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| Captain's Sailing Resume Tom moved to Ft. Lauderdale in 1972 where he started out doing yacht maintenance: refinishing wood and fiberglass work. He worked as a deck hand racing off-shore on 30 to 50-foot racing sloops around the Ft. Lauderdale area. His first ocean trip was in the winter of 1974 as a deck hand on a 75-foot motor sailer – Le Tigre – from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Bahama Island. The overnight trip was 90 miles. He also did maintenance work on Zolana, a 114-foot ketch rigged steel sailing vessel. In August of 1975, the captain of Zolana, Peter Morris, hired on as captain of the yacht America and took Tom as first mate to the Merchant Marine Academy at Long Island, New York. He sailed the yacht America to Gloucester and Cape Ann, Massachusetts, on to Grand Bahama Island and Ft. Lauderdale, with a cold front, in 4-1/2 days (1,300 miles) – over 12 knots average for the trip. He did maintenance on the boat for two months in Ft. Lauderdale, then did day charters and weekly charters for six months to Nassau, Bahamas, and back to Ft. Lauderdale (700 miles). In the spring of 1976, he sailed to Bermuda (750 miles). He did maintenance on the America for two months, preparing her for the Tall Ships Parade in New York Harbor, July 4, 1976. He sailed from Bermuda to Newport, Rhode Island, (650 miles), down to Long Island Sound to the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, (200 miles), doing day charters on Long Island Sound, or to the Statue of Liberty, daily, for three weeks (500 miles). The America then hosted the Bicentennial festivities in New York Harbor, leading all the American vessels in the parade. From there, he sailed to Boston, Massachusetts, for the Tall Ships Parade (400 miles), sailing with Old Ironsides, through the harbor in Boston. Leaving Boston for Antigua, he went on to Granada (2,000 miles). Tom left the America on August 10, 1976. He flew back to Ft Lauderdale and delivered a 61-foot aluminum racing sloop, Pahranda, to St. Thomas, USVI (1,000 miles).
In June of 1977, Tom flew to Nice, France, and boarded a 40-foot Magnum powerboat, with twin V-8s capable of 48 mph. As captain, he delivered the Magnum to Antibes, France, where diving equipment was loaded from a U.S. power yacht. He then moved to Sainte Maxime in the bay of Saint Tropez where he did day and weekend owner-charters and diving (100 miles). He took the Magnum to the island of Corsica (100 miles) where the owner chartered around the island for 3 weeks. He then took the boat to Sardinia, where the owner chartered for 3 weeks (700 miles). He left the Magnum in dry storage for the winter.
In August of 1977, Tom flew to Gibralter and boarded Pahranda. With Nigel Henderson as captain, he sailed to the Canary Islands with wind blowing 35-55 knots on the bow, over 1,000 miles, in 5 days. One month later, he sailed to Cape Verde Islands, and then crossed the Atlantic to Barbados, 2,800 miles in 15 days. He chartered Pahranda for 4 months in the West Indies from Antigua to Granada, sailing the length of the West Indies numerous times (1,000 miles).
In April of 1978, Pahranda was chartered by Roy Disney for Antigua Race Week. They raced 200 miles in Antigua. Then sailed to St. Thomas (200 miles), then to Bermuda (850 miles) and on to Newport, Rhode Island (650). During that time, Tom flew to Ft. Lauderdale to deliver a 61-foot Hood, Runaway, to Bermuda (750 miles) and on to Newport (650 miles), when he returned to Pahranda.
In June of 1978, he left Pahranda to serve as Captain of a Swan 48, the yacht Fiesta, in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He did day-sails to Martha’s Vineyard and Hyannisport, Massachusetts. With a crew of three, they sailed from Nantucket to Bermuda (650 miles) to St. Martin, in the Netherland Antilles (1,200 miles) for the winter, doing day charters to St. Barths, St. Kitts, Nevis and Tortola (500 miles) and on to Antigua for Race Week in April of 1979 (450 miles). He then returned to St. Martin.
In June of 1979, Fiesta went from St. Martin to Aruba for a three-week charter, and back to St. Martin (1,200 miles). Via Bermuda, he went to Newport, Rhode Island (650 miles), where the boat was hauled out and the bottom was painted. Next stop was Nantucket (200 miles) where he did day charters for the summer before heading back to St. Martin for the winter in October of 1979, stopping in Bermuda along the way (1,800 miles). It was St. Thomas for Christmas in 1979, then back to St. Martin (400 miles).
In January 1980, he took another charter to Aruba and back to St. Martin (1,200 miles) and on to Newport, Rhode Island.
He left the Fiesta to return home to his family in Indiana and was married in 1986. Tom moved with his wife to Daytona Beach, Florida, and bought a 34-foot Piver trimaran, Tritanic, which he day-sailed in the intercoastal waterway and off-shore for 5 years (300 miles). During that time, he had two baby boys that he took sailing on a couple of beach catamarans and a Stilleto 23 racing catamaran. He raced the Stilleto around central Florida and did several races on a 29-foot ‘e-scow,’ including the Mug Race in 1993 from Palatka to Jacksonville, Florida, on the St. John’s River. While in Daytona, he became a PADI certified open-water diver.
After getting divorced, Tom moved back to Indiana in 1994. He met Diana in 1995 and took her for her first sailing trip to Traverse Bay, Michigan, on a 24-foot sloop-rigged monohaul. They chartered a 27-foot Jeanneau from Port Clinton, Ohio, to Put-in-Bay in Lake Erie in 1999, and took their 3 boys on that same boat in 2000. In 2006, they took two good friends on the same trip, who were also celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary.
In 2002, Tom and Diana took 4 friends and bareboat chartered a 40-foot catamaran, the Anejo, from Miami to the Keys, Bimini and Cat Cay for 5 days.
In 2003, Tom met a couple with an e-scow and raced on Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis for the summer. His friends purchased a J-24 racing boat in 2006 on which Tom and Diana crewed at Eagle Creek for one summer. In the fall of 2004, Tom had the opportunity to be first mate on the North Star Lady, a 105-foot power yacht. The yacht had just been completed in a boat yard in Kalama, Washington, and was to be delivered to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (4,500 miles). After stopping in San Diego for a boat show, they went on to the Panama Canal, but were sidetracked for a few days in Cabo San Lucas when Hurricane Marty crossed their path. In the spring of 2006, another power yacht, the Aqua Regia was completed in Kalama, Washington, and was delivered to Ft. Lauderdale (4,500 miles), once again, passing through the Panama Canal. In August of 2006, Tom and Diana purchased a J-24 of their own, the Green Hornet, which they took to Brookville Reservoir in southern Indiana. They spent every weekend of the summer of 2007 racing against ten other J-24s in the Brookville Lake Sailing Association, where they finished 5th overall for the season. In August of 2007, the Green Hornet and her crew went to the Youngstown Yacht Club in Lake Ontario for the Level Regatta.
Tom logged over 30,000 miles on the ocean over 15 years. For the past 8 years, Tom has been the sole proprietor for Teldoor Garage Doors in Indianapolis.
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