and I had to pass two out of three weekend sails as ‘acting skipper’ on boats selected by the club. That includes also directing and explaining procedures to the crew onboard.
After this milestone, I signed up for bareboat cruising in Sicily in 2022. Sailing the crystal-clear waters around the Aeolian Islands and watching the Stromboli spitting lava every 20 minutes like clockwork was an adventure and brought me a little bit closer to my dream to sail more in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2023 my biggest adventure was sailing from Chesapeake City to Oyster Bay and Stemford, CT. I experienced lots of offshore Atlantic cruising and got to deal with eight- to nine-foot tides and heavy currents. Planning my sail up the East River through Hells Gate into Long Island Sound… Never in my dreams would I have imagined my sailing diaries would include sailing under the Brooklyn Bridge, next to the NYC skyline, or with the Queen Mary to my starboard side.
After a short co-ownership of a 30-foot sailboat, I have gained the confidence to be the skipper of a 30-foot Bavaria with three crew onboard in the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand this winter. I know that my sailing logbook still has a lot of pages to fill!
Theresa Rosbeck: Sailing has changed my life completely.
Since I started sailing in the spring of 2015, I have grown as a sailor and have cultivated friendships with so many wonderful people in the sailing community. I have competed in many Bay races and have had amazing offshore experiences delivering sailboats to and around New England.
During the Covid summer of 2020, I had the opportunity to sail around the Bay with skipper John Anderson and some of our furloughed crew on a 36-foot Catalina. We sailed to quaint waterfront towns up and down the Bay, including Solomons and St. Michaels, MD, and Deltaville, Cape Charles, and Onancock, VA. I have also enjoyed introducing my daughters to the sport, having them join me on some weekend regattas such as the 2022 Governor’s Cup.
I am currently racing with Dave McKee on his J/105 Relentless, and I am enjoying my role as “pit girl.” Dave is an awesome skipper who generously allowed me and a small crew to sail Relentless in the recent J/105 Women’s Regatta. It was an honor to be on the water with 19 other boats and 132 women in the largest cruising one-design women’s regatta in the world.
My life has completely changed since I started sailing, and I could not imagine it any other way. I am by no means an expert sailor, but I am always learning and growing on and off the water. I am truly grateful to the skippers who took a chance on me and gave me the opportunity to pursue my dream: Frank Albert (J/109 Resolute), John Anderson (Catalina 36 Swellville), Jay McGinnis (J/30 Blitz), and Dave McKee (J/105 Relentless).
