12 minute read
Meet Captain Ken and the Reluctant Sailor
Voyage of a Lifetime
BY ELIZABETH WILSON TAVILOGLU P’19
For many, international travel is more often a dream than a reality. But, sometimes, in between our daily obligations and the humdrum of our 9-to-5s, the hidden adventurer within us still gazes out the window, dreaming of dropping everything just to travel the world.
For one Storm King alumnus and his wife, the idea of circumnavigating the globe by sailboat had been on the table since they first met, not to be uttered again for the next three decades. Then, following successful careers and 30 years of marriage, the dream resurfaced with a vengeance. So, the couple bought themselves a sailboat, retrofitted her, and the rest is history. If you can keep up the pace, cruise along with us to see how this chemical engineer-turned sailor with a knack for fixing things realized his life-long dream and sparked the imaginations of our students and the hidden adventurer in all of us.
Throughout the school year, Thursday nights at the Walter Reade Jr. Theatre are set aside for the community to come together and enjoy engaging presentations, impactful speakers, games, and other events. That was certainly the case on the evening of September 26, 2019, when the School hosted two very special guests as the year’s first Thursday Night Speakers— Storm King alumnus Ken Swan ’72 and his wife Eileen.
Affectionately known in cruising circles as “Captain Ken and the Reluctant Sailor,” the couple returned to campus after many years to share their experiences, challenges, and lessons learned while sailing around the world. “Whatever your dream is, if you are Ken Swan, you can make it happen,” explained Eileen in her opening words. “We first met in Ireland when Ken informed me we would be sailing around the world someday– and then did not mention it again for more than 30 years,” she joked. “In December of 2014, Ken retired and everything changed. Before a group of friends he announced, finally, that we would sail around the world. So, in 2015, we bought a sailboat and the rest is history.”
Exploring with a power rigger in the Cocos Keeling Island Group
Elieen and a Koala
27,550+ Nautical Miles For the next hour, Ken and Eileen took the audience through a series of breathtaking slides illustrating their journey that lasted nearly three years from the time they first purchased Aurora in 2015, through the six months they needed to retrofit and test her, and the two-year sailing journey which began and ended in the British Virgin Islands on beautiful Saint Lucia.
Our students were riveted as they watched a colorful slideshow and listened to the engaging couple take turns telling stories about their adventures—the preparations, the hardships, the highs and the lows, and the natural beauty they experienced along a route which took them from the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, on to the Pacific Islands, around the Cape of Good Hope, across the South Atlantic, up the coast of Brazil, and back to Saint Lucia for the finish.
the best weather. Of course, most participating boats have a crew of six or seven people for the journey. We were just two,” explained Eileen.
Several students raised their hands with the simple question of “How did you do it?” “We sailed with the help of a cruising organization called World ARC. Circumventing the globe with World ARC allowed us to cruise in the company of other boats while giving us a lot of free time to explore as we wished,” explained Eileen. “The pace set for each leg of the journey helps to keep the fleet together and communicating, while enjoying the shore-side activities as a group, and keeping with
From Engineer to Captain
As the couple continued to talk about their encounters with local residents and unique wildlife at each destination, it became evident that moving from a successful career in chemical engineering to a lengthy stint on the high seas was a surprisingly easy decision for Ken, even though both he and Eileen had been new to sailing. “I knew absolutely nothing,” Eileen laughed. “I’m not even a good swimmer. Ken, on the other hand, has always had a keen interest in knowing how things work...and how to fix them. If there is one thing you learn while sailing around the world, it’s that you have to make things work,” she explained as the students laughed. “These skills are critical–maybe even lifesaving.”
“Lifesaving they were, indeed,” continued Ken, as he told of their most trying moments at sea. “We had many wonderful experiences, but we also had some terrifying ones,” admitted Eileen as she described how they weathered storms, fixed malfunctioning sails in high winds, pumped out water, repaired equipment, and patched leaks. Their encounter of spending 21 nights in a row on the open seas in pitch blackness was especially harrowing, prompting Ken to ask the audience “Are we crazy?”
Finnish Affinity
Ken attributes at least some of his craziness and his affinity for sailing, loosely in part, to his Finnish heritage. “All four of my grandparents came from Finland arriving in New York on sailing ships. All my relatives (with the exception of a sister and niece who live in Sonoma, CA) still live in Finland. That must count for something,” he said with a smile. “When I was 10, my dad took me out for the first time on a small sailboat, a Sunfish, into Vineyard Sound, MA, for a sail. About a mile off shore we got stuck in a thick bank of fog. After tacking around for a while, my dad asked me which way it was back to the beach. I looked left and right then pointed to the left. He said ‘Nope, it’s to the right.’ So, we sailed to the right and ended up back on shore. I was awed. Within days of that first sail I decided that I would sail around the world someday.”
Stillman Hall 9
By the time he arrived at The Storm King School as a freshman in 1968, Ken had already become a fan of the outdoors, spending most of his time “outside and in the woods with friends.” “As I was less than a focused student back then, Dad thought it would give me an advantage to go to a private school. We checked out a few but I fell in love with the magnificent campus setting up on the Mountain, applied for my freshman year at Storm King, and was accepted starting Sept 1968 —a million years ago,” Ken explained.
“I still thoroughly enjoy nature and gained a great respect for it during my years on the Mountain, mostly from art teacher and naturalist Lance Elwell,” Ken continued. “One of Lance’s great deeds was to leverage the talents of the Mountaineering Club to ‘un-paint’ all the graffiti present on the south side of Storm King Mountain.”
Ken also explained that his fascination with what “some adults call engineering” also began at an early age. If fact, he credits his teachers at SKS and his time on the Mountain with growing his interest and setting him on the right path. “It all began right there in Room 9 of Stillman Hall,” he explained to the students. “At Storm King, I definitely leaned more toward the nerdy end of the spectrum, getting more pleasure out of science and art than sports.”
Functional Fixedness
“Alan Bernstein, my chemistry and science teacher at SKS, held a small engines class where each student had to fix a broken lawn mower engine. He took us through the steps; first, understanding how the thing worked and then learning the practical applications. During that course, one of the concepts I learned was that of ‘functional fixedness.’ Basically, things are developed to fit a need or form and Homo sapiens get used to using those things in specific ways. What they don’t realize is that there are most likely many other ways things can be used should a different need or crisis arise— like when sailing off-shore and something critical breaks! This ‘thinking out-of-the-box’ concept, or should I say ‘talent,’ learned at SKS has served me very well through the years; most recently during our circumnavigation, fixing stuff on board while sailing with Eileen double-handed around the world,” he explained.
“Another thing I did not do much of before arriving at SKS was to plan ahead. Procrastination was one of my main pre-SKS skills. SKS, in an informal way, taught me to become a planner. Funny enough, I have read numerous studies on traits of highly successful people and all pointed out one of the characteristics or traits of all successful people is that they plan ahead. It was that planning which allowed Eileen and I to live the dream– traveling and completing the circumnavigation, that is,” Ken continued. wittingly or not, proved to be critical during the voyage. Ken then embarked on his career designing and building pharmaceutical and biotech facilities for multinational companies including Schering and Merck.
“Bernie [Alan Bernstein] was responsible for causing me to pursue a career in chemistry… but, more importantly, he nurtured my intense interest in knowing how things worked. I combined those two things and ended up with a BS in Chemical Engineering. Then I worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry for almost 30 years designing, constructing, and starting up biotech, organic synthesis, and pharmaceutical facilities both locally and abroad,” Ken continued. “I was lucky to be working at the advent of biotechnology and was charged with building the first interferon manufacturing facility. During the project, I had the privilege of working with some excellent scientists and engineers while we helped shape the biotech industry. But I always remembered Bernie.”
Ken canoeing on Moodna Creek with the SKS Mountaineers
Ken and Eileen observing wildlife in Lombor, Indonesia
After eight weeks, I reported back to headquarters. They asked me go over again to see the project through. So I ended up living at the Vale View Hotel for two years. My second year at the hotel, I met this lovely girl standing in the doorway to the main bar when I went to get lunch.” After that first encounter, Ken couldn’t get her out of his mind for the rest of the day.
“That night, my princess (then a secondary English and history teacher) was still there. She was running the place while her folks were away on vacation in the Canary
Islands,” Ken continued. “We became great friends over the next year or so. After she refused me twice, she finally consented the third time I asked her to marry me. So, I married the innkeeper's daughter, Eilo, from County Wicklow, Ireland in 1984!”
Four days after the wedding, Ken and Eileen came to the USA, a country she had yet to visit. Eileen settled in quickly and eventually became so ensconced in America, she was elected the mayor of their town, Lebanon, NJ, and later served in numerous high-level capacities advocating for the environment. “After a time, my Eilo ended up running state planning for NJ where she did many good deeds,” explained Ken proudly. “Her best was protecting almost 1 million acres known as the NJ Highlands which provides water for over 5 million NJ residents now, and more importantly for generations to come.”
Ken at the helm of Aurora
Eileen at a vegetable market in Vanuatu
The Finish
In light of her impressive resume and everything she accomplished over the years, Eileen went on to tell the students in her closing words that the voyage was still the greatest thing she ever did. “For me, it was not only the most challenging time of my life, but also the most rewarding,” she explained. Ken, equally successful in his career as a chemical engineer, also professed a similar sentiment after crossing the finish line. “It has been a great adventure. Of course, we felt a great sense of accomplishment crossing that finish line. The world became a much smaller place to us over those 15 months. It is a wonderful planet we live on and is well worth the effort to explore and better understand it. There were no prizes for overall ratings at the final awards dinner but Aurora, in 15 legs, took four firsts, three seconds, and three thirds. Not bad for an old girl and a crew of two!”
Closing Advice
Following the presentation, the couple was met with hearty applause and cheers from the students, who remained upright in their seats, engaged, and asking interesting questions throughout the evening. One student, senior Gabriel V. ’20, was particularly moved by Ken and Eileen’s story: “Mr. and Mrs. Swan went above and beyond in the presentation of their travels. The entire slideshow consisted of stunning pictures taken by Mrs. Swan herself. There was not a single photo that did not have a fun and exciting story tied to it. The audience was captured by the amazing tales of travel, adventure, and discovery shared with us. Each story spoken made the audience feel a sense of freedom or adventure as if they were there themselves. Although the entire time in the theater was spent by them sharing stories, you knew it was only a fraction of what they had actually experienced. Their time spent with us is greatly appreciated and I wish them well and happy lives.”
On lessons learned and advice to the students for the future, Ken reciprocated the sentiment: “I live to learn, experience as much as possible, and have fun. I also enjoy a bit of excitement but I expect that will start to wane at some point. I was very lucky to find a wonderful lady and convinced her to marry me and share the fun. That was the best thing I have ever done along with having our daughter, Lara. I expected I would get more serious as I aged but that has not happened yet. Even though I was a chemical engineer by profession I liked to think of myself as more of a ‘comical engineer.’ I found that the most productive environment to study and to work in is a happy, fun, trusting one. It was always one I had here at Storm King and it was always one of my goals to provide this in my working life. Having this is a no-brainer success enabler. I hope all of you have found this here on the Mountain and will find or recreate it in your own future lives.”
Sunset at sea
