My name is Kevin Boothby and I have been sailing all of my life. Or perhaps even before, as my mom said that she went sailing with dad when she was pregnant with me … anyway, I also developed an interest in physics and studied at the University of Chicago where I earned a PhD in 1996 (but please don’t hold that against me). Then I ventured off into the financial world when physics geeks were a popular hire, taking my first “real” job with Arthur Andersen LLP in Chicago.
But my love was always sailing, and once I had the means I was soon off on seagoing adventures. I bought Ruth Avery in 2001, and sailed her around the world 2001-2004. That was before affordable video cameras, and YouTube, unfortunately. I returned to working in 2005, this time with Merrill Lynch Commodities in Houston, TX, until 2008 when the financial crisis left me out of a job. No matter, after an extensive re-fit I returned to sailing Ruth Avery. Ahh, how sweet it is.
I have always wanted to be a professional sailor, but also wanted my own show, an outlet for my creative juices. Along comes YouTube, the proverbial match made in heaven for me. Let me just say at this point to all of you who follow How to Sail Oceans, thank you! It means a lot to me.
Though I have managed to muddle through and more or less learn how to make videos, the written word is my natural habitat. Hence this site. Here I can write and publish whatever I want, so this is the unfiltered me. I hope that you enjoy the reading.
Oh, and since so many people ask, my little ship Ruth Avery is a Gilmer 31, hull #7,. The story related to me is that the builder, Clark Ryder, re-set the hull numbers for their “kit” Southern Cross 31’s after around hull #100. So she is the seventh hull of the owner finished boats, though over a hundred of her sisters, both factory and owner finished, have come before. Ryder referred to the new generation of kit boats as Gilmer 31’s, after the designer Thomas Gilmer, to distinguish them from the Southern Cross 31’s.
Ruth Avery was first completed by her previous owner Meade Breese, and launched in 1991. Then she sat on the hard for nine years until I found her in 2001. Ruth Avery was Meade’s mother, a nice name for a boat I thought.
SPECS: LOD 31′; LWL 25′; Beam 9.5′; Draft 4.5′; Displacement 13,600lbs.
Kevin Boothby Sailing 