Who?
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Tara "Spoons" Watkins
Writing from a canoe in the Gulf of Mexico.
Working as a Hurricane Island Outward Bound School instructor and shuffling sailboats down the east coast has fueled my obsession with sailing. Since I watched Captain Ron and watched Kurt Russell take on the seas, I felt the pull to be with the Ocean. Growing up as a landlocked child, I knew finding my way to be on sailboats would come from work opportunities. I discovered my first sailing gig through a craigslist post to race with two English gentlemen. We raced up and down the Wilmington River in Georgia and WON in our division. It was everything I ever wanted, and I was once again hooked with untamed enthusiasm. Today, you can find me still following that adventure, leading expeditions with multiple Outward Bound schools. Seeking a different balance in my time away from the ocean, I can frequently be found covered in metal dust, working at Toole Sculpture Works creating life size metal art installations. Here I can bring my learnings from the dynamic sea into my sculptures and find ways to blend my desire to adventure with urges of creativity. |
John "Sockeye" Calogero
Writing from the home base of our vessel, Mongoose, in the San Juan Islands, WA.
From the R2AK in 2017, I know how wonderful and life changing the camaraderie can be. Sailing engineless boats is our day job. We enjoy teaching students to sail and navigate and co-thrive, but to get out of our comfort zone we need to get out there, ourselves, and push. My passion for the sea was fueled by looking at it, listening to it, being in it, finally sailing on it, also Disney films, Jacques Cousteau, and family visits to Cape Hatteras. At age 14, a two week sailing trip in Chesapeake Bay exceeded my hopes, and I was thoroughly smitten. After a few years of finding my way onto racing yachts, my inner Cousteau found an opportunity. On my 19th birthday I saw two sperm whales from the deck of a 144’ wooden barquentine research vessel off the West Coast of Greenland. Summer as a student to crew before the autumn, I became a professional mariner and maritime educator while assisting scientist/professors educating students in research. Since those formative experiences, I have endeavored to facilitate similar adventures for others while dreaming of more ways to develop connection between us and with this wet rock on which we reside. This will be one. |
Olivia "Captain Oz" Lord
Writing from the SEA Semester brigantine, Corwith Cramer’s quarterdeck. St Croix, USVI:
A sailor since being placed in 12 1/2 Hereshoffs at a couple months old and a student of the sea since I was small enough to double hand an Optimist, I first grew in ocean literacy on the ever-breezy Buzzards Bay on Cape Cod, MA. Since then, I have accrued time engaging with and observing the sea and sailboats as a Quissett Yacht Club sailing instructor, Brown University Collegiate racer for four years, SEA semester Assistant Scientist for three years, and Hurricane Island Outward Bound Captain as of the 2021 summer season. Through SEA Semester and Outward Bound, I have had the opportunity to travel over a cumulative 12,000 nm underway: learning, absorbing, then teaching life and leadership in an oceanic environment in both the South Pacific and North Atlantic waters, and gaining the skills that have prepared me for taking on the Race to Alaska. I believe that the time we spend in wild, outdoor places allows us to connect with nature, but also allows us to become better observers, problem-solvers, and caretakers of our world and ourselves. |
What?
Greetings from Team Sockeye Voyages.
We are three Outward Bound instructors, who plan to walk our talk: John "Sockeye" Calogero, Olivia "Captain OZ" Lord, and Tara "Spoons" Watkins.
At 0500, Monday, 13 June, we will cross the starting line of the 2022 Race to Alaska. https://r2ak.com/
This is a race, and it is an expedition.
As we race north in our wooden boat, through the stunning scenery of the Inside Passage, we want to bring you with us. Follow our tracker icon, and enjoy our daily posts (signal dependent). We will share the challenges and triumphs along the way.
We would love your support.
We plan to build beyond this Race, to create opportunities for young people to voyage over the horizon and return with the gift of greater self confidence and purpose. This is a step towards realizing that goal.
We are three Outward Bound instructors, who plan to walk our talk: John "Sockeye" Calogero, Olivia "Captain OZ" Lord, and Tara "Spoons" Watkins.
At 0500, Monday, 13 June, we will cross the starting line of the 2022 Race to Alaska. https://r2ak.com/
This is a race, and it is an expedition.
As we race north in our wooden boat, through the stunning scenery of the Inside Passage, we want to bring you with us. Follow our tracker icon, and enjoy our daily posts (signal dependent). We will share the challenges and triumphs along the way.
We would love your support.
We plan to build beyond this Race, to create opportunities for young people to voyage over the horizon and return with the gift of greater self confidence and purpose. This is a step towards realizing that goal.
Why?
Why partake in R2AK 2022?
"There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, then perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound
Our hope is to make it safely and successfully to Ketchikan, Alaska, but our goals are much deeper. Three Outward Bound sailing instructors, Tara, Sockeye, and I are tied together by the work we do, seeking growth through challenging experiences, for ourselves and for our students.
Outward Bound’s values are about a preparedness to face real-life challenges: self-knowledge and awareness, courage and confidence, initiative and responsibility, and above all, care and compassion. Deeply familiar with these values through our collective and extensive time in the field and on the water with students, Sockeye, Tara, and I hope to share our Race to Alaska story in a way that empowers others to seek out and put to action their own challenges towards self-discovery. Our entrance into this race is not a bid to win—it is a dedication to an experience that gives us an opportunity to push our own limits, get closer to the elements, and become better mariners, better teachers, and better stewards of our ocean earth.
With this opportunity, we hope to transform our crew’s learnings and experiences into a story that encourages curiosity, a sense of wonder, and inspiration in others.
"There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, then perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound
Our hope is to make it safely and successfully to Ketchikan, Alaska, but our goals are much deeper. Three Outward Bound sailing instructors, Tara, Sockeye, and I are tied together by the work we do, seeking growth through challenging experiences, for ourselves and for our students.
Outward Bound’s values are about a preparedness to face real-life challenges: self-knowledge and awareness, courage and confidence, initiative and responsibility, and above all, care and compassion. Deeply familiar with these values through our collective and extensive time in the field and on the water with students, Sockeye, Tara, and I hope to share our Race to Alaska story in a way that empowers others to seek out and put to action their own challenges towards self-discovery. Our entrance into this race is not a bid to win—it is a dedication to an experience that gives us an opportunity to push our own limits, get closer to the elements, and become better mariners, better teachers, and better stewards of our ocean earth.
With this opportunity, we hope to transform our crew’s learnings and experiences into a story that encourages curiosity, a sense of wonder, and inspiration in others.
