CapnBlack Chat

Mick Fagan is the type of person that a lot of people know but--they all know a different Mick. "I knew him in Turkey," one might say. "Oh, I bumped into him in Grenada," says another. He gets around. I knew him in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, where he seemed to know just about everyone.

Follow along as he talks us through the devastation of Hurricane Irma, before, during and after. The efforts he and his fellow refugees put in to make life bearable--for themselves and one another.  And the struggle to put his life back on track after losing everything.

Hear how he was cared for by his many friends and acquaintances who supported him in his recovery.

It's a stirring story--ending up (for the moment) on the shores of Greece where he's building a new life from the shards of the old. And enjoying every minute.

British Virgin Islands' Charter heavyweight, Tim Schaaf, has long been involved in both the day-to-day operations of his own charter yacht, Jet Stream, while playing an important role in the governance of the BVI's  charter industry through his role with the Charter Yacht Society. A much-loved figure within the sailing community, Tim has friends all around the world as befits a man born in Thailand, who's managed marinas in Mexico and spent years as a working golf professional.

Tim has reluctantly concluded that it's time for him to pack his seabag and depart the shores of the delightful BVI, headed for new sailing grounds. We caught up with him as he sits out the lockdown in Tortola, waiting to finalize the purchase of his new yacht and complete the preparations for selling Jet Stream. An emotional time, but one he's facing with a sense of excitement and adventure.

Let's meet Tim!

Michael Domican lives in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. He freelances as a Charter captain, Instructor, and consultant to yacht owners both new and prospective. He and David Blacklock write and publish the SmarterCharter  Bareboat Guides for Monohull, Catamaran, and Power Cat sailors. 

Michael discusses the situation in and around the Virgin Islands as well as further down island in the wake of the storms of 2017 and '18 and as a result of the Pandemic of 2020. There's a lot going on.

Michael's business, CaribbeanSailingCoach.com takes him up and down the island chain, helping new and established owners, as well as those trying to decide, discover the best boat for them and the best ways to operate it.

Anouk is known to thousands of cruising sailors as the "Jewelry Lady of North Sound" for the years she spent buzzing from yacht to yacht in the anchorages of the BVI's Virgin Gorda, selling her beautiful creations. She is a mother (to her creative and capable son with the movie star name, Lucien Valade) who, now that her son has grown, is free to sail the oceans with her partner, Captain Jaro Hollan on the catamaran Timaiao. Follow their adventures (and join them if you wish) at https://caribbean-sailing.eu/index.php/en/.

Yacht crew, Pete Clapp and Nikki Payne, are in lockdown, looking after a Gunboat 66 catamaran that they run for a private owner. The owner is locked down in Australia and the Gunboat is in New Zealand. The pair of intrepid charmers are doing their best to stay sane whilst chillaxing and maintaining their beautiful floating home. Things are looking good in Australasia at the moment as the absolute luck of being the last part of the world to be stricken with the Corona virus meant that the authorities in both countries were able to watch what worked elsewhere and apply it to their own situations. Soon they may create a new South Pacific Bubble of the two countries and perhaps a couple of Pacific Island groups into a free-travel zone that would exclude citizens of Outside the Bubble--though I'm sure a few billionaires are revving their Gulfstreams in the hope of getting to their hideaways in Kiwiland before the rest of the world devolves into snarling dystopian devilry. But we'll find out soon.....

Donna is a standout amongst the high performers of the Caribbean charter world. Not only is she a marine scientist and an underwater archaeologist, she's a nuclear engineer too! She traded all that in for a life of cleaning mucky bilge pumps and consoling hungover hotshots...but she does it with a smile.

One of the new cadre of women at the helm, she's great company and good with kids--but she makes them learn things while they're having a blast. 

Join her on the mooring ball as he waits out her Covid-19 quarantine sentence in a quiet cove near Norman Island. 

A sailor, ocean racer, Galley Queen, calm centre of the storm: Kiwi Chef, Deb Mahan, has put in her miles on the ocean and earned the smiles of hundreds of happy guests and crew as chef on Caribbean crewed yachts and as cook on ocean voyaging expeditions. She takes a minute out of her busy day running a marina operation in Nelson, New Zealand, to fill us in on the secrets of keeping a crew happy.

Barely out of his teens, Manie was abandoned on the docks of the British Virgin Islands by a delivery skipper who cancelled his return ticket to South Africa and told him he should stay put in the BVI because it would be good for him. It must have been the right advice since, a decade on, Manie cruises the world's oceans aboard large sail and motor yachts as crew in the charter business. And no, it's nothing like your favorite TV show. 

David Polakoff is a familiar face on the waters of New York Harbor and Long Island Sound, and down in the Caribbean's sailing playground, the British Virgin islands. He's a man with a busy life and a busier lifestyle. As well as a corporate gig in NY's startup scene, he's a sailing instructor and skipper with the mind of an historian. His website (northriversailny.wordpress.com) is a compendium of all things New York that relate to sailing, the history of the rivers, the bays and the people.  

This episode is a full-length 55+ minutes because there wasn't a good place to stop halfway through. There was a lot to cover.

So, thank you Dave for a fun conversation....

The British Virgin Islands' irreplaceable charter captain/witty chronicler/historian shares more of his eventful life and plans for the future. Which include an app based on his best-seller "Drinking and Eating Guide", DEGBVI.