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What We Learned from Cruising Together on the Erie Canal
Discover an unforgettable adventure on the water with Peter and Anne Squicciarini as they navigate love, teamwork, and the joys of boating life in our latest podcast episode. Join hosts Mark and Rita Cork as they dive deep into the unique story of a couple who have embraced life on the sea, sharing both challenges and the highs of their journeys. From Peter's illustrious naval career to Anne's heartfelt experiences as a military wife, the couple unveils the reality of managing family life intertwined with the waves.
Their recent journey through the Erie Canal offers a magical yet practical glimpse into the world of boating, emphasizing adaptability, connection, and the power of partnership. Expect delightful anecdotes, including how they tackle responsibilities aboard their boat while navigating both locks and everyday challenges with their dog, Stella, as their faithful companion.
This episode is not just about boating; it’s a heartfelt declaration about love, resilience, and the importance of forging connections on and off the water. Listeners will gain valuable insights whether you're an avid boater, or simply someone curious about life on the water. We encourage you to take the plunge into your boating dreams and join us for a journey filled with laughter, warmth, and inspiration. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review or share this episode with your fellow enthusiasts!
Hi there and welcome to Boat Talk Radio. I'm Mark Cork, your host, and I'm thrilled to have you aboard. If you love boats, hands-on projects and life on the water, you're in the right place. This show is all about sharing real stories, practical advice and a few good laughs along the way. But today is extra special because I've got my favourite first mate right here with me, my wife Rita Barrycourt. Hello, hello. Many might know Rita as a three-time Emmy award-winning producer, but she's also my partner in life and boating. Together we navigate everything from DIY boat projects to the ups and downs of life on the water. We're also especially excited today to have two incredible guests with us, our dear friends Peter and Anne Squicciarini, whose story of adventure, resilience and love is one for the books.
Speaker 1:Peter has had an impressive naval career, spending years at sea as a naval captain, but behind every great sailor is someone keeping the home port steady. That's where anne comes in. As a military wife, a mother of three, she held their family together through long deployments, ensuring no matter how long peter was away, she was his rock, holding down the fort at home. Now that peter is semi-retired, but still teaching navigation, seamanship and ship handling at the norfolk training base. They've taken their lifelong partnership onto the water in a new way, extending their cruising time together. They've just wrapped up an incredible journey through the Erie Canal and into Canada, and they're here to share what it's like to navigate life not just as boaters, but as a team. They're here to share their experiences, what went right, what went wrong and what they learned along the way. So it's my pleasure to welcome both of you. Welcome to Boat Talk Radio.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Peter, let's start with your naval career. What drew you to the sea in the first place and what was life like as a naval captain?
Speaker 3:Well again, we both grew up on Long Island on the water, and I learned to boat, learned to race small sailboats In fact that's how we met and I always wanted to have a career on the oceans. I also enjoyed being on the water. I did some commercial fishing, but I realized at the time I needed a better retirement plan. So I decided to join the Navy and went to the Naval Academy, where I sailed there also and then embarked on my career aboard Navy ships.
Speaker 1:So the Naval Academy. This was in Annapolis correct.
Speaker 3:Yes, I went to Naval Academy in Annapolis. Okay, so.
Speaker 1:Anne, being a military wife is a career in itself. How did you manage to keep the family strong and steady during Peter's long deployment?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm from a big family and the oldest of five, so I kind of knew what had to happen in a household. But it is an adventure of one day at a time. It was all. Every day was different, which is great for me, and you just learn to step over the things you don't want to deal with and deal with the things you have to deal with, and smile along the way.
Speaker 1:Well, that sounds fun.
Speaker 4:I have a question for you, though. You both, peter. You just said that you both grew up on the water. How did you two meet Anne? How did you meet Peter?
Speaker 2:Oh well, I was on a race committee and he was sailing and I had to disqualify him. He took objection to that. He came and spoke with me and we, we talked, and then a year went by, he had graduated from the Naval Academy and I didn't hear from him. He came back the next year with a bigger, faster boat and almost killed me again by heeling over so hard that I had to duck on the flying bridge so that he didn't knock me off, and I took exception to that.
