Shanachie's Crew

the McKeown Family

Click on the photos to access each person’s own log page


Joe	Nancy	Kali
Captain Joe, fearless leader, navigator, chief engineer, dad, and weather guru, is also the grand visionary of the ship. After earning a doctorate degree in dentistry from UCLA in 1971, he worked as the assistant director of the dental clinic at the LBJ Memorial Hospital in American Samoa in 1974. While there, he first met the Whiting family who had stopped in Pago Pago on their way sailing north from New Zealand. He fell in love with their boat, Tequila, designed by the late Paul Whiting for his father, D'arcy to sail in the Sydney-Hobart race of 1972. Joe also decided then and there that he preferred being outdoors and building large projects (like boats and houses) as opposed to the miniature building projects that dentistry entails. Thus began his dream and vision to build a boat like Tequila and eventually go blue water sailing himself. Adventure open ocean sailing was a natural progression for Joe. By the time he was working in Samoa, he had already spent nearly twenty years of his life as a seriously passionate rock climber, completing early first and second ascents in Yosemite with other pioneering and well-known rock climbers from Yosemite history during the 50s and 60s. Just before taking the job in Samoa, Joe had been a member of a climbing expedition to a remote region of the Hindu Kush range in the province of Nuristan, Afghanistan. As one of the first two climbing rangers in Yosemite, his well-honed sense of safe, methodical procedure and calculated risk-taking were naturally transferable and valuable blue water sailing skills. Joe has a wide variety of other interests, but his current and ongoing passions include weather/meteorology, Japanese architecture/gardening, exotic, tropical, and succulent/cactus gardening, history, photography, ocean kayaking and adventure travel. A voracious reader, he will gladly consume several gnarly books a week while cruising. He is a frequent contributor of historical climbing photos, stories and humor to the climbing forum on the websiteSuperTopo. [Below, Captain Joe receives early navigational advice from the Admiral (Kali at 10 months old) while sailing to Bora Bora (in the background), 1989.]	Nancy, galley slave and mom, is primarily responsible for provisioning and the majority of the cooking (except, oddly, breakfast), especially while under sail on long passages. She is also the on-board licensed ham radio operator, call sign N6HXA, who files Shanachie’s position reports via YOTREPS utilizing Winlink when the boat is on the move. (See Where’s Shanachie Now? for her most current location). Nancy met Joe during one of Shanachie’s initial construction phases shortly after the hull had been flipped right side up (see Building: 1979-1981). Having no idea "where boats come from" at the time, the scale of the project was beyond her scope of experience. With an innately curious and adventurous spirit, she quickly learned—and came to love—sailing and the self-sufficient, independent cruising lifestyle. She is a certified advanced open-water diver, and was an avid beach volleyball player for many years before undergoing spine fusion surgery in 2004, nine months before setting sail. Recovery was eventually 100%, but the experience of relearning to walk somewhat cooled her passion for playing the sport although her enthusiasm as a devoted fan remains strong. Currently, Nancy's interests include learning watercolor painting and web design. (This website is her final project for a beginning class—improvements to come!) The two pursuits seem to be polar opposites, but she is enjoying the contrast and mental gymnastics required to do both. A twenty-plus year background in graphic design and production has helped flatten the learning curve, but, in this field, there’s always something new to learn. Nancy studied classical piano most of her early life, and of course misses the opportunity to keep it up while sailing. Learning to play more portable instruments like the ukulele is an enjoyable alternative—as long as she is not required to sing solo. Access her Log page by clicking on her photo above, or, follow Shanachie’s progress via her blog site: Musings of a Galley Slave. Access her 700-page collected recipes book Shanachie's On- & Offshore Recipes for purchase or free download via this link:	Kali is our Admiral, primarily in charge of activities: group recreation and entertainment decisions are ultimately hers (when she's on board!). A life-long watergirl, Kali earned her basic open-water SCUBA certification at age 15, and has since progressed to Rescue Diver certification. A lifelong watergirl, Kali loves to surf, run rivers, and SCUBA dive with both snowboarding and sailing at the top of her favorites list, too (though we tend to avoid sailing anywhere there might be enough snow for boarding). Kiteboarding is definitely next on her list, as soon as time permits! Kali was born inSanta Cruz, California, but at 4 months old, she returned with her parents to Shanachie and lived aboard the boat anchored off the island of Huahine in French Polynesia, while her dad managed a hotel building project there. She later sailed throughout the San Juan Islands in Washington, and off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, until, when Kali was 2, Shanachie was sold in Seattle. While growing up in Santa Cruz, Kali was an active Junior Lifeguard in the city's summer recreation program, having begun her long Junior Guard career on her 6th birthday; she was chosen to receive the coveted Most Outstanding Junior Guard Girl award twice. She was also an actively involved player on various traveling soccer and club volleyball teams. Some of her fondest childhood memories are the annual private whitewater rafting and kayaking trips she enjoyed together with her family and good adventurous friends on the Salmon (Idaho), Green (Utah), and San Juan Rivers (New Mexico/Utah). Kali spent most of her junior year in high school sailing over 7,000 miles on Shanachie with her parental units, from Santa Cruz to French Polynesia. She carried a full class load through Laurel Springs School, an accredited distance learning program with the flexibility and the curriculum to handle the exotic schedule and the college aspirations of a blue water sailing teenager. In June 2006, Kali graduated with the Harbor High Pirates in Santa Cruz. During her senior year, she worked hard to save enough money for her dream 5-week trip to explore Europe during the summer following graduation. Then in September 2006, she began studies as a freshman at UC Santa Cruz. An accomplished volleyball player (awards included MVP, All-League Senior '06 Player of the Year and All-League Junior '05 Player of the Year), she was recruited to join the UCSC Women's Volleyball team as an outside hitter and... a mighty FightingBanana Slug. After her first year at UCSC, she made the difficult decision to disontinue playing volleyball for the Slugs. She continues to play doubles beach volleyball though, and at her firstCBVA tournament in April 2008, earned an A-Rating. She later earned her beach doubles AA-Rating in May 2010. In June 2010, Kali graduated cum laude from UC Santa Cruz, with Honors in the Major. She completed UCSC's Film and Digital Media Studies program, including the Production concentration. Her heart is currently set on world travel plans (camera in hand!), work as Chief Archivist on a feature-length film project, and pursuing the sports she loves. In 2011, she began her seasonal job as a River Guide on California‘s Kings River forZephyr Whitewater Expeditions.

