To quote Captain Rick: “It has been an incredible summer--over five thousand offshore miles from Ventura to Honolulu to Sitka and then over 1500 more miles of cruising in Southeast Alaska from Sitka to Glacier Bay and south through the inside passage to Seattle”.

WOW, we did it all. In early January I contacted Rick to see if he would be interested in being the Captain on Polar Mist. I decided that I wanted to take Polar Mist to Hawaii and Alaska and possibly through the Northwest Passage in 2015. I had already been to Antarctica and Polar Mist was made for cold weather passages through the world’s roughest oceans. What better place to begin our next expeditions than to take Polar Mist to Alaska!

After many emails and conversations, Rick said yes, Karen my wife and life companion said “kind-of-yes” and the race was on to get Polar Mist from Ventura to Hawaii to Alaska and to the Pacific Northwest! We came up with a 17-page list of “to dos”. With four months of constant work from Todd Roger’s (Polar Mist’s former Captain) the list was completed. Todd’s work on Polar Mist and his attention to detail were fantastic.

With Captain Rick leading the way across the Pacific, we were ready. For the “first-leg”, California to Hawaii, Polar Mist’s additional crew of 3 arrived in Ventura, California just prior to our departure date of June 16. What a well-rounded crew: Ken and Starr Swindt (Captain Rick’s sailing friends) and Bob Stofac, our great neighbor. My long-time friend Bob Kayser replaced Bob Stofac for the Hawaii to Alaska “second-leg”. Mike Turner, my cousin, best friend and business partner was the inland-passage crew as we sailed from Baranof Island in Alaska to Polar Mist’s new home in Seattle. While the crew worked hard 24/7 to be sure every task was completed, it was Captain Rick that made it all work.

Captain Rick:

What a sailor! Whether it was trimming the sails to reach another 200-mile day, hanging from the boom to reef the main sail in the middle of the night, standing on a winch to pull down the main sail, going forward in heavy weather to “un-snarl” the jib sheet, Captain Rick did it with competence and a smile.

What a navigator! Each day Rick tracked our progress across the Pacific and back again. But that was only part of the story. Captain Rick had to navigate into harbors and anchorages, around rocks, over shoals and into the most incredible harbors, bays and anchorages that Alaska and British Columbia have to offer. It was all-perfect!

What knowledge! Captain Rick was often called “Rick-o-pedia”. I think that Rick must know everything about every anchorage, harbor, mountain, island, whale, porpoise, bear, fish, seal, bird, plant and tree in Alaska. I can’t even list all of the subjects he knows. Rick is a true “naturalist” and knowledgeable about all-things-Alaskan.

Finally, Captain Rick is just a great guy! You would have to be sailing at 2:00 AM, when it is dark and cold, water breaking over the bow and the main sail “back-winded” to know just how great. With a smile on his face, Rick would appear to assist us with any problems that we had created through our lack of experience. What a guy, what a Captain.

Thank you to the crew, the husbands and wives of the crew, Todd Rogers and to all of you that supported us on another Polar Mist Expedition – and most of all, thank you Captain Rick!!

John Gates, Owner
Polar Mist Expeditions, Inc.