Captain Graeme Nichol

Captain Graeme (pronounced Graham) Nichol has over 50 years sailing experience. He has sailed in everything from dinghies to 65ft keel boats. He has extensive racing experience from local club races to ocean races across the Atlantic.

 

Sailing Experience

 

Graeme’s racing experience

• Cape to Rio Yacht Race sailing from Cape Town, South Africa to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• The Governor’s Cup, sailing from Cape Town, South Africa to the island of St. Helena (St Helena is the little island in the middle of the Atlantic where Napoleon Bonaparte was first buried)
• Numerous racing regattas off the coast of South Africa, as well as the NE of the United States, every weekend, for five years in the Long Island Sound, racing 40 ft sport boats and then locally on the St. Johns River and offshore from St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach.

Graeme’s cruising experience

• Graeme and his wife, Nicola, with their 8 month old baby lived aboard their sail boat for 8 months, sailing from New York to Ft. Lauderdale, the Bahamas and back to New York.
• They cruised the Long Island Sound.
• They frequently take their sail boat on overnight to week long cruises around the Amelia Island area. Jekyll Island and St Augustine are favorite destinations.
• Graeme has helped take a sailboat through the Panama Canal and also with deliveries down the East Coast of the US.
• Graeme has taken his own boats down the East Coast on a number of occasions, sailing through the ICW and out at sea.

Love of Sailing

Graeme loves sailing. He started his sailing career by joining Sea Scouts as a youngster. Most of his life he has either owned a dinghy or a keel boat. He owned a Fireball for many years racing it on a weekly basis. During a stint in the military Graeme went through a Yachtmaster Ocean program with the South African Navy. Sailing SAN boats on a regular basis. Later racing for five season in Cape Town on a Farr 40. When he moved to New York Graeme crewed on sailboats in the Long Island Sound and later he bought his J30 which he raced and cruised extensively. He has now upgraded to a J40 to be able to share his love of sailing with others.

He is happiest when he can’t see land and loves long ocean crossings. Graeme is a certified US Coast Guard captain and has approximately 50,000 sea miles under his belt. He loves to teach others about the joy of sailing and how to be a better sailor, how to read the wind and how to optimize the boat.

Graeme was a management consultant for many years which led him to live in Cape Town, South Africa, New York, Amsterdam and Sydney, Australia. He continued consulting through his own company when he moved to Amelia Island but has since retired and now enjoys his passions. Graeme is also a certified flight instructor and used to teach aerobatics, bush flying and undertake tail wheel conversion training, when he lived in New Jersey.

Our Boat – SV Fin

SV Fin is a J40 sail boat. As the name implies she is 40ft in length. What 40ft means to you, is, there is lots of room to sit and relax. Whether you want to sit under the shade of the bimini or enjoy the Florida sun. There is a perfect place for you. J Boats is the manufacturer, known for great performance oriented cruisers and raceboats. SV Fin is a cruiser. SV Fin has 2 heads (or bathrooms) down below as well as comfortable seating. She has a fridge and freezer to keep your drinks cold as well as a stove to make coffee and an oven to make cookies. There is ample room below to relax and have lunch around the table.

Off the back of the boat is a swim ladder if you choose to take a dip in the ocean. She is fully equipped with all safety equipment such as life jackets, emergency positions system (EPIRB), flares, radios, both VHF and SSB.

How did she get her name? She was called ‘Infinity’ and not wanting to offend Buzz Lightyear we decided she needed a new name. A partial removal of the name left us with Fin. We liked it!
Our kids loved watching Finding Nemo and there is a part where the turtle, Crush, greets his son, Squirt, “..now give me some fin, noggin dude!!!!” with ‘Noggin’ they bump heads, followed by ‘Fin’ and they High Fin one another. Hence ‘FIN’ 🙂