Speaker 2:But, he did ask me out that night and we started going out then Now, why did she disqualify you for the first time, Peter?
Speaker 3:Well, the first time I had to leave the boat because it was a small sunfish capsized and a beer floated away. But I didn't realize that in order to finish the boat because it was a small sunfish capsized and a beer floated away, but I didn't realize that in order to finish the race illegally you had to actually be in the boat. So at the finish line she decided that retrieving beer disqualified me. And that was the first year. But I knew I had her attention by that point. So the next year when I came back with the much bigger, faster boat, I really wanted to make an entrance and get her attention when she was on the race committee again and apparently I really did yes, he did, yes, he did so I know that you do a lot of long voyages together and we're going to get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about your trip up the Erie Canal, which I'm looking forward to hearing about. But how do you divide up responsibilities on the boat? Do you have to do all the cooking, anne, or does Peter do it? How does it?
Speaker 2:work. More often than not I do most of the cooking and sandwich making. He is the skipper and I am the relief skipper, but I take care of most of the I don't want to say household boat responsibilities.
Speaker 4:Right, right, but we've been on a boat with you. She does a little bit more than cooking. I see you out there with that boat.
Speaker 2:I am foredeck and I am lookout and I am 90% of the navigation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there you are. I've seen you handle the pump power as well. You're pretty handy at that.
Speaker 3:Ann needs more credit than just taking care of household chores around. She is the right-hand navigator. My friends know her as Six Mile Ann, because she can see at least six miles further than the radar for any of the nav aids that I haven't seen yet, and she points them out. Do you see that buoy? And of course, when I say not yet, it's because she's got miles of visibility on me. She also relieves me at the helm when I'm being tired or I'll admit right now being lazy, and I think I'd like to just take a nap with me and the dog. And it's time for Anne. Would you mind driving a while? And after a nice nap I'm back at the helm and she's kept us going for a couple hours. So, anne, you don't?
Speaker 1:mind when he's asleep on the boat.
Speaker 2:No, it's actually easier to drive when he's asleep. There are no distractions, it's beautiful out on the water.
Speaker 1:I know you had a main ship at one time, but what boat do you have now?
Speaker 2:We have an Alden 46. It's a hardtop cruiser express, it's 25 years old this year and it's the most beautiful boat on the bay, and I'm not ashamed to say so.
Speaker 1:So how did you come by it?
Speaker 2:As a habit at home. I read every single thing that comes in the house every piece of mail, every magazine, everything. And we received a publication called Passage Maker as a gift from our good friend, Mark Busby, and I watched this boat for sale for almost 18 months and it went from close to six figures oh no, it was close to seven figures, down to the low six figures and I thought, huh, we should go look at this boat. It might be something we could use and have fun with.
Speaker 3:And when I came home from work one day, she showed the picture of the boat and the passage maker to me and said we need to go take a look at this boat. My immediate reaction was what's for dinner?
Speaker 3:Followed by why do we need another boat? We have a perfectly fine boat that's the main ship that Mark was talking about and I had it fixed up, dialed in near perfectly and, most importantly, it was almost paid for. Why do we need another boat? But after we went down to Florida where it was located we were in Virginia I was able to be in the enviable position of saying my wife made me buy the boat.
Speaker 2:I totally will not deny that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you're few and far between.
Speaker 4:I've heard that before.
Speaker 1:There's not many wives like that.
Speaker 4:You might have another one at the table.
Speaker 1:I know, but it's rare. I'll tell you a funny story, actually, because I've got a couple of minutes. And I used to be a judge at the Antique and Classic Boat Show and some people might know that I actually built my last sailboat and we were selling that and getting a Grand Banks trawler, so we were transitioning from sail to power. Anyway, I'm at the show and there's a very nice guy there. He's a boat builder up in Maine called Paul Rollins. So I was telling him the story. I said you know what, paul? I said Rita was in tears when we got rid of the sailboat. He didn't say anything for about five minutes. His jaw hit the floor and he just looked at me and he said she's a keeper.
