Lifelong sailors, Russ and Laurie decided to fulfil a lifelong dream and take this voyage after Russ retired as an Aerospace Engineer and former senior executive for CSC. Laurie was speech pathologist but more recently volunteers for several charitable organizations. [...]Married for 32 years, the couple have two adult children; Scott a medical doctor in Iowa and Trevor who has his masters in Engineering and works for Lockheed Martin.

Nexus was bought specifically for the circumnavigation. Russ says: “She is a very nice balance between speed, comfort, and capability. She was well equipped but purposefully spartan. We’ve added additional power furling, two asymmetric spinnakers and redundancy in all her critical, [...]

electronic & power systems. Finally we added more canvas and cushions to increase her comfort on long voyages”. “We are looking forward to meeting interesting and adventurous people, and enjoying the cruising life to the fullest. Our passion is to explore unique and seldom visited places above and below the water, and build friendships and share experiences that will last a lifetime. We are very excited, somewhat apprehensive, very well prepared, and very much looking forward to the experience and adventure of a lifetime.”