Joe

Nancy

Kali

Captain Joe, fearless leader, navigator, chief engineer, dad, and weather guru, is also the grand visionary of the ship. After earning a doctorate degree in dentistry from UCLA in 1971, he worked as the assistant director of the dental clinic at the LBJ Memorial Hospital in American Samoa in 1974. While there, he first met the Whiting family who had stopped in Pago Pago on their way sailing north from New Zealand. He fell in love with their boat, Tequila, designed by the late Paul Whiting for his father, D'arcy to sail in the Sydney-Hobart race of 1972. Joe also decided then and there that he preferred being outdoors and building large projects (like boats and houses) as opposed to the miniature building projects that dentistry entails. Thus began his dream and vision to build a boat like Tequila and eventually go blue water sailing himself.

Adventure open ocean sailing was a natural progression for Joe. By the time he was working in Samoa, he had already spent nearly twenty years of his life as a seriously passionate rock climber, completing early first and second ascents in Yosemite with other pioneering and well-known rock climbers from Yosemite history during the 50s and 60s. Just before taking the job in Samoa, Joe had been a member of a climbing expedition to a remote region of the Hindu Kush range in the province of Nuristan, Afghanistan. As one of the first two climbing rangers in Yosemite, his well-honed sense of safe, methodical procedure and calculated risk-taking were naturally transferable and valuable blue water sailing skills.

Joe has a wide variety of other interests, but his current and ongoing passions include weather/meteorology, Japanese architecture/gardening, exotic, tropical, and succulent/cactus gardening, history, photography, ocean kayaking and adventure travel. A voracious reader, he will gladly consume several gnarly books a week while cruising. He is a frequent contributor of historical climbing photos, stories and humor to the climbing forum on the websiteSuperTopo.

[Below, Captain Joe receives early navigational advice from the Admiral (Kali at 10 months old) while sailing to Bora Bora (in the background), 1989.]

Kali and Joe navigating

Nancy, galley slave and mom, is primarily responsible for provisioning and the majority of the cooking (except, oddly, breakfast), especially while under sail on long passages. She is also the on-board licensed ham radio operator, call sign N6HXA, who files Shanachie’s position reports via YOTREPS utilizing Winlink when the boat is on the move. (See Where’s Shanachie Now? for her most current location).

Nancy met Joe during one of Shanachie’s initial construction phases shortly after the hull had been flipped right side up (see Building: 1979-1981). Having no idea "where boats come from" at the time, the scale of the project was beyond her scope of experience. With an innately curious and adventurous spirit, she quickly learned—and came to love—sailing and the self-sufficient, independent cruising lifestyle. She is a certified advanced open-water diver, and was an avid beach volleyball player for many years before undergoing spine fusion surgery in 2004, nine months before setting sail. Recovery was eventually 100%, but the experience of relearning to walk somewhat cooled her passion for playing the sport although her enthusiasm as a devoted fan remains strong.

Currently, Nancy's interests include learning watercolor painting and web design. (This website is her final project for a beginning class—improvements to come!) The two pursuits seem to be polar opposites, but she is enjoying the contrast and mental gymnastics required to do both. A twenty-plus year background in graphic design and production has helped flatten the learning curve, but, in this field, there’s always something new to learn.

Nancy studied classical piano most of her early life, and of course misses the opportunity to keep it up while sailing. Learning to play more portable instruments like the ukulele is an enjoyable alternative—as long as she is not required to sing solo.

Access her Log page by clicking on her photo above, or, follow Shanachie’s progress via her blog site: Musings of a Galley Slave.

Access her 700-page collected recipes book Shanachie's On- & Offshore Recipes for purchase or free download via this link:

Kali is our Admiral, primarily in charge of activities: group recreation and entertainment decisions are ultimately hers (when she's on board!). A life-long watergirl, Kali earned her basic open-water SCUBA certification at age 15, and has since progressed to Rescue Diver certification. A lifelong watergirl, Kali loves to surf, run rivers, and SCUBA dive with both snowboarding and sailing at the top of her favorites list, too (though we tend to avoid sailing anywhere there might be enough snow for boarding). Kiteboarding is definitely next on her list, as soon as time permits!

Kali was born inSanta Cruz, California, but at 4 months old, she returned with her parents to Shanachie and lived aboard the boat anchored off the island of Huahine in French Polynesia, while her dad managed a hotel building project there. She later sailed throughout the San Juan Islands in Washington, and off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, until, when Kali was 2, Shanachie was sold in Seattle.

While growing up in Santa Cruz, Kali was an active Junior Lifeguard in the city's summer recreation program, having begun her long Junior Guard career on her 6th birthday; she was chosen to receive the coveted Most Outstanding Junior Guard Girl award twice. She was also an actively involved player on various traveling soccer and club volleyball teams. Some of her fondest childhood memories are the annual private whitewater rafting and kayaking trips she enjoyed together with her family and good adventurous friends on the Salmon (Idaho), Green (Utah), and San Juan Rivers (New Mexico/Utah).

Kali spent most of her junior year in high school sailing over 7,000 miles on Shanachie with her parental units, from Santa Cruz to French Polynesia. She carried a full class load through Laurel Springs School, an accredited distance learning program with the flexibility and the curriculum to handle the exotic schedule and the college aspirations of a blue water sailing teenager.

In June 2006, Kali graduated with the Harbor High Pirates in Santa Cruz. During her senior year, she worked hard to save enough money for her dream 5-week trip to explore Europe during the summer following graduation. Then in September 2006, she began studies as a freshman at UC Santa Cruz.

An accomplished volleyball player (awards included MVP, All-League Senior '06 Player of the Year and All-League Junior '05 Player of the Year), she was recruited to join the UCSC Women's Volleyball team as an outside hitter and... a mighty FightingBanana Slug. After her first year at UCSC, she made the difficult decision to disontinue playing volleyball for the Slugs. She continues to play doubles beach volleyball though, and at her firstCBVA tournament in April 2008, earned an A-Rating. She later earned her beach doubles AA-Rating in May 2010.

In June 2010, Kali graduated cum laude from UC Santa Cruz, with Honors in the Major. She completed UCSC's Film and Digital Media Studies program, including the Production concentration.

Her heart is currently set on world travel plans (camera in hand!), work as Chief Archivist on a feature-length film project, and pursuing the sports she loves. In 2011, she began her seasonal job as a River Guide on California‘s Kings River forZephyr Whitewater Expeditions.