The back story. . .

The crew of the SohCahToa is made up of Casey McNeese, Matt Smith and Jeff Stewart. We all met during college at Washington State University in Pullman, WA. After working a few years, Matt had a great idea to sail around the world and the seed was planted. We all felt that adventuring when we were in our late twenties would be much better than waiting until retirement and events in our lives were showing us just how precious and sometimes painfully short life can be.

We read and read lots of books and websites about people who have done this type of journey and realized that we should first learn how to sail before we leave for the tropics. So, we bought a 1979 Catalina 30' and proceeded to sail the shit out of it for about a year. The Catalina also taught us valuable lessons on boat maintenance, boat projects and how much they friggin cost. During this time, the three of us signed up for sailing lessons through WindWorks Sailing School located at Shilshole marina in Ballard, WA. We started taking US Sailing classes and met an instructor that ended up being a great friend, Dan Joram.

In July of 2004, we decided that it was time to shit or get off the pot for this trip and started looking for offshore cruising sailboats. We looked at a whole pile of floating shitheaps, with some really expensive boats thrown in there as well. In early August, we found a LaFitte '44, named the Margarita. The Margarita had returned the previous year from a 5 year circumnavigation with a family of 5 from Anacortes, the Stanfords. They had started their journey when their kids were 7, 9, and 11 years old and gave them an amazing education while traveling around the globe. After looking at the Margarita, it just felt like the right boat, and a month later, we were the legal owners. This last year of preparation has been exciting, exhausting, frustrating and rewarding.

Casey McNeese

Raised as the adopted son of migrant Ethiopian Jew Opal merchants, Mr. McNeese learned young the art of the jewel trade, camel jockeying, and snatching fish from the sea.. Seeking his fortune in the new world, Casey decided to seek enlightenment in the center of culture and intellect known to the ancients as Pullman where he would hone his storytelling skills so that he may shoulder the burden of his tribe's oral tradition. There he met the sage Jeff and began the wandering life known to his ancestors before him. Email Casey .

Jeff Stewart

After being abducted as a child by David Bowie and placed in the center of a large labyrinth, Jeff began to seek freedom from both the walls that surrounded him and those freaky puppets. Upon his escape, Jeff sought his fleeing captors across the land. He hungered to see his enemies driven before him and to hear the lamentation of their women. After vanquishing all the minions of the Bowie, the path of their demon king led him across the vast golden fields to the Hamlet of Pullman, where he was befriended first by the tinkerer named Matt and then later by the bard named Casey. Email Jeff .

Matt Smith

Not much is known about the master of machinery named Matt. His legend began when he, then an unknown Yak foreskin trimmer, bested the Malaysian Magician in the time honored game of skill called billiards. The spoils of the victory gained the young Matthew entrance into the hallowed temple of knowledge known as WSU, where as fate would have it, he met wanderers like himself and that is where his story truly began. His visions inspired both Jeff and Casey to leave their endeavors and embark onto an epic journey full of adventure, imbibing, and some occasional sailing. Email Matt .

The Duchess

The full title of our dingy is "The Duchess of Hazard" and she is the full ducal heir to the estate left by her two brothers, the "Dukes of Hazard". She is a 20 year old Novurania inflatable dingy and was entrusted into our care by Jeff's cousin Steve. She can be a bit temperamental, as royalty is ought to be, and occasionally needs to be patched. I wouldn't be surprised if at the end of this trip, there was more patch on the Duchess than original material. She is driven by a 25 horse power Tohatsu 2-stroke outboard that was generously donated by Jeff's dad. At full throtte it feels like she is going to tear apart.

Houdingy

Casey named this dingy after two back to back escapes by this little boat. After a couple of nights of bobbing around in 30 knot winds, the dingy sawed through it's mooring line and started floating away. Commando Casey quickly jumped over the side and started swimming after the fleeing dinghy. After recovering it about 75 yards away, Casey brought it back to the boat where Jeff tied it back up with a super sneaky shitty slip knot. It wasn't 3 minutes later that the dingy had once again freed it's bonds and was on it's way south. Again, "Army of One" McNeese bailed over the side and rescued the dingy. After two escape attempts, the knots holding it were made fast and has yet to escape again. . . yet.

Earl

Earl is our venerable, always reliable, "Monitor Wind-Vane", made by the fine folks at Scan-mar industries. He commands the helm when we are under sail, and has steered us for as long as 3 days without adjustment. He has turned out to be pretty much the most invaluable crew member that we have and would surely be voted captain if he weren't an inannimate object. The previous boat owners had named him Athena, but after some serious counselling, he has accepted that he is and always has been a male, redneck, Skynard fan.