Break Away

Welcome to the Break Away blog. This post is here to introduce you to the crew that will be facilitating the next 3-week journey. But first I would like to give you a background of what we have been up to. We have been in the process of setting up for the new arrivals by cleaning, bringing food aboard, filling the boats with water, and creating a home for our new arrivals. Our dream team staff consists of Captain Hedrek, Mate (Julia) Box, and scuba dive instructor Mackenzie.

Captain Hedrek: Hedrek grew up sailing around the North Coast of Cornwall and started working on boats professionally in 2019 as an engineer. He has since accrued some 8k nautical miles in a combination of deck and engine roles, sailing from Southampton to Turkey, from Dover to Finland, and spending a 6 month season sailing between Corfu and the Peloponnese. He worked as a teacher in the NGO sector in East Africa and has always loved imparting knowledge and the shared experience of learning. This is his first season with ActionQuest, and, holding his RYA Yachtmaster offshore, he feels ready to hit the ground running.
Ideas: Staff bio, quick intro, closing about excitements.

Mate Boxy: Julia has always loved the water despite growing up in landlocked Colorado. She swam throughout her childhood and college. When she wasn’t in class or at the pool, she spent her time in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, practicing yoga or learning new crafts. With an adventurer as a father, at just 1 and a half years old, she was on a boat sailing the BVI. Since she has been on sailing trips with her family every few years, and also attended a summer Seamester program in 2019. There she was exposed to scuba diving, which deepened her love for the water. Julia studied Human Development and Family Studies at Colorado State University and worked as a Certified Nursing Aide. She has had many titles over the last couple of years in addition to being a CNA. She claims that the most filling was as an ice cream scooper, the most playful as a preschool teacher, and the one with the most sunshine as a lifeguard. Her inner adventurer and value for the importance of medicine decided it was time to move outside with her medical knowledge, and she became Wilderness First Responder certified. Julia is always looking forward to being in and on the water for the summer.

Scuba Instructor Mackenzie: Mackenzie grew up in Germantown, MD, just outside of Washington, D.C. After graduating from Penn State University, where she was a varsity springboard diver, she learned to SCUBA dive with her mom in Phuket, Thailand, and quickly fell in love with the underwater world. Afterward, she stayed in Asia for three years, earning her PADI Instructor certification in Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia. When not underwater, you can find Mackenzie coaching gymnastics, walking her dog, or surfing in the Outer Banks.

We can’t wait to go through this journey with you! I hope you look forward to hearing from our new shipmates on this next adventure.