Makena - Meet Phillip

November 28, 2014
Onboard Makena, Lagoon 620 crossing the Atlantic

Position at noon: 587 miles to go
14° 53.1' N
50° 54.3' W

A scramble of activity as the sun broke the horizon. Last time we sailed under Tequila Sunrise, we noticed a few little holes. Knowing that little holes can become tape to tape tears in the blink of an eye, and usually at a very inconvenient time, we decided to make some repairs. We lined the sail up, attaching the head at the port bow pulpit, stretching the sail, still inside the sock , around the starboard deck and into the cockpit. We had to stretch it out to be able to easily raise the sock. Raising the sock, while stuffing the sail into it's bag, we worked our way up to the holes. Ten repaired holes later, we reversed the process, pulling the sock down, following the tapes and minutes later the sun was shining on our bright orange sail billowing off our bow.

We closed in on, and traded tacks with Archer. It felt good to be sailing alongside, ahead and behind another boat. We have been at sea for over nine days and it was nourishing to have some outside contact. We finally split tacks and watched as Archer slowly melted away and finally disappeared into the cloudy horizon.

Chicken curry topped the menu for dinner. Sarah made one spicy and another mild. I dove into the spicy curry and the explosion of of flavor was incredible. Pinch me, am I really sailing in the middle of the Atlantic. We compared stories about our favorite curry restaurants as we dined on the aft deck. Later, the crew assembled on the flybridge for an impromptu “digestif.” Riki and Philippe showed up with the bottle of Cape Verde Ponsho. This is the same type that we tasted on the beach in our Cape Verde tour.

Meet the crew: Phillip Winter
Since I have been writing the blog, the crew felt it was important that they pull out pen and paper and give me the “official” interview. Here is what they wrote:

Phillip Winter, a youthful 56, brings his extensive ocean sailing experience, including multiple ocean crossings, to the crew of Makena. Phillip is at home everywhere on the boat: strategizing sailing maneuvers in the cockpit, poring over weather data on his laptop, scrambling around with sail changes on the foredeck, or cooking up a signature dish in the galley.

Phillip was born and raised in San Diego, and introduced to sailing by his father, Jerry, whom you have already met in this blog. He started sailing Lido 14's as a boy, and by thirteen was ocean racing on catamarans. Two and a half years spent in England as a child, with tours of Europe in the family's VW van, helped spur his lifelong interest in travel. He got a degree in marine biology from UC Santa Cruz, then took two years off to do skiing and bike touring in Europe. His first real job was at his father's electronics factory in Mexico, and since then he has had a remarkable collection of jobs, including ski instructor, mountain bike guide, whale and dolphin trainer at Sea World, biologist working as a monitor on Japanese fishing boats in the Bering Sea, and charter captain on boats in Hawaii, Tahiti, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. A chance encounter with the navigator of the French America's Cup syndicate led to a stint as their manager of shore operations. More recently, he spent several years as the harbormaster at Catalina Island.

Despite his extensive ocean experience, he has never crossed the Atlantic, having been robbed of a chance to skipper an 84-foot catamaran from Europe to the Caribbean by appendicitis.

He met Luc and Sarah through his current job, selling Beneteau monohulls and Lagoon catamarans through Naos Yachts in southern California. He sold Makena to Luc and Sarah, and the plan for him to join her crew on the ARC+ was born out of the interactions they had during the sale. Luc and Sarah felt an immediate connection to Phillip upon meeting him at the Annapolis Boat Show, an effect that Phillip has on everyone.

Phillip has a passion for performance, and is always willing to push Makena with aggressive sail choices and tactics, all within the confines of safety, of course. He is the one we look to on the foredeck when things get complicated, glad to have someone there to make sure that we are doing everything right, or for a tweak to a spinnaker sheet when we just can't seem to get the boat in a groove. He is always quick with a smile, joke, or song lyric, and brightens up any area of the boat he enters. He has endless tales from his long sailing career, all of which, we are quite certain, are completely made up. If he is anything like his father, he will have that twinkle in his eye, and spring in his step, for decades to come.

Phillip's favorite meal on Makena was Thanksgiving dinner, for its camaraderie (the deliciousness of the meal notwithstanding), and we expect this also has to do with the tasty pumpkin pie he prepared.

He is the father of three children: 23- and 22-year old boys, and an 18-year old daughter. When he is not working or sailing he likes to head to Venice Beach with his wife Isabell and their dog Molly, to swim and play on the beach. Later, he might pull out his ukelele and serenade his parrot Calypso, to much delight and head-bobbing (of the parrot, that is).