Speaker 4:Well, the sailboat that we had Mark built he started building it in England. A sailboat that we had mark built, he started building it in england. He shipped it over here. It arrived september 11th, the week of september 11th, in jersey city. We picked it up, brought it to our house in connecticut and he finished building it in our garage. And I had never sailed before. He taught me everything I know about sailing. I knew the circle line in new york. That was my extended experience. So that meant lot. That sailboat to me.
Speaker 2:I have to say that I also was instrumental in finding our first sailboat that we lived on for two years in Annapolis. He was on deployment and I traveled around the boat yards and shoveled snow off boats to see if they were acceptable.
Speaker 4:Well, can we just jump in and ask a question about this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 4:Ann just dropped a little something. You are married a long time to you. You have three kids, six grandchildren, right. And you got married in Annapolis in the Naval Chapel, and right after your honeymoon, where did you live?
Speaker 2:On the 35-foot sailboat that I found that I shoveled snow off of, to send a snail mail letter he was on deployment, to him saying, yeah, this boat looks good. And you lived on it for how long? Two years In Spa Creek in Annapolis.
Speaker 1:So what happened? When you got rid of the boat you swallowed, the anchor came ashore.
Speaker 2:Oh no, we dragged it with us everywhere.
Speaker 4:I'm curious to know how newlyweds survive for two years on a 34-foot sailboat. Is that good for a marriage or is it something you do all the?
Speaker 2:time. It's not terrible. For a marriage it's great. But I did have one door I could slam in an emergency.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going to jump in here and say you really really learn in the first year or two who you've married If you're both living on your 34-foot sailboat and here's one door that separates the salon from the V-berth we did enjoy it. It's not any less work than living in a house. I'll have to admit I did not have to do any yard work and to this day I don't like doing yard work, but I did have to keep the teak up and we were able to use the boat almost every weekend. We would leave Annapolis and just take everything with us, did not need to pack, it was all there and we would head out onto the Chesapeake Bay to any number of great places like St Michael's, oxford and Cambridge and other places along the mid and upper Chesapeake Bay. One of the perks of living on your boat it's all with you when you need it.
Speaker 3:Now I will say at the time we were young. I'll speak for myself. I was stupid. I didn't realize that they had such things as air conditioning, refrigerators, freezers. We lived aboard with a 10-pound block of ice in the winter and a 20-pound block of ice in the summer, and the hatches open all day and all night. Thunderstorms and mosquitoes be damned, but we didn't know any better. I will say now that the current boat we have has those amenities and I don't know how we got along without them, but we did. It seemed like a great idea at the time and, from what I understand, ann would love to move back aboard as a great idea right now.
Speaker 2:I absolutely would move right back on a boat.
Speaker 1:You would. I absolutely would and sell your house and sell it all.
Speaker 4:Uh-oh, Thanks Ann.
Speaker 1:Sorry, sorry, rita, when we're off the air, can you two have a chat? I'd be grateful.
Speaker 4:Well, but you know, the truth of the matter is for us, everybody goes through some ups and downs in their lives and we've had some medical issues and things that we've had to cope with Us too. I remember getting on that sailboat on a Friday night. After we'd work We'd race up to Maine, We'd get on the boat, we had our two little puppies and we'd go out on Casco Bay and we were a million miles away from any kind of troubles that we had. We left them all on the dock and there was something really special about that and I think to this day I have strong feelings about how close that made us and how it really helped us to cope with a lot of things. So there's something very special about being able to navigate your life on a boat. So I'm not totally opposed to it, mark, but I do want to have a little terra firma in my life too.
Speaker 2:I've always said I want a two-car garage with a frog, the finished room over garage on the marsh with a dock and a boat at the end. If we have to come ashore, we're living in the frog.
Speaker 3:I'd like to go back with some advice to other would-be husbands. When I was buying Anne her engagement ring, she had a choice of several diamond rings. They all looked very nice. When she picked one out that was not the largest one that we were looking at, there was something called divine intervention from God and the boat owner. I said spontaneously Jan, you can't have too big a diamond and too big a boat, so why don't you get the big diamond?
