We've Sailed A Long Way

By Captain Andrew Seligman

Photos by Linda Meiberg

It’s 2023 and I have been thinking about the past six years since Shardana was built and started sailing the Chesapeake Bay. Exactly six years ago today, Captain Davis, The Admiral Linda (my wife) and I flew to Florida to meet with Gerry Douglass and tour the Catalina Yacht factory. This was the last step before signing the purchase agreement to build the boat that we named Shardana. (Fun Fact: S/V Shardana is the only US Flagged vessel named Shardana. Click here if you would like to know why we named the boat Shardana. )

We wanted to tour the factory to understand how Shardana was going to be built. To say we were impressed is an understatement. Catalina Yachts truly is an example of a high quality American-Made product. Equally important, we wanted to discuss/request some custom options to which Gerry Douglass happily made happen. Our meeting with Gerry Douglass was fantastic.

For those of you not familiar with sailboat production, it is to say at the very least, a complicated process. We took a private tour of the entire Catalina Yachts factory. Gerry went out of his way spending an extraordinary amount of time showing us each step of the build process and answering all our questions….and we asked Gerry ALOT of questions!

With all our questions answered and Gerry agreeing to customize our sailboat the way we wanted it—we were super impressed and HAPPY!

A few days later we went home and met with our dealer, Brian Winter of G. Winters Sailing Center, and signed the purchase contract.

I can definitely say the past six years have confirmed Davis’s, Linda’s and my feelings that we made a great decision and each year feel even stronger about our decision. Why? Because we get to spend our time providing sailing experiences to so many people. Davis and I did not expect our small seasonal venture to be as successful as it has turned out. In fact the amount of interest shown by our customers and guests and far exceeded our wildest dreams by several orders of magnitude. The appreciation and support our clients and guests give us is at times quite overwhelming in a very positive way. In short--we are blessed to be able to provide people with a few hours to a few days of special joy.

Reflecting on where Shardana Sailing Charters started in the summer of 2017 to where it is now allows me to smile knowing we are helping to make our guests lives just little bit better from their sailing experiences. All of them uniquely “Sail Their Story.” More importantly, the entire Shardana crew gets to serve our guests/clients continuing to give them special memories.