Cracked Off & Reaching Thru Retirement
Adam Loory’s Sailing Tales
Adam Loory retired from being the General Manager of UK Sailmakers International in 2023 after holding the job for nearly 34 years. He had been dreaming about sailing around the world most of his life; in fact, his dream began when he was 11-years-old when his father, who was thinking about circumnavigating, passed on the books he was reading. Loory’s dream was stoked with books by Slocum, Dana and Chichester, and especially Robin Lee Graham’s book, DOVE. Graham was 16-years-old when he started his five-year circumnavigation and that convinced Adam that even he could circumnavigate.
53 years later Adam is off on his own voyage and he will be sharing his experiences on the UK Sailmakers’ website. About the blog, Adam said, “After being an editor at Sailing World Magazine, covering the America’s Cup in Fremantle, Australia for the American Newspaper USA TODAY, writing the book CHAMPIONSHIP TACTICS with Gary Jobson and Tom Whidden and then working so long at UK Sailmakers, I’m cracking the sheets and reaching to retirement horizons on my custom 40-footer SOULMATES and others.”
The Perfect Day on the Water
For most of my sailing life, while I was racing, I always said, “Winning a sailboat race was the most fun you could have – with your clothes on.” There was performance sailing. There were all your friends. There were…
SOULMATES Design Details – How To Turn A Racer Into A Fast Ocean Cruiser
SOULMATES is a unique performance cruiser. Most cruising sailors would turn away from her because of her eight-foot draft, powerful sail plan, small tankage and tiller steering. She is spritely to sail and care has to be taken to adjust…
Converting SOULMATES into a Blue Water Cruising Yacht
In this Part 1 out of 2 articles, I will explain how I turned my double-handed racer into a blue water cruising yacht for long distance, around the world sailing. SOULMATES was built in 1991 by Goetz Custom Sailboats and…
My Sailing Trip Begins
On November 6th, I started my round-the-world retirement cruise on SOULMATES with friends Perry Burgess and Andrew Graham when we sailed from New Rochelle, N.Y., to Florida. The non-stop 860-mile trip took five-and-three-quarters days. Just after noon, we departed western…
My Sailing Background
One of my first sailing memories came from when I was five-years-old. Our family was on a vacation in Hanko, Norway, and the hotel had a sailing instructor with a 20-foot sailboat. George, the instructor, was trying to teach me…