Captian Brian T Luke:  Brian is 26 years old and grew up in Honolulu HI.  He spent much of his childhood and adolescence racing sailing dinghys, J24s , and other match racing boats.  Eventualy he started crewing on high performance offshore racing boats.  Brian left Hawaii and somehow ended up in a landlocked desert for quite some time.  He graduated from UNLV in 2004 with a major in Philosophy and decided it was time to get back out on the water.  With no cruising experience and a dream to see the world by sea he started looking online for a boat that would suite his racing background and cruising needs.  Brian eventually found the vessel that he would fall in love with and flew to Annapolis Maryland to buy what would soon become "Further ." 

     After some initial preparation of his new boat, Brian singlehanded "Further" down the chesapeake in early December with ice on the deck clad in his snowboarding gear, and armed only with an old handheld gps and a road atlas because he could afford no more.  He sailed along the East Coast until he hit Charleston in the dead of winter.   Once Brian reached Charleston he was ready for a break.  His pockets were empty and the solo sailing he experienced  amidst the Norwester storms of the Atlantic proved more of an adventure than he had bargained for.  After setting anchor off of the Charleston Municipal Marina Brian prepared to settle down for a short while and set out to find work.  He quickly found more work than he could handle.  With a backround in structural fiberglass he quickly landed a position with Captains Choice Yacht Management, as well as a job with the local rigger.  Brian also started waiting tables at the "Marine Variety Store,"  a staple  and well respected "Low Country" culinary institution right there at the marina.  Brian also ran his own business during this time "Hawaiian Brian's Boat Service" and contracted as a Fiberglass Specialist.  His Pockets Quickly refilled.  Eventualy Brian met Sarah, and that is where the adventure really begins.

 

First Mate Sarah J Birch:  Sarah is 20 years old and grew up in Charleston, SC.  She was applying to colleges when she met Brian in March of 2006 and decided to join him on Further.  Sarah learned the nuances of sailing very quickly (more by necesity than desire) and has expediantly become a most irreplacable crewmember.  Her skippering abilities are so intuitive they seem almost natural, and when Sarah is at the helm one can rest assured that "Further" can sail no faster than her present course.  Sarah and Brian's relationship quickly blossomed beyond that of crew and captain and she has fallen fast in love with both the captain and the sea.  To help support the financial aspect of the endeavor Sarah utilizes her talents at making  wire and bead jewelry and has recently been using her HTML talents to help design websites for other cruisers. 

 

We have been lucky to have only great crewmembers who have helped create lasting memories during our travels and whom we will never forget.  

     Shannon crewed with us from Charleston to the Exumas for about 6 months.  She is very inteligent and a very hard worker.  She picked up difficult concepts quickly and learned to navigate in about 10 minutes.  Brian never had to explain anything to her twice, except how to tie a proper boline and not spill her drink in the dinghy, both of which she never did figure out.  We had some hair raising experiences during our voyage, and she was always there with a cool head ready to do what needed to be done.  When her summer ended Shannon headed back to Charleston to attend Graduate School in the field of Marine Biology.   

     We took Jeff aboard In The Exumas to help with the notorious "Thorny Path" to Puerto Rico.  We gather he enjoyed the experience because he flew down to join us again for the passage from St. Thomas USVI to Venezuela.  Jeff is a retired banker and soon to be real estate mogul from North Carolina.  He is helpful on the boat as having another mans' strength takes the stress off Brian for a while. 

     Jake was our good friend from Red Hook and we invited him along for the trip from St. Thomas to Venezuela.  I think Jake came aboard mostly for the "crazy" experience and the promise of many great parties.  He picked up some sailing skills along the way but spent most of his time entertaining us.  When we attempted to set the kite on the leg from Grenada to Maragrita island Jake lost most of the skin on his hand in a split second as the big spinaker filled and he realized he had only one wrap on the winch.  It was nasty looking!  He will have some nice scars I imagine.

     Of course, we can't forget Cody.  Our adorable and hyper active Scicillian Hound.  We rescued him from an animal shelter in Nassau, Bahamas and he quickly became an irreplacable addition to the crew.  However his anxious personality and uncontrollable desire to eat all of the teak and canvas on the boat made it difficult to care for him once we started working full time in St. Thomas.  He was flown to Nevada to live with Brians parents on their 100 acres of land with 3 other dogs whom he has grown to adore.  He will join us again when the time is better fit for him.