Greg has owned Eclipse for the past 10 years and has lived in the UK for the past 9 years. He has been sailing since college which was longer ago than he will admit to but is reportedly around the time the youngest of the crew members were still in diapers. Greg is a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club in the UK and has regularly taken part in cross channel races and racing in the Solent. He hates getting capsized in dinghy's and claims to have decided to buy Eclipse as it didn't move when he stepped on it.
Eclipse is fully equipped with all the latest safety equipment which includes an inverter to run the 110 volt blender in case the battery operated model runs out of charge - you can never be too careful at sea. Greg actually has a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry so some of his concoctions have been known to pack quite a punch.
Sailed in England in the English Channel and learned the hard way on the Coopers-Lybrand Round the World yacht. - early teens spent on motor boats on Lake Windermere (more eye candy than sailor in those days!) Now much more civilized in Clear Lake, Shirley has been here since 1995 and has been a boat owner since 1998. Her first boat was a Catalina 30 and since 2000, she has the proud owner of Hard Times, a Catalina 34. Shirley spent two years as a Skipper in SLV sailing club and participated in 2 Harvest Moon Races. She says she is totally terrified of next weeks little expedition!!
Shirley is the boats Quartermaster for leg one - so just call her Q.
Robert is a Project Manager from Whitstable, England. He's sailed for over 18 years, growing up in Toppers, Mirrors, Lasers and anything else he could get his hands on! He currently races a Dart 18 catamaran single handed at Whitstable Yacht Club and is a member of the HealthSure/Sail For Charity yacht racing team, who last year came 2nd in their class and 15th overall at Cowes Week last year, sailing a Bénéteau 40.7.
Robert's the techie for the trip, and has been providing technical assistance and advice by email and phone for the team fitting out the yacht for the trip. It will be his first time sailing in the US, an experience he's looking forward to!
Robert will be crewing on the first two legs of the trip.
Nautical miles: Approx 20,000 nautical miles, tidal waters Certificates: ISAF Certificate, Day Skipper, Sea Survival, First Aid POSITION: Pit and Genoa/Spinnaker Trimmer but basic knowledge of all positions
Huge amounts of Night Watch experience RELEVANT EXPERIENCE:
JOG and RORC race seasons 2000 - 2007
Cowes Week, Cork Week 2000 - 2007
Three Fastnet campaigns 2003, 2005, 2007
Hamble Winter Series, Warsash Spring Series 2004 - 2007 RELATED EXPERIENCE:
Cruising on various yachts with numerous offshore passages
2002 summer job as deckhand aboard Clizia, 42ft Sparkman and Stephens Yawl in Med
2003 summer job as deckhand aboard Trinovante, 70ft Gaff Rigged Schooner
Former Dingy race competitor - 505s, 420s, Fireballs, inshore and off-shore
One of the crew on Eclipse as noted is Terry Digges who runs Skippered charters in Scotland. His boat web site is www.cruise-ecosse.co.uk and one of the major highlights of his sailing year - apart from revisiting old haunts in the Houston area - is a trip round some of the Classic Malt distilleries.
More information on them can be obtained form the website of the World Cruising Club the organisers. The World Cruising Club - www.worldcruising.com - also organise other rallies, namely the ARC and ARC Europe that Eclipse is taking part in and we are tracking her progress on our web site.
Terry is a RYA qualified and UK Coastguard commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Instructor and can therefore teach Practical courses under the RYA scheme. During the winter months when the boat is out of the water he instructs the shorebased navigation courses.
Sailing is more than a hobby or vocation to Terry and his objective is to ensure that no matter what type of sailing you want - adventure, hard sailing, relaxing or instruction - he will do his utmost to make it happen and have fun
He has sailed boats of all sizes in the USA, UK, Mediterranean and Australia and holds UK, USA and Australian sailing qualifications.
Dean & Lucy Frost are doing the 3rd leg on Eclipse from Bermuda to the Azores. Dean & Lucy Frost were married in Australia 3 years ago after spending 3 months apart whilst Lucy completed her yachtmaster course, which was her lifetime ambition.
Dean is a dayskipper and plans to get his yachtmaster ticket when his heavy work schedule will allow. Lucy crossed the Atlantic once before when she helped deliver a 54' yacht from the BVI's to Marseille, France. Dean has crossed the Atlantic a few times with the navy on a big grey thing about 200m long - so this will be his first ocean crossing on a yacht.
Dean is a dayskipper and plans to get his yachtmaster ticket when his heavy work schedule will allow. Lucy crossed the Atlantic once before when she helped deliver a 54' yacht from the BVI's to Marseille, France. Dean has crossed the Atlantic a few times with the navy on a big grey thing about 200m long - so this will be his first ocean crossing on a yacht.
Dean loves running, mountain biking, sailing, and mountaineering but he also loves a beer so his stomach is bigger than you'd expect! He has worked in the refrigeration business for nearly 20 years since leaving the navy.