Speaker 2:And I said I'll take the big one. And she did, and I did, and I wear it every day and we both enjoy our 46-foot Express Cruiser, the Privateer now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's an interesting story, I understand, so that's why it's called the Privateer.
Speaker 3:Well, the Privateer. The name of our boat is Privateer. It goes back to my time in the Navy In one of my operations where I was captain of a Navy cruiser in the Persian Gulf a number of years ago. During the Gulf Wars, Saddam and Vladimir Putin were up to no good. They were smuggling oil illegally in a Russian tanker and, as it just happened to be that I and my ship were there, we were ordered to capture that tanker Because it was illegally smuggling this oil. Well, back then people didn't understand that if you put your name, your phone number, your social security number and anything else on the internet, somebody was going to find it. At the time, I, as the commanding officer of the USS Monterey, that's, a Navy cruiser, could be found on the Internet. Well, as it got back.
Speaker 3:After we captured that tanker, several days later, apparently, the news media in Moscow asked Vladimir Putin yes, the same one that's kicking around today in Ukraine and other places. He asked him what he thought about the United States Navy stealing his ship. He viewed it as his ship was being stolen. Well, how it happened? He gave me a personal shout out and, to his credit, he got the name right and said that Captain Peter Squisciarini is a gangster pirate and his crew, the crew of the Monterey, are thugs. So I have received a personal by name, shout out from Vladimir Putin as a gangster pirate, and when we got the boat it became a natural choice. Let's call her the privateer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because privateer obviously has other connotations, like for the Navy and so on.
Speaker 3:Privateer is a legally government-sanctioned pirate.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's like Blackbeard, I believe, was a privateer. I think, yeah, but was he legal? They've made it illegal. Yes, yes, he was a privateer, I think.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but was he legal? They've made it illegal.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, he was he was legal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, originally yeah, he was sanctioned by the government, it was okay for him to plunder.
Speaker 3:Evidently, so therein is how we came by naming the Alden 46 that we enjoy now and cruise extensively along the East Coast.
Speaker 1:the Privateer Right, and talking about cruising that segment he's nicely into, I understand that last year you did a trip up the Erie Canal and up into Canada. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yes, we did the Triangle Loop. It's part of the Great Loop, Well, part of the Great Loop, Well, part of the part of the Great Loop. It is its own cruise and it is the Erie Canal to the St Lawrence Seaway and St Lawrence River and then down through Lake Champlain back to the Hudson River. And it was an adventure, an absolute adventure.
Speaker 3:That was about 1,800 miles from Norfolk. We took about seven weeks and we had to pass through almost five dozen locks. Wow, at one point, at the height of elevation, privateer was 424 feet above sea level. That was at the highest lock. Then we started coming back down and we were able to enjoy a two-month cruise along with our dog, stella, who's a Labrador but part hound, so we call her a Labra hound. She's a true boat dog, loves the boat. She's the ambassador and guard.
Speaker 1:What's your other plan, then, for your next long cruise? What are you going to do now? What's next?
Speaker 3:Well, it was a successful trip last summer. Miraculously, everything on the boat worked Well. There was a lot of planning and work ahead of time done by Ann and myself to make sure that we had all the supplies we needed and that the boat was maintained in the best shape and loaded and ready to go. And that bore fruit in that we had absolutely no problems. We enjoyed it. This summer we're looking to go up to New England, the down east area, up to Maine, and in fact looking forward to spending some time with both of you up in Casco Bay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're looking forward to that too. It's going to be fun.
Speaker 4:But can we go back to the Erie Canal just a minute? It's so unique and it's got such charm and all these locks I wasn't familiar with. But were there any surprises that you encountered along the way?
Speaker 2:What people that you met. Every day was a different day, Every day was a surprise and every day was a lot of work. There was a lot of line handling and planning. I was amazed that you can't. We didn't know how to plan where we were going to be that night because of the timing of the locks and the speed limit on the Erie Canal in particular. You just couldn't even plan. So we were very fortunate to meet up with two other boats traveling exactly to where we were going. One stopped just at the north side of Lake Ontario, the other came to Montreal with us and they were very helpful, very instrumental. The one boat that stayed in Brewerton had done the Erie Canal seven times. Now I have to say I don't know that I'm doing it. Two times.
