Meet the Crew: Bob Watkins

Alan's wife Cheryl arrives to Horta today and they will be spending the next week exploring the island of Faial and some surrounding islands of the Azores. (Lucky ducks!) So that means we need to introduce the next crew mate who will be stepping onboard for the next leg of the journey. That would be Bob!

Bob, he's  the one on the right!

We met Bob and his wife Alicia a couple of years ago when they moved their boat to J Dock and we’ve been hanging out ever since. When Alex offered Bob  a chance to sail from the Azores to England and up the eastern side, we were thrilled that he jumped at it right away .  We figured he must like to spend days on end listening to Alex’s blaring German Tuba Rap!

Growing up not far from Lake Hartwell, Bob has been on or near the water most of his life.  However, he wasn’t bitten by the sailing bug until he spent his honeymoon on the tall ship Mandalay of the Windjammer fleet sailing from Grenada to Venezuela.  Bob and Alicia took to sailing immediately and have since sailed around the Florida Panhandle, the ICW, GA/FL coast and the Florida Keys.  Together, they hauled a MacGregor 26 from Maine to Miami and loved every minute of it. They have also chartered several boats in the West Indies and the BVI’s. 

Recently, they got bitten by the racing bug  and are now part of the regular race crew on George and Susan Chretien’s boat “Moonstruck”. If you follow any of the race results you’ll see Moon Struck stays at the top, so it should be of no surprise to hear that George has contracted Lloyds of London to insure his crew since Bob and David Lewis will be on Nani at the same time. He wants to make sure he’s covered if they get Shanghaied and pressed into service on a French fishing vessel,  an outcome worse than death for Sir David.

 Bob never left Athens after college and currently owns a financial planning business in Athens that he manages with Alicia. Together they have two rescues: Gus, a 3 legged chocolate lab that has decided he would rather live with Bob’s mom and be the center of attention and Petey the Pirate, a one-eyed lab mix that loves to hang out on sailboats. In true pirate fashion, Petey will just board your boat to  join you for snacks and cocktails, so keep a watchful eye out for the Petey the Pirate at Sunrise Cove Marina.

Outside of sailing, Bob has been a Boy Scout Scoutmaster for 21 years in Franklin Springs, GA where he grew up. His years of scouting have taught him to be prepared so he is excited and ready for this journey!