Auxiliary Sail Vessel Operations for the Aspiring Professional Sailor

G. Andy Chase, author of Auxiliary Sail Vessel Operations for the Aspiring Professional Sailor, made his first offshore voyage from the Caribbean to Maine via Bermuda at age ten. At sixteen he worked as a deckboy on a Norwegian merchant ship on a five-month voyage that took him around the world. During that voyage he taught himself celestial navigation and developed an interest in going to sea commercially. Chase graduated from Maine Maritime Academy with a bachelor’s degree in nautical science, an unlimited third mate’s license, and a 100-ton auxiliary sail captain’s license. Over the following eight years, he sailed on a number of merchant ships and sailing vessels. In 1987, he returned to Maine Maritime Academy to teach, and took command of the schooner Bowdoin. He developed a sail-training program for the academy that quickly evolved into an ambitious northern waters sailing program. Chase is now a professor of marine transportation at Maine Maritime. He holds an unlimited master’s license for steam and motor vessels and an auxiliary sail master’s license for vessels up to 1,600 tons.