www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com 27
WBM
High praise from the
respected Captain Eddy.
What an initiation.
Over the years navigation
improved. Before GPS and
after compasses and dead
reckoning, there was Loran-C,
radio direction devices, and
still relying on a compass and
listening to a boat’s rpm.
The Gulf Stream, where you
would go for the big fish, was
often as far as 65 miles out but,
even if the fishing destination
was only 10 or 15 miles, navi-gation
was tricky. Put a storm
in the mix, and the difficulty
increased exponentially.
Charter boats were known
to head out at midnight to
be at the fishing grounds by
daybreak, returning on the
second day. A normal day
was to head out at 5 a.m.
and return just after dark.
Twenty-hour days were not
uncommon at the height of
the summer season. Although
most charter fishermen would
do some commercial fishing in
the off season, it was not nearly
as profitable as chartering.
“It’s mostly sleep all winter,
and no sleep all summer,”
Rock Brown said in a Star-
News interview.
Drew says he had thought
about finding a way to live
aboard a boat ever since he left
for NC State and found himself
missing the water. Barbara,
a registered nurse at New
Hanover Regional Medical
Center, realized early on that
this was a dream of Drew’s, and
it would someday mean finding
a way to make it happen.
Barbara is also from
Wilmington, having gone to
Hoggard High School when
Drew was at New Hanover.
While Drew was at State and
Barbara was at East Carolina,
they met at a football game
between the two schools. They
married in 1984, had twin girls
in 1986, and a son in 1991.
Drew and Barbara moved
aboard their 52-foot 2005
Seahorse Trawler named
Traveller, which Drew
purchased last fall from a
gentleman who kept her in
Boyne City, Michigan.
Delivery was from Lake
Charlevoix, Michigan to
Masonboro. The trip took
Traveller through the Great
Lakes, Canada, the Erie Canal,
the Hudson River, the Atlantic
Ocean, the Delaware River, C
and D Canal, Chesapeake Bay,
and the Intracoastal Waterway,
including the Albemarle and
Pamlico rivers.
Drew’s high school and
college friend, Jim Craig, went
with him the whole way. “We
added one more adventure to a
long list of adventures we have
had together,” Drew says.
They unexpectedly spent
a week in Little Falls, New
York, while an Erie Canal lock
malfunctioned. The broken
mechanism from the historic
canal was circa-19th century
and had to be designed and
custom fabricated.
The Seahorse 2005 is
well-outfitted for a retired
couple to live aboard and
cruise to near and far.
Although Drew’s favorite
thing is to anchor in Banks
Channel and watch the
sunset, his plans include some
adventurous travels. Seaworthy
and comfortable, Traveller
promises to be a well-thought-out
retirement refuge and a
perfect cruiser to other ports to
see other sunsets.
REW Brown
realized his
dream of living
aboard a boat
with the pur-chase
of a 52-foot trawler.
Brown sets off from Michigan
to bring Traveller home to
Masonboro.
JIM CRAIG ALLISON POTTER