Speaker 3:Once is enough for me. And we learned a new phrase from the lady on that boat. They were both accomplished yachtsmen, but she apparently had had enough of a seven time round trip on Erie Canal by saying and what?
Speaker 2:was it? I've never heard this. And she said in her Michigan accent I'm smelling the barn. And I looked at her and I said, liz, what does that mean? She goes? It means I want to go home. But smelling the barn, that's not a term that seamen usually hear.
Speaker 1:No, it's a take on the swallow, the anchor thing there we go.
Speaker 3:Well, it was a lot of work and it turned out to be a different type of trip than I had thought. I thought that there would be a lot more towns along the way to visit. There weren't. We were very limited in our navigation and speed we could make, certainly, as Ann had mentioned, in the Erie Canal. That itself took the longest portion of our trip, getting from Troy, new York, where Erie Canal started in Watertown, new York, where Erie Canal started in Watertown, to Lake Oneida and Lake Ontario, which was the gateway to the Thousand Islands, and the St Lawrence River and St Lawrence Seaway up to Montreal, which we did enjoy getting to about halfway through.
Speaker 4:Was that as beautiful as people say? It is the Thousand Isles. They say it's terrific. We'd love to do that. It's more beautiful.
Speaker 3:The water is absolutely crystal clear, also pretty cold.
Speaker 2:Very cold. Yeah, stella loved swimming in it. I didn't want to put my feet in. Did she go in? Absolutely. Oh really she threw the ball, caught it. Love Stella Swam on back Got to wear her out. You know she sleeps most of the time when we're underway, up to 10 hours.
Speaker 1:Oh, dear yeah. So where did you stay? Did you anchor out? No, no.
Speaker 2:We stayed only at Marina's because of the dog. We didn't have a dinghy and it was important that we get her to land every night. Yeah, so we did stop every night and we've. We stayed in some lovely marinas. We stayed in some little marinas, and there were marinas we couldn't even get into.
Speaker 1:We need five feet of water, and so picking our way through it was a lot of planning, but last minute planning something that we're not used to- when you go up to maine, um, I know that you've got limited experience up there, but, um, as we discussed before we came on the air, um, there is limited amounts of marinas and so on up there. So you, you do really to to enjoy the the best, I think, in Maine this is my view to enjoy Maine at its best. You've really got to anchor someplace, don't you agree with that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and we loved anchoring up there and we don't have them anymore, sadly. But our two little dogs that we had, we had two little Shih Tzus and we had the same thing. We had to bring themn every, every night, or a couple of times a day, really not as they were, not as good as stella, but uh, we, we found that if we had the dinghy with us, you know, we would just figure it out, we'd make do and it always worked. It always worked. We will have a dinghy with us we have a dinghy.
Speaker 3:Still as a resilient dog, stella will do just fine. We're planning on doing some dinghy training with her before we ever leave.
Speaker 2:And as far as Stella goes, we were worried you know, concerned about on and off the boat and everything and we finally found out that we just had to let her do it. She managed and gauged every single dock we went to. She did not need our help at all. It was remarkable.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, I've found that there's so many people wherever we traveled. There's a lot of people that bring their pets on board mostly the dogs. And you do figure out how to navigate them. You know we ran into people and they always were very helpful. But you know, I always find people in the bo boating community. They're very willing to give you hacks and you are the queen of all hacks.
Speaker 4:We know that, but you know they're willing to give you some help with that, and some people had said, oh, get some, you know, fake grass and put it on deck nothing ever worked.
Speaker 1:They retried everything.
Speaker 4:They didn't work for hours, they would, and it was so cruel to do that to them, so we just figured out, let them get in the dinghy and take them ashore. And they figured it out.
Speaker 3:Stella has proved herself to be a very patient dog and no matter how long the day is, she's perfectly comfortable. Her job on board is ambassador, tour guide, security and black hair contributor.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and also you showed me that picture. You went out. You were in Canada and you said that you went out one night and you came back. She was all upset and that's unusual for her. What was that all about?
