Victory Chimes
Photo Credit: Quinton Donleavy
"I would say my craft is the preservation of traditional sailing. And I think the thing that inspired me to start it was just a lot of my connection to nature as a kid and how sailing and doing it in a sort of, I guess I for lack of a better term, say more organic way, with less plastic and less technology and sort of just, you know, more wherewithal, and that sort of inspired me to go the route of traditional sail, it also sort of fell in my lap to a degree, like a lot of things that, you know, you end up being lucky with. But I would say that that's one of the things that has kept me inspired to keep doing it over the years. I'm sure it's that connection that you can have to the natural world through having to work through you can't go around it, you can't go over it, you have to just work through it and figure it out and do it with you know, all of these traditional materials," says Captain Sam Sikkema.
Captain Sam grew up in Michigan sailing on the great lakes. His father introduced him to sailing which at first Sam didn't really care for and enjoyed the speed of powerboats instead but then over time he grew a passion for sailing.
"There is not a school for being a Merchant Mariner. There certainly is a Maritime Academy which is an excellent way to go. I certainly considered that getting out of high school, though, I have to say, when I was getting out of high school, the idea of doing any more school period ever was not really on my radar. So one of the things that I think is really cool about sailing, and especially traditional sailing is that it is in a lot of ways an oral tradition and the best way to learn is through experience. So it's pretty much all on-the-job training. I was fortunate that I was able to kind of, you know, get into it right out of school and be put to sea and just start going and getting that experience and learning and seeing the world and yeah, you know, went on from there," said Captain Sam.
Photo Credit: Quinton Donleavy
Sam has visited many countries throughout his time sailing and he shares with Kristan the various travels he has taken.
I’ve visited 50 some odd countries. One ship in particular, Picton Castle, which is a square rig training ship that we take people out, who would, you know, a lot of times have zero experience, never even been on a boat before in their lives. And we'd take them out and teach them how to, you know, do this deep-sea square rig sailing, but we'd go to a lot of really cool places along the way. So essentially, I sailed all over the world on that ship. That being said, you also, you know, you realize how big a place the world is when you crawl around it at about five miles an hour. Right? You know, even having been, I don't know, I think it's maybe 56 countries now, I've actually never touched anywhere on the continent of Africa. I've never been to South America. I guess excepting Panama Canal. But so there's this, you know, vast chunks of the world that you don't go to, but I would say, you know, the sort of the adventure of diving off into, you know, the far reaches of the South Pacific and whatnot. You know, it's eye-opening. That's the thing about connection to nature is you got to try and figure out how to, you know, metaphorically, I guess swim through it. There are too many adventures along the way there. But it's certainly an interesting way to see the world and it's a really interesting way to meet people and sort of understanding their culture when you arrive there in a way,” says Captain Sam.
Sam’s craft is not only in the preservation of boats and sailing, he also is a musician, a bass player. He shares with Kristan what the Windjamming experience is like and how music and other unique elements are incorporated on the boats of the fleet. But the most important takeaway from Windjamming is the beautiful Maine coastline.
The Victory Chimes cat, Fiji.
“The thing about Windjamming is that we're in this amazing place here on the coast of Maine where it's an amazing natural environment, protected waters, you know, beautiful, just absolutely gorgeous coastline. I mean we're sitting right here, right now in this cove with these little pine trees, studded islands, and the suns getting ready to go down,” says Captain Sam.
Captain Sam continues the conversation with Kristan on the quarterdeck of the Victory Chimes discussing the history of the vessel, his past career leading up to being the captain of the Victory Chimes, the experience of Windjamming, and so much more.
To view, the Maine Windjammer Association fleet visit their website, Instagram and Facebook.
To view, the Victory Chimes visit their website, Instagram and Facebook.
Thanks to sponsors Berlin City Auto Group and Cliff House Maine.
For more information on the Cliff House Maine event with the Windjammers, click here.