JOHN KRETSCHMER

John Kretschmer has been in the breezes, as Joshua Slocum put it, most of his life. A professional sailor and writer, he is an accomplished ocean voyager, having logged more than 300,000 offshore miles. He led a long ago record- breaking voyage from New York to San Francisco by way of Cape Horn. He has made 26 transatlantic crossings, and numerous long passages in all the world’s oceans. To put that into perspective, his sailing miles translate into about 10 trips around the world, or sailing to the moon and a 1/3 of the way back.

He has blended his passion for history with sailing by organizing voyages that helped clarify the first landfall of Columbus, retraced the route of Odysseus, followed in the wake of the clipper ships and examined the maritime heritage of the Maya.

He has written 7 books and hundreds of articles. His book, Sailing a Serious Ocean, was an international sailing best seller, and At the Mercy of Sea, was chosen as one the best nonfiction books of 2007 (US). Flirting With Mermaids is an enduring favorite among sailors and has just been republished as a Lyons Press, “Maritime Classic.” He has been a contributing editor to Sailing Magazine for 25 years.

John’s latest book, Sailing to the Edge of Time, was just released by Bloomsbury. “This is the book I have been writing my entire life,” he writes, adding, “sometimes it seems like it took that long to finish it.” It’s a memoir that mixes sea stories and sailing insights. It’s a deeply personal account of what it means to go to sea, to be at sea and features hard-won lessons about making the most of our lives. The premise is simple, it’s all about time, how we spend our time defines our life. Time spent sailing, especially deep ocean sailing, is time well spent. At sea we find out who we really are, and what we are capable of, far from the shackles of land we find an elusive place where time changes shape – days may merge into one another, but minutes are memorable.

John has conducted over 130 offshore training passages and has introduced hundreds of people to ocean sailing. He continues to take people to sea each year by captaining challenging offshore sailing passages. He also conducts workshops and lectures all over the world. He has given entertaining presentations at venues ranging from the US Naval Academy, the Explorer’s Club in NYC, and Royal Cork YC in Ireland, the world’s oldest club, the Royal Geographical Society in Hong Kong, and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club amongst many other venues. To live adventurously is to live more fully, and that is the life John Kretschmer lives.

Ocean Passages LLC run by Nathan and Vivian is a full service marine consulting company. Specializing in sailing yacht deliveries, we also provide yacht management, maintenance, multimedia, and marine consulting services. Having worked on a variety of yachts from 32′ to 150′ and refit two of our own sailboats, we are confident that we can help with whatever your yachting needs may be. While our company operates separately from John Kretschmer Sailing we are very happy to be partnering with John and Tadji to provide training passages aboard our new (to us) sailboat, Ultima, a 1981 Angelo Lavranos designed Compass 47 as well as other chartered boats around the world. Feel free to contact us about availability for deliveries, training/instruction aboard your own boat, assistance with boat selection/purchase or anything else you or your boat may require. 

NATHAN ZAHRT

Nathan grew up in the mountains of Northern New Mexico and from an early age, a love of nature was instilled upon him. Summers were spent hiking, cycling, and rock climbing through the Jemez Mountains and Winters were spent skiing and snow camping throughout the Southwest. As a teen, he started whitewater rafting with Explorer Post 20, learning knots, reading water currents, rowing small inflatable boats through rapids, on rivers from the Rio Grande to the Snake. After several multi-week trips down the Colorado River, including Cataract and the Grand Canyon, Nathan often found himself dreaming of bigger waters, crossing oceans on small boats under sail. Though occasionally having sailed Hobe Cats on Mission Bay in San Diego, he had no idea where to start sailing in landlocked New Mexico. Nathan instead became involved with ski patrol and found a passion for first aid and prehospital emergency care. After receiving a degree in Biology from the University of New Mexico, Nathan’s wanderlust took him to Ghana, West Africa for 2 years serving his country as an Environment Sector Peace Corps Volunteer. Upon his return to New Mexico, Nathan met the love of his life and future wife Vivian. He also rapidly started a career as an EMT for an ambulance service in Albuquerque combining his long-time interest in medicine and strong desire to help people.

It wasn’t until Nathan and Vivian were offered an opportunity to move to Florida that a path to ocean sailing was revealed. While it meant starting over, it was an easy decision to finally follow a lifelong dream of adventure. Nathan and Vivian sold most of their possessions and moved to Florida where they purchased their first sailboat, Hobo Chic, an Irwin 37 with their friends thus launching their dreams afloat. It was a steep learning curve getting to know the ins and outs of a sailboat while they refit the 1979 sloop, learned all the yachts systems, and became proficient sailors. After 2 years of living aboard a 37’ foot boat with 4 people, it became time for each couple to embark on their own journey. The boat was sold at a profit including the valuable lessons gained and Nathan and Vivian moved to Fort Lauderdale in an effort to gain professional experience in their sailing careers. They enrolled in maritime schools and earned professional certificates to begin working on superyachts. Serving aboard 80-130 ft. boats were valuable experience furthering their navigation and engineering skills, but their real passion was for sailing. They started crewing on sailing yacht deliveries and loving being offshore.

After his first Atlantic Crossing, Nathan stayed in England and completed his RYA Yachtmaster Offshore in the Solent and then his USCG 50 ton Master’s license back in Florida. They continued to work aboard private sailboats, contracting for Hylas Yachts and making sail deliveries, before moving to Bequia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines to manage a sail charter company. When they returned to the States with the intention of purchasing their own boat, Nathan chose the Compass 47 for her impressive construction and reputation as South Africa’s most pedigreed big sailboat. Nathan’s love of the sea and thirst for adventure is apparent and contagious and he looks forward to sharing his voyages with you very soon.