Speaker 2:We don't really know, but we usually put her down below and she's happy with the door closed and we put on music. She likes frank sinatra and she likes she asked for that especially, yes tom jones, all the big crooners yeah, well, that's not unusual.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, she's not a fool. So we came and we didn't even notice. When we came back I had noticed the next morning that she had gotten frantic and chewed the top rail of the top step of the companionway to come up from below and something happened. She has never, ever, done anything like that. She was very upset about something. Someone was probably on board.
Speaker 3:Well, suffice to say, I was none too pleased.
Speaker 2:And it was his birthday.
Speaker 3:It was my birthday, so that was her birthday present. It has since been more than repaired, but I think it's because she didn't like my choice of music I put on that day. She was into Neil Diamond and Frank Sinatra, but I must have put some other music on. It just set her off and when we came back the deed had been done.
Speaker 4:Oh, I like that somebody getting on board story a little bit better.
Speaker 2:I really do. She has never been frantic about anything ever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean boats generally are very easy to break into, even the most expensive ones. It's just easy to get into and you know. So you might have got the step chewed up, but it could have been a lot worse.
Speaker 4:It certainly could have, and you can always call cork on call and figure out how to get that step fixed. Wait till you see People did a fabulous job. There you go, there you go. Well, we had somebody break into our boat, remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah, up in Freeport we did, and they just took our booze. Yeah, we think no damage to the boat, except that they had long hair and they drank our rum. That's right.
Speaker 4:They did remember.
Speaker 1:And I reported it to the police and the police said oh okay, that was it yeah they weren't too concerned.
Speaker 4:I guess it was not the first time that they've heard that report.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, so yeah, we had somebody on our boat, but luckily nothing was taken and nothing damaged, so it was good. Could I ask?
Speaker 4:one more question before we go.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Since you two have been on the boat for so long and we love you dearly. What I want to know is what advice would you give to the young Peter and Anne that were on that 34-foot sailboat years ago?
Speaker 2:Buy the bigger boat sooner.
Speaker 4:I had a feeling that was coming. Sorry, that's….
Speaker 1:No, so you were talking about living on a boat. So if I mean, obviously money always is an object, but what boat would you choose ideally? Oh, I don't know, you don't know that.
Speaker 2:I don't know yeah all right.
Speaker 1:So I can't persuade you to buy something I don't know. Yeah, all right, so I can't persuade you to buy something like a fleming 55 no, that really isn't.
Speaker 2:I don't need anything like that but what would just?
Speaker 4:what would you say to people who want to leap into the boating life, who haven't done it before? They just may be, uh, you know, dreaming about it, but what, what?
Speaker 3:advice would you give? Well, I'd say, just get started, get a boat, a simple boat. See if you and the family enjoy it, set your expectations so that they're reasonable and then embrace it and it will come If you're going to be a lifelong boater and it's great for the family. In fact, all three of my children our children, I should say grew up on the water and worked summer jobs on the family. In fact, all three of my children, our children, I should say grew up on the water and worked summer jobs on the water. There's nothing better than being on the water or, as the poem says, messing around in boats. So I would say, just do it and not look back.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no tagline messing around in boats. Yeah, messing around in boats. Love that idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's a lot of people out there that have got boats that never actually go anywhere. They spend all their time preparing for the big trip in inverted commas, but never actually go anyplace.
Speaker 3:And when you get your boat, no matter how big or how small it is, how big or how small it is, use your boat. Most people they have boats, they have dreams. They don't use them. And have those dreams. Take your boat, take your family and your friends, even if it's just for a few hours. Life underway on the boat, no matter whether it's a sailboat. Powerboat, large or small, is so much better than just being tied to the pier and land. It's the difference between enjoying nature and just watching nature.
Speaker 4:Right. Good point Really good point.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's about time that we wrap things up, I think, and I'd just like to say a big thank you to Peter and Anne Swietorini for coming on and talking about their adventures, and we look forward so much to having you back again in future. Thank you so much For our listeners. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and share it with your fellow boating enthusiasts. Until next time, fair winds and following seas.