Lucy loves sailing, scuba diving, skiing and reading and also enjoys the odd glass of vino. Lucy is currently seeking employment after moving house and volunteers for the National Trust 1 day a week landscape gardening.
They met Greg Conary, Eclipse boat ownner, when competing with him in Cowes Week last year and have remained friends since.
David has been around boats from an early age, mostly canoeing & waterskiing. He is also a keen motorcyclist and Karate-kaAbout 10 years ago he started sailing; dinghies on a local lake, then yachts after a trip to Largs, Scotland with Greg & Andy Crosland.
More big boat cruising and racing ensued, picking up his Day Skipper Tidal & Yachtmaster Theory along the way. In 2007 he was part of the Anticipation crew for Cowes Week where they achieved the fine result of 2nd in class 4 IRC and 15th overall. And then he was offered the chance to fulfill a lifelong ambition to sail across the Atlantic. He will be joining Eclipse in Bermuda for Leg 3 to The Azores.
Michael is a USCG licensed captain and an ASA sailing instructor. He is certified to teach basic keelboat through advanced coastal cruising.
Michael's weekends and holidays are spent either teaching sailing courses or doing charters for South Coast Sailing Adventures in Kemah, TX. He is also a skipper for Sail La Vie sailing club, and when he is not taking others sailing he takes his wife sailing on their boat, Seahorse I, an Ericson 30+. He has participated in several local regattas including the Harvest Moon Regatta and when time allows charters in the BVIs.
Before he discovered sailing he backpacked and canoed. He has made several trips down the rivers of West Texas including the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande, the Pecos, and the Devil's river.
During the week he is a warehouse manager for Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, a freight forwarding company in Houston, TX.
Rick Henegar is a USCG licensed captain and an American Sailing Association certified instructor. He has been sailing for longer then he is willing to admit, and has been a boat owner for the last 15 years. For the last ten years he has been a regular participant in the Harvest Moon Regatta and other offshore races. He routinely skippers charter sails for one of the local sailing clubs which gives him the opportunity to sail many different sizes and types of boats.
In addition to sailing, Rick enjoys a number of diverse distractions including building and racing formula cars, music, and most recently, cycling.
Rachel Spearing. Barrister. When not cruising and racing on yachts is riding and racing horses. Lives Hampshire and Cowes, Isle of Wight. A Member, Race Officer and Director of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club Cowes.
Trimmer and Pit Crew with J109 and Farr Quarter Ton Yachts
Campaigns with IRC Regattas, RORC Racing, Spring/Winter Warsash Series. Cowes, Cork & Antigua Weeks.
Quarter Master and Galley Slave for Leg 2. Hoping that she will not need to use her mediation or negotiation skills during the leg but ready to subject them to trial and stiff sentence if they're caught stealing the jaffa cakes.
Looking forward to the longer off shore experience and learning from the experienced crew on the leg.
Liam has a wide collection of outdoor experience; a climber, a diver, a raft guide, a mountaineer... we could go on, but absent on this list is an accomplished off shore sailor. Liam sailed a little as a youth, then rediscovered this passion when living in Boston, MA. His favoured class is 40 ft plus OPB's (yes, other people's boats!).
He participated in a few of the famed FAGAWI races to Nantucket, but mostly as the crew cocktail waiter (with a mean Dark and Storm as his speciality). He brings a sense of enthusiasm and a willingness to learn and muck in. Liam is married and has a 6 month old son who is also an aspiring (but yet unaccomplished) adventurer. Liam lives and works in Central London and joined the crew following a conversation over a pint at a works party with Eclipse Owner and Skipper, Greg.
Alastair has been sailing all of his life literally. He was first put on a keel boat aged 6 weeks old and has progressed from there, some would say a little slowly. He really learned how to sail on the River Thames at Hammersmith, London sailing an International 14 dinghy with his parents and also in for many years in Salcombe, Devon. Progressing through Mirrors and Lasers, he also continued to sail on a South Coast One Design (SCOD), Contessa 32's and 35's as well as Sigma's in the Solent with both inshore and offshore races interspersed with extensive cruising to Southern England, France and the Channel Islands over many years.
He has competed in several St Malo/Dinard and Channel RORC races as well as completing the Fastnet in 1989, a year that started calm and got worse rapidly especially around the "Rock". Alastair also sailed with Greg on the Harvest Moon race in 2001 and is looking forward to seeing the newly upgraded Eclipse! He is a member of RORC and London Corinthian Sailing Club and has lived in Southern California for the past 17 years.
Giles first set foot on a yacht in 2004, and is very much aware of his rookie status amongstsuch an experienced crew!
In the following 4 years, he has spent a little time cruising around the coast and islands of Thailand and Malasia, and even more time getting thoroughly wet and battered on the bow of Shadowfax (a Beneteau 40.7) during two Fastnet campaigns ('05 and '07), and numerous RORC and JOG races inbetween.
He is thoroughly looking forward to the experience of crewing Eclipse on the final leg of the ARC.
