A New Lady in the Family...

“Deliverance” sailing the waters of Long Island Sound

 We’ve had a real interesting past 18 months. One minute we’re high on the hog touring the states in our RV “Whispering Wheat,” the next we’re watching a huge portion of our tour-de-sail route get swallowed up by two Cat 5’s. We’ve rolled with the punches, starting the West End Music and Arts Institute in Frederiksted St. Croix, serving kids who are still in a battle to preserve access to music and arts education in their lives and started our sailing charter business in Rockaway Beach, NY. We’ve still been performing music quite regularly, all while taking a hiatus from our normally rigorous touring schedule to perform more locally and build up our charter company. And building it up we have been…

Her spacious decks and cockpit waiting!

  In March of this year, Yacht Rock Charters officially opened our Caribbean wing, serving the absolutely stunning West End of St. Croix. Although starting the business here certainly took much longer than we had expected, we stuck to it and now span from NYC to the Caribbean. Through much discussion about the needs of our business in NY, we decided to purchase a second sailing vessel for charter there, something with a smaller mast to better accommodate 2 bridges in the area, allowing us to keep our 43’ C&C Landfall “Catherine” berthed in the Caribbean. We’ve met and chosen to bring into our fleet S/V “Deliverance,” a 40’ auxiliary schooner, designed by the infamous Long Island firm Atkin & Co, built in 1989 by Dan Sheler Boatworks of Travis City, MI. Many lovers of Long Island maritime culture will recognizer her - she was up for charter at the waterfront of Greenport, NY in the North Fork for many years, under the steady hand of Captain Dan Hallock.

A generous bowsprit, always the hallmark of a schooner’s lines

  She’s a wonderfully classic vessel, and will put some of the “old salt” back on Jamaica Bay with her Pilot Schooner lines, sometimes referred to as a “Baltimore Clipper.” While we did not set out to find such a yacht in our search, sailing vessels always seem have a way in finding their new owners. Once we found her hiding out, her gentle call pulled at our deepest thread. You see, our love of classic sailing vessels has simply always been - when my wife and I met at Conservatory in Philadelphia, I was in the process of rebuilding an old Chris Craft motor-boat of mahogany construction. I somehow managed in convincing her to spend the summer with me on the Egg Harbor River to finish the project - and we proceeded to launch both our first boat and love that same summer. 24 years, 2 children and 30,000 nautical miles later we are extremely excited to share this beautiful piece of sailing tradition with you all.

Full sail under a fresh breeze, a schooner provides comfort and stability not possible with other styles of sailing vessel.

Since our days on the river we’d made countless hours of music through our recording company CueBro, and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy (2013) decided to tour via sail, heading for the beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. Several blue-water transits between the Northeast and Caribbean aboard our home, “Catherine,” brought us into a world we could not have imagined, mixing our love of music and the sea in an organic purity that we both feel incredibly blessed to experience. Through all of the many places and events where we perform, we have managed a deep and meaningful connection with some of the regions most illustrious classic-sailing events such as the Antigua Classics and West Indies Regatta, sailing on pieces of history during the day and entertaining the events as performers into the night.

A beautifully calm sunset on the waters of NY

   Many times our friends threatened that we would one day find a “classic” of our own, and it’s now clear they were all correct in their judgement.

Beautiful from every angle, Atkin & Co. knew how to connect the dots in powerful design.

  As we get ready to pack up our affairs here on the beautiful island of St. Croix, stashing Catherine here in the warm waters of the Caribbean for a restful summer, there is much to do in preparations for the coming season. All the hard work will pay off once we are again in the waters of Jamaica Bay, where we’ll be performing each Monday night at the waterside venue of Thai Rock and shuttling guests to and fro Deliverance on the classic Chesapeake skiff “Turtle.” The two vessels in our fleet for our NY summer charter season are meant for each other, one a design of vessel that played an massive role in the development of global trade and communication, serviced by a launch that is equally a part of American history just retired from the crabbing trade of the great Chesapeake bay. We hope that you’ll join us for a day, or maybe a weekend, and discover the beauty of the bay and beyond through a luxurious maritime experience available nowhere else in NY.

Thanks for all your love and support, Fair Winds until next time!

Captain Jarad Astin, Christel, Arden, and Riley Jan

Photo: Will Figg of the New York Times