April 11, 2011
Walking down the dock at Pier 66, trying not to gawk at the new 282-foot Oceanco M/Y Seven Seas, I bumped into Capt. Bryan Pridgeon of M/Y Triumphant Lady.
Though the boat is at the dock this summer, he couldn’t be happier. He’s a new grandfather. Of twin boys. Born on his birthday.
His son, Capt. Steven Pridgeon has recently taken command of the 160-foot Feadship M/Y Major Wager from Capt. Walter Rowan, who has moved on to command M/Y Kiss the Sky. Major Wager is also sitting at the dock this summer, waiting to be sold.
All that sitting is OK to the Pridgeons, who get to spend time with Liam and Logan, who are already 8 months old.
Congrats to you both, and to new mommy (and former chef) Paula. It goes by so fast; savor every moment.
Capt. Les Annan, who left M/Y Paradigm in the fall, is now in command of the 52m Feadship M/Y Rasselas.
Capt. Brendan Rooney, the long-time mate on M/Y Rena under Capt. Ken Bracewell, is now in command of the 101-foot Hargrave M/Y Pamalama.
Capt. Mac McDonald, after more than seven years with the owner of M/Y Magic, has bid a bittersweet goodbye to the boss and the boat. The 150-foot Trinity is now officially M/Y Encore and will likely live in Palm Beach.
Capt. Mac and his wife, Chef Betsy, assisted the crew in the transition for a few days and then moved to Ft. Myers on Florida’s southwest coast.
“We're planning on a trip to Cartagena in about a week to see what Colombia is all about,” Mac wrote in a recent e-mail. “After that, we're hot on the trail of a new Magic. … We are decompressing now, trying to relax and am not thinking about crew problems, dockage reservations or broken pumps. It's good to be boat-less, but only because we know we're heading into something bigger and better.”
I’m not sure if the name had anything to do with it, but Mac wrote often about great crew and great adventures aboard Magic. I’m guessing he had a lot to do with it. Here’s hoping Mac and Betsy can make Magic on another yacht.
The crew of the 121-foot Crescent M/Y Olga took their sportfishing boat, the 61-foot S/F Ambush, to explore for marlin on the St. Lucia passage in early March. They saw 14 marlin and reeled in 10 that day, each 300-400 pounds.
The crew contacted the International Sport Fishing Federation and Ambush is getting a certificate for tagging 10 marlins in five hours. Might be a record in the Caribbean, said Olga Capt. Bernard Calot.
“Just another day at the office,” Capt. Bernard said.
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