On Wednesday, February 21, the Salty Dawg Sailing Association Executive Director Tatja Hopman was alerted by a cruising skipper that a member’s yacht, Simplicity, was anchored and abandoned off a beach on the south coast of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent.

The good Samaritan had boarded the boat and noted that the owners, Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel, were not onboard and found evidence of apparent violence. Contact information for the SDSA was posted and the skipper contacted the Association.

The good Samaritan contacted the St. Vincent coast guard alerting them of the situation; they in turn notified the local police. The Coast Guard took possession of Simplicity and the St. Vincent police are currently investigating with the U.S Embassy and the Grenada police department.

Kathy Brandel and Ralph Hendry are veteran cruisers and long-time members of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association from its earliest days. Warm hearted and capable, they both contributed to building the SDSA and Kathy sat on the association’s board for two years.

Kathy and Ralph had sailed Simplicity in the 2023 Caribbean Rally from Hampton, VA to Antigua and were spending the winter cruising the Eastern Caribbean. The SDSA has a live member’s tracking map where boats can be followed as they cruise and Simplicity’s track shows that Kathy and Ralph were anchored in Grenada and then the boat moved directly to its last anchorage off St. Vincent.

Shortly after the incident was reported to police, news came out that three dangerous inmates had escaped from a Grenada prison and were at large. It is speculated that the escapees boarded Simplicity.

Wednesday afternoon, St. Vincent police reported that the three suspects had been detained.

Bob Osborn, SDSA President, speaking for the whole Salty Dawg family, said, “This is a very upsetting event and details are still unconfirmed by the authorities, but this does appear to be a tragic event – our hopes and prayers are with Ralph and Kathy and the family who love them. I have spoken to the families and have offered our deepest condolences and our assistance in any way possible. In all my years of cruising the Caribbean, I have never heard of anything like this.”

For more information, please email [email protected]

Salty Dawg Sailing Association’s president Bob Osborn announced on Tuesday November 14, 2023 that a crew member aboard the 46-foot yacht Logos that was sailing with the SDSA’s Fall Rally from the U.S. East Coast to Antigua in the Caribbean had unexpectedly passed away while at sea.

On the afternoon of November 12, the skipper and owner of Logos, Tim Cayward, reached out to the SDSA shoreside support team concerned about his crew member Ralph Erickson’s medical condition stemming from severe sea sickness. The SDSA team, which cannot give actual medical advice, discussed several courses of action. Team member Kevin Ferrie communicated with Logos the available options, including evacuation, but this was rejected because Erickson was able to hydrate, seemed to be improving and had a strong pulse.

At 2 am Monday morning November 13, the shoreside team manager Tim Metcalf received a phone call from the U.S. Coast Guard, Sector 5, to inform him that they had been informed by Tim Cayward that Ralph Erickson had died in his sleep. The cause of death remains to be determined.

The SDSA Shoreside Team has been working closely with Cayward, the Coast Guard and the SDSA team in Antigua to coordinate with local officials and the U.S. Consulate there. The U.S. Consulate will take the lead following Logos’ landfall at Antigua’s English Harbour. Erickson’s next of kin have been notified of his passing.

Bob Osborn remarked: “Our hearts go out to Ralph’s family, to the crew of Logos and to all of Ralph’s friends and shipmates. He will be much missed. We will stay in touch with officials and the Consulate to help Tim Cayward and the Erickson family in any way possible.”

For more information contact:

Tim Metcalf
Manager, Safety, Communications, Tracking,
Shoreside Coordination and Emergency Response
Salty Dawg Sailing Association
(248)690-7192 (Home) · (248)496-8466 (Mobile) 
[email protected]

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association, famous for its Fall and Spring rallies to and from the Caribbean, also runs a summer Downeast rally from Hampton, VA and Newport, RI to Penobscot Bay in