Patrick Childress - A FINAL FAREWELL - (Sailing Brick House #68)
August 20, 2020 · 46 min · 104K views · Siyancuma Local Municipality, South Africa
Rebecca swimming with manta rays underwater.
What this video covers
Rebecca Childress delivers a memorial tribute to her husband Patrick Childress, who died of COVID-19 while the couple was locked down in South Africa aboard their boat Brick House, ending nearly 13 years of continuous liveaboard cruising together.0:02
Patrick's sailing biography spans decades: he grew up in Miami, built a 14-foot sailboat called Water Dog and sailed it to Bimini before losing the rudder and mast in a storm, then built a 17-foot boat named Juggernaut and completed a solo circumnavigation on it — at a time when fewer than 50 people had done so single-handed.6:20 A second circumnavigation attempt aboard Slippery Turtle ended when the boat hit reefs at the Galapagos Islands.7:05 He later completed a third circumnavigation with Rebecca on Brick House.9:53 Friends and family confirm he also served in Vietnam and worked in Colorado molybdenum mines to fund his early sailing.4:31 Gareth Hughes, a retired delivery skipper who worked with Hank Schmidt of Offshore Passage Opportunities, describes Patrick as humble despite his status as an early solo circumnavigator.11:54 Friends Jan and Rich recount meeting Patrick and Rebecca in Isla Mujeres in 2008 and again in Malaysia, sailing together across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar.17:14 Rebecca credits the global sailing community's outpouring of support as central to her ability to grieve and continue.1:46
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