A New Addition to Our Research Programs

Last Saturday night a sailboat called Sabatico quietly sailed into Gloucester harbor and anchored off Eastern Point.  This 44ft ketch is Ocean Alliance’s latest addition to our research programs.
In May of this year, while the RV Odyssey was hauled out of the water in Key West, Florida, we met a gentleman called D.M. Barry.  Mr. Barry had just returned from a trip to Mexico aboard his 44 ft Pearson ketch Sabatico.  He was curious as to what work this large red sailboat with people swarming all over it was engaged in.  He first met Dan Albani on the docks who talked to him about our work and then he got into an extensive conversation with Dan Haefner.  Both Dans suggested to Mr. Barry that Ocean Alliance could put his vessel to good use and both were as surprised as I was when he called me up three weeks later and offered to donate his sailboat to Ocean Alliance.
I have enjoyed my conversations with Mr. Barry enormously; he has had a varied and interesting career, he loves the wild world, and seems to grab life and enjoy the ride.  An entrepreneur, pilot and boat captain, Mr. Barry now lives in Montana.  He has been saddened by the fact that he could not do all that he used to do at sea as a younger man and felt that this was a good time to follow a different route than full-time boat ownership.  We welcome him as a new member of the Ocean Alliance family and look forward to him visiting us in New England and seeing the Sabatico put to work as a research vessel.
This type of generous offer is always a bit of a catch 22 for a group like Ocean Alliance. This donation will probably cost us $20,000 in the first year with insurance, maintenance, upgrades, upkeep and crew, but while we do not have that amount of money lying around, the timing of this donation could not have been better and we are very grateful for Mr. Barry’s incredible generosity.
With our move to the Gloucester waterfront we have been looking to engage in more regional cetacean studies.  With the loss of the Whale Center of New England, we feel that we can not only help to fill this hole but also bring an extensive whale research skillset to the region and support the work of other researchers in this area more effectively (especially with a platform like Sabatico).  In our business, this donation not only demonstrates the value of just asking for help but also reminds us that there are still generous people like Mr. Barry who are willing to step up to the plate and put the environment before personal gain. Thank you again Michael!
We will keep you posted as we develop our research and education agenda, and in the meantime we have requested a name change to WhaleSong.
-Iain Kerr, Ocean Alliance CEO