Why am I writing a newsletter?
I’ve spent most of my life feeling a pull I couldn’t quite name — a quiet, steady tug toward the horizon. It all started with a moment years ago, standing at the rail of a Navy landing craft with The Pogues in my ears and the sea rising in front of me. The water had found me. And once it did, I never stopped hearing its call. Celtic Crossings is my way of sharing that journey.
Aboard S/V Celtic Cross, my 2003 Amel Super Maramu, I’m setting out to explore the world one harbor, one tide, and one song at a time. Along the way, I want to document the people I meet, the music that finds me, the food and places that shape each stop, and the quiet moments at sea when everything becomes clear in ways it never could on land.
This newsletter is both a logbook and a story — a record of a life lived between tide and tune. If you feel drawn to the sea, to travel, to music, or simply to stories about finding your way, I’d love for you to come aboard.
But Really, Why a Newsletter?
This voyage deserves more than captions and clips. It deserves space — sentences, stories, reflections, and music woven into the experience. A newsletter gives me that space, and gives you something you can return to, not lose in a feed that refreshes every thirty seconds.
Subscribe and join me on the crossing.
There’s a wide horizon ahead, and I’m glad to share it with you.
As a subscriber you’ll get a weekly email from me containing:
The Sea State: My current location, wind speed and direction, sea conditions, weather, my heading or planned course, and the “mood aboard”.
Song of the Crossing: Highlight a track that defines this issue’s story
Harbor Notes: The impressions of the latest port or harbor I was in.
Melodies Aloft: Music that I encounter organically. Buskers, bar bands, street musicians, tunes drifting through the marina, a stranger whistling on the street. Music that “found me” in the past week.
People of the Tide: Sailors, wanderers, fishermen, musicians I encounter along the way.
The Log Book: Scenes from the past week. Moments from a crossing, a harbor entry, lessons I’ve learned or just life aboard.
Bearings: What I’ve learned on this leg of the journey. Thoughts from a night watch or quiet morning at anchor. How this journey is shaping me.