Erin grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a student at the College of Charleston, she spent many afternoons on the beach or at the Battery staring at the sea. After getting her MFA in Costume Design at University of Massachusetts, Amherst she returned to the south. She had been on a sailboat only twice in her life before her honeymoon, but is enjoying learning to sail on Lake Norman, NC. When she’s not sailing or working, Erin enjoys reading, cooking, and sewing.
Ryan started sailing when he was about 4 years old on his Dad’s Pearson 26. In his teens the family bought a Catalina 30 and his Dad, stepmother, and Luna the dog currently live on their Bristol 41.1c SV Skylark. After graduating from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Ryan decided to move to NYC and attend graduate school for Photography. The grad school experience pushed him away from the art world and he escaped to North Carolina to start something new.
After Grad School, back in North Carolina where they both grew up, Erin and Ryan met, fell in love, bought a Catalina 25 sailboat and decided that they should probably upgrade to an oceangoing vessel capable of sailing around the world and raising a family on. This is how they ended up with their dream boat, a 1980 Alberg 37 MKII. It will take them years to restore her to her former glory but they are 100% happy to work towards that goal every day.
We aren’t rich, we don’t have any special circumstances, we aren’t sponsored; we have a wonderfully supportive family and we have a big dream that we are steadily making a reality.
contact: ryaneastermac@icloud.com
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Hi Ryan and Erin , We are happy to have come across your blog ! We also are relatively new owners of an Alberg 37 (1973 yawl Wind Song, purchased in the winter of 2013). We are in the process of a major refit. Look forward to following your progress !
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Hey! Congratulations! We are so happy with our decision to go with the Alberg 37 🙂 Thank you so much for checking in on the blog, please feel free to let us know if you have some experience on anything that we are attempting! Hopefully you will come across some things along the way that may help you out down the road as well 🙂
Where is Wind Song located?
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Wind Song is on the hard in Portland, Ct. We have removed the water tanks, done reinforcing and repair on the floor pan and tabbing, replumbing(in progress) and the chainplates need to come out.The hatches need to be rebedded, along with everything else! We’ve taken all the teak that can be removed out of the boat for refinishing at home. It’s a bit overwhelming at times, but it will be worth it 🙂 I started a blog so that our kids could follow us and we could remember the journey from the beginning. It’s not very technical,but you might like to check it out. I’m sure we will have lots of things to share with each other! Sailingwindsong.wordpress.com
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I love your blog already! Great photographs!! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Sounds like we are tackling a lot of the same projects. Looking forward to reading more of your blog.
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We have A37 #162 located in Falmouth,MA. We got Avalon 4 years ago and have sailed over 1000 miles since on her around Cape Cod and New England. We have many similar projects as you, but have elected to sail her and complete projects while on the hard in the winter. Keep up the blog! Love your enthusiasm for these amazing boats!
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Thank you Ryan!! We LOVE our A37 and can’t wait to be sailing her! You have a beautiful cruising ground up there 😉
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Many thanks for your publications about your Alberg 37!
We are very interested in your experience with Alberg and we are close to your conclusions on life.
Also have a big dream, we bought Alberg 37 in July this year, it is now in Tahiti in French Polynesia.
This is not an accidental choice – we want to travel to Polynesia.
Planing come to Polynesia at the end of this year and restore our Alberg and start exploring the islands.
We are from Russia, specialize in art, a family with two excellent boys 7 and 5 years old.
Please tell us how your project is developing with Alberg now?
How is your experience of traveling on a yacht with the whole family?
We will be very happy to meet you and meet you someday!
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Hi Ryan, Great blog. I recently purchased an insurance salvage 1972 37 alberg #91. Look forward to reading your progress and am working on my alberg now.
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Paul, Thanks for stopping by the blog and congratulations on your Alberg 37!! Feel free to email us any time. Good luck with your refit 🙂
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Great to stumble across your blog. I’m working through a refit of an Alberg 37 sloop on the hard in Luperón, Dominican Republic. Currently removing the paneling and other wood. Yep, fiberglass sucks! I’m hoping to have her back afloat in about 6 months. Cheers!
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