Nick Travis

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Staff Writer

Posts by Nick Travis 10 results

Pleasure Boat Infrastructure Gets Major Upgrade

Over the course of three years since 2020, master mariner Brad Boutilier used his nautical experience to turn East River Shipyard into Atlantic Canada’s largest full-service marine facility, as well as recently expanding into niche pleasure boat services with Gold River Marina. Previous to 2020, Boutilier had spent much of his life at sea, starting as a cadet at Secunda Marine Services in 2000 and working his way up to master mariner during his time with TMSI Limited in 2018. After 18 ...

Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club: Serving the Sailing Community for More Than a Century

Officially formed in 1903, Shelburne Harbour Yacht Club (SHYC) has always and continues to foster a prestigious association with yachting in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. The original two-storey clubhouse used to be located on the Shelburne waterfront on the corner of Dock and George Street before being lost to Hurricane Edna in 1954. For a time after the loss of the original clubhouse, the group was effectively homeless. “The club was washed away in a hurricane and for many subsequent years ...

Around the World in 233 Days: Kirsten Neuschäfer Wins the 2022 Golden Globe Race

Above photo: Originally from Gqeberha, South Africa, Neuschäfer has been sailing dinghies since she was a child and began sailing professionally in 2006. Submitted photo Kirsten Neuschäfer became the first woman to win an around-the-world race by sailing around the three great capes — Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, Australia’s Cape Leeuwin and South America’s Cape Horn — when she won the 2022 Golden Globe Race (GGR). The GGR requires that participants only work with the ...

40 Degrees North: Where Change Begins

40 Degrees North, a venture by Todd Ellis and Shane Theunissen, was scheduled to sail from Halifax to Portugal in late May to raise money for the Nova Scotia Sea School. Ellis and Theunissen met during the Wednesday night races at the Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, where they discussed their love for sailing. “I had this plan to go to Portugal, and I said to Todd, ‘Hey Todd, we get along pretty well, so how would you like to come along for a trip across to Portugal?’ He thought about ...

Seeking Adventure Aboard the Bella J

Above photo: Rhinelander and his crew have had Bella J docked in the Caribbean since they completed the Newport to Bermuda Race. They’ve since competed in the Caribbean 600, Antigua Race Week, Heineken Race Week and the Antigua to Bermuda Race. Ray Rhinelander, a Newfoundland-based, lifelong sailor, has been taking on increasingly difficult races over the course of 2023 aboard the Bella J. Rhinelander grew up in an Air Force family and never had any permanent home growing up, but ...

Sailing with Jim and Bonnie

Ocean Yacht Sales’ broker Jim Miller and his wife Bonnie James have been sailing for over half their lives. From training a cat to live aboard a boat, sailing around the many small Newfoundland outports and venturing to the Bahamas — the highlight of their voyages was the people they met along the way. The couple married in 1977 and according to Bonnie, they bought and shipped their Cal 25 sailboat, Torngak, from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland and Labrador before they had even bought a ...

The Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club

The Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club (RNYC) is located in Long Pond, Conception Bay South, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Pond is protected by a barachois, a natural sandbar that serves to shelter this idyllic marina from the waters of Conception Bay and that of the Atlantic Ocean. The RNYC began its rich history as the Avalon Yacht Club. Founded in 1936, the story goes that Arthur and Marjorie Johnson took Max Barbour canoeing at Long Pond, as they wanted to show Barbour the sheltered ...

Marblehead to Halifax: Generating Interest From Local Racers

Dan Levangie is set to participate in the Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race this July in a particularly unique ship. Kirawan is a 53-foot sloop built in 1936 by Jacobson and Stevens in New York City. It was designed by Philip Rhodes, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and chief of design at NYC naval architecture firm Cox and Stevens. The boat competed in a race in 1936 from Newport to Bermuda, where it braved hurricane winds to finish third overall and first in corrected ...

Heroism, Bravery and Seamanship: Local Connection to Grueling Race and Ocean Rescue

South African sailor Kirsten Neuschäfer has been sailing the world as part of the Golden Globe Race (GGR) since September 4, 2022, aboard her Cape George Cutter, Minnehaha. The 2022 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race is the third of its kind and is held much in the spirit of the first GGR in 1968. The race is a non-stop, solo endeavour starting in the port of Les Sables-d’Olonne, France and travels eastward by The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Cape Leeuwin in Australia and Cape Horn in ...

N.S. Sailor Recognized for Outstanding Accomplishments

Paul Tingley, a decorated sailor and three-time paralympic medalist from Halifax, was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame on November 19, 2022. After a skiing accident at age 24 left Tingley paralyzed from the waist down, he was paired with local physiotherapist and decorated sailor Judy Lugar. It didn’t take the young Tingley long to develop an interest in the sport. His first time out on the water after the accident gave him a chance to forget about his injury and embrace a ...