59° North Sailingvideo
Emma Garschagen // From Apprentice to Entrepreneur
July 10, 2024 · 1h 12m · 254 views
What this video covers
Emma Garshagen, co-host of the 59 North "On the Wind" podcast and former chief mate on Ice Bear and Falcon, describes her transition from apprentice sailor to founder of Sail Seabird, a coastal sail-training business operating out of Portland, Maine.7:20 She joined 59 North in 2019, sailed her first offshore passage from Newport to Annapolis aboard Eastbjorn with Matt Rutherford, and eventually took over as chief mate when Mia Karlsson was pregnant.21:15 She and her father spent two years refitting a Navy 44 purchased through a GSA military auction website — one of four Navy 44s listed — and her first season running paying trips on that boat is now underway.5:02 The conversation covers the psychological split between being both captain and business owner, the stress of boat transport and refit decisions, the culture-building work she did as 59 North grew from one boat to two, and the personal limits she discovered on a demanding Stockholm-to-England passage aboard Ice Bear. Andy Schell notes he deliberately waited to interview her until she had completed actual trips, distinguishing follow-through from intention.9:49 The practical lesson: the skills and culture absorbed as a crew member translate directly into running an independent sail-training operation, but the captain-versus-owner tension becomes an internal negotiation with no outside employer to resolve it.
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