MichaelBagleyPhoto's Blog

For more than a decade my profession was working as a boat captain.  Serving primarily on traditional sailing vessels like schooners and skipjacks, most of my days between April and November were spent behind the wheel of a sailboat working with great crews to make the ships sail as best they could.  In 2006 I returned to New Jersey to embark on a different journey, and since then my time on the water has been used primarily to shoot sailboats and sailors as they make their ships sail as best they can.  I have been privileged to see some tremendous sailing in front of my lens, and I often can feel connected to the excitement that unfolds before me.

Reaching for Virgin Gorda

Nothing, though, can replace the feeling one experiences actually being on board a sailboat.  Last week I had a wonderful opportunity to revisit that feeling.  I was one of four captains representing Project U.S.E., the nonprofit I work with, as we led a group of MBA candidates from Wharton Business School on a leadership development program on board sailboats in the British Virgin Islands.  The week-long expedition, part of the Wharton Ventures program, provided participants with the opportunity to learn and test leadership concepts and styles, challenge themselves in a new environment, network with fellow Wharton students, and have some fun.

A weather system was working its way through the Caribbean at the beginning of the week, and the unsettled atmosphere led to several days of rain, gusty winds and significant swells from the north.  It was as if we planned it!  My crew, six impressive individuals ranging in age from 27 to 31, were all new to sailing.  Beginning with the basics – bow, stern, port, starboard, boom, mainsail, jib, tacking, jibing, and so on – we worked our way through exercises and drills.  After just two days the participants were running the boat like old hands, even in spite of several serious cases of mal de mer thanks to the northerly swells!  Traversing the length of the Drake Channel their sailing skills and enthusiasm grew each day, and so did their leadership abilities.  Our structure enabled each participant to serve as the leader for a day (“Captain du Jour” as it came to be known), and the CDJ was responsible for managing the vessel and the crew during the day.  Departure times, sail plans, meals, etc. all required consideration and decision making.

Leading the Race to Road Harbour

On the last day we created a regatta wherein the four Wharton Venture boats raced one another back to Road Harbour in Tortola.  The learning my team did during the week paid off for them as they won the three hour race handily, beating the second place boat by more than a mile and the other two boats by significantly more than that.  It was their great teamwork, strong leadership, attention to detail, determination, and, most of all, enthusiasm that helped them deliver the win.

As I shared the week with the crew of Friends’ Ship II I was reminded of all the things I love about life aboard a sailboat.  Watching my team progress from uninitiated landlubbers to skilled seamen and women was a treat.  Their enthusiasm for learning and discovering the wonderful sport of sailing reinvigorated my own.  And thanks to my team, this summer as I am photographing sailors and sailboats I will be a little less observer and a little more participant.  I will feel that much more connected to the special feeling that can only be experienced on a sailboat.

The Team - Jeanine, Prem, CY, Luisa, Walter, Mike and Yin