SETH SALZMANN -Thinking big

After a lifetime love affair with schooners, Seth makes manoeuvring his 141-footer look easy

- JAN HEIN

Theme park rides are child’s play compared with racing aboard 141ft (43m) schooner Columbia under the command of Seth Salzmann. At the helm, however, choreographing trim and tactics, he maneuvers 174 tonnes of steel with the ease of a dinghy in a pond. When competition is under-canvassed in a blow, Captain Seth is sure to crack on more.

The bond between Salzmann and schooners began by happenstance when his family moved to Key West, Fl. His father’s job selling boat trips doubled as a classroom for 13-year-old Seth and younger brother Dylan. Trips to barrier reefs were the subject of reports, while boat skills shaped their future. To help out, Seth washed fishing boats after school until the day 74ft (22.6m) schooner Wolf lured him aboard as crew.

By 16, he was hooked. “I was a self-proclaimed ‘wharf rat’,” he joked. “If anyone asked me to go sailing, I said ‘yes’.” An invitation to sail aboard 86ft (26.2m) Appledore took him to Maine, the mecca of maritime tradition. “I was blown away by traditional schooners.” Another job, as an apprentice on 101ft (30.8m) schooner America, segued to crew status and at 17 he was mate on 70ft (21.3m) Timberwind. Two years later he was a licensed captain in charge of 73ft (22.3m)