“You cannot find a peril so great that the hope of reward will not be greater.”
— Prince Henry the Navigator, 1434
Washington State to Chile and back. Four months in the Sea of Cortez. Then Florida, the Atlantic coast, the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Brazil. One small catamaran, fifteen years, and every reef along the way.
For Christmas 2004, a family member handed me a book about Ferdinand Magellan. I opened it expecting a history lesson. Instead I found five ships and about 270 men sailing off the edge of every known map. They faced mutiny, storms, starvation and a strait that wanted them dead. Three years later, one battered ship came home and proved the world could be circled.
I’ve carried that story with me ever since. It taught me that fear is information, not a stop sign. You study the risk, plan for it, respect it, and then you go.
So I’m going.
Orgies on distant shores.
Five centuries later, distant shores still know how to throw a party.
Blue Rim 5 is a small catamaran on a very large mission: to sail the whole blue rim of the Americas.
When Shamrocket reaches Isla Mujeres, the expedition doesn’t end. She gets crated, shipped across the ocean, and relaunched in Scandinavia, the waters my Norse ancestors sailed a thousand years ago. Then the saga continues.
The Vikings never attacked anyone. They were simply defending themselves.
…NOT!
The Nevado Raiders have our own way of hitting a coastline:
We record everything we see and do. Paid members get all of it, unfiltered.
We seek out coastal and island communities and learn their music, their meals, and the stories that deserve to be heard by the world.
We come home loaded with treasure: wrecks found, reefs surveyed, creatures filmed, questions answered. Then we share every bit of it.
Catamaran Dan and the Getaway Band
Shamrocket isn’t just a boat. At anchor, she’s a stage. Catamaran Dan and the Getaway Band broadcast live from the water, playing all original music from Songs of the Rim straight to the channel. Each show is built for its audience, whether that’s a fundraiser, a festival or a quiet anchorage. Grab a seat wherever you are.
Meet the Getaway Band →
The Nevado Raider Call
Blue Rim 5™ launches April 1, 2027, from Oxnard, California. The Rim Run Pac™ heads north to Washington State first, then turns south and sails the entire Pacific coast of the Americas down to Chile before coming back to California. Then Shamrocket is trailered to Puerto Peñasco for four months in the Sea of Cortez.
From there the trailer heads east. The Atlantic run goes from the Florida Keys up to Nantucket Island and back, and then Shamrocket crosses to the Bahamas. From the Bahamas she continues down through the islands of the Greater and Lesser Antilles to Trinidad, turns east to Recife, Brazil, and then returns past Venezuela, Colombia and Panama to finish at Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Every season is spent in the water, snorkeling, diving, and logging every reef, anchorage, and uninhabited beach along the way.
Blue Rim 5™ runs on weather, not calendar. Weather windows decide when we move. The quality of a place decides how long we stay. Nights are spent at anchor, on a mooring, or pulled up on a beach — never in a marina unless there is truly no alternative.
Blue Rim 5 opens on the Pacific. Shamrocket launches at Oxnard, runs north to Washington State, then sails the whole Pacific coast down to Chile and back to California. Next comes the Sea of Cortez, then the trailer heads east for the Florida and Bahamas loop. Dates are planned, but the weather has the final say.
| Phase | Where | When |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Launch | Oxnard, CA · north to Washington State | Apr – Jul 2027 |
| 🇺🇸 South to San Diego | Washington · Oregon · California · wait out Mexico’s hurricane season | Aug – Nov 2027 |
| 🇲🇽 Southbound | Mexico · Guatemala · El Salvador · Honduras · Nicaragua · Costa Rica · Panama | Dec 2027 – Jul 2028 |
| 🇨🇱 South to Chile | Colombia · Ecuador · Peru · Chile | Aug 2028 – Apr 2029 |
| 🇵🇦 Northbound | Chile → Panama → Central America → Mexico | May 2029 – May 2030 |
| 🇺🇸 Rim Run Pac™ Complete | San Diego → Oxnard, CA | Jun – Oct 2030 |
| 🇲🇽 Sea of Cortez | Trailer to Puerto Peñasco · four months in the Sea of Cortez | Nov 2030 – Feb 2031 |
| 🇺🇸 The Atlantic | Trailer east · Florida Keys → Nantucket Island → Fort Lauderdale | Spring – Oct 2031 |
| 🇧🇸 The Crossing | Fort Lauderdale → the Bahamas | Nov 2031 |
| 🇯🇲 The Antilles | The Bahamas · Greater Antilles · Lesser Antilles → Trinidad | From 2032 |
| 🇧🇷 East to Brazil | Trinidad → Recife, Brazil | Weather decides |
| 🇲🇽 The Finish | Venezuela · Colombia · Panama → Isla Mujeres, Mexico | Weather decides |
Welcome to the Reef
Starting in the winter of 2031–32, Shamrocket spends a full season in the Bahamas, at least six months, based around Great Exuma, the warmest water in the chain. From there she works the islands: reefs, seagrass beds, mangrove creeks, blue holes, and the uninhabited cays that bigger boats can’t reach. Then she heads south into the Antilles.
The focus is pure snorkeling and diving. The only reasons to come ashore are fresh water and groceries. Every dive site, snorkel site, anchorage, and uninhabited cay gets logged with its position — and the known hurricane holes get checked and recorded for other mariners.
The Bahamas winters are also research seasons. Shamrocket and her instruments go to work alongside marine research teams — reef, seagrass, mangrove, marine life, and blue-hole observation — through the GROAN platform.
🇧🇸 The Bahamas • Winter
Field Research • GROAN
Summers run from the Dry Tortugas through Key West and the Keys, up the Florida Atlantic coast, past Georgia and the Carolinas, and on to Nantucket, Massachusetts, then back down the coast. Wrecks, reefs, anchorages, and beach pull-ups along the whole route.
Every dive spot, snorkel spot, anchorage, and uninhabited beach pull-up along that stretch gets logged. Summers also mean shipwreck history research, hurricane-hole verification, work with research teams, live broadcasts from the water, and songwriting at the waterfront venues along the way.
🇺🇸 Keys & Atlantic • Summer
Hobie Getaway catamaran. 17 feet. 24-inch draft. Open trampolines. She gets into places bigger boats can't go — inside the reef, into the mangrove creek, onto the beach where the people are. Wind and a solar-powered electric motor move her. No fuel, no propane, nothing combustible aboard.
Jackery Solar Generator 2000 v2 with solar. Starlink Mini. J Sink Air Line hookah dive system and a full SCUBA setup. Water-quality meter and Secchi disk for the research work. DRAGR Magnum Jet Sled for gear. Over 1,250 miles already sailed in the catamaran-and-sled configuration.
See the Full Build →
Shamrocket — Hobie Getaway Catamaran · 24" Draft
The adventure is real. The evenings are extraordinary. When the anchor is set and the day is done, the Rim Runner™ gets made. This is not the reward for the expedition. It is the other half of it.
Get the Full Recipe & Story →The Rim Runner™ anthem — stadium island-rock, sunset-protocol energy, made for the moment the anchor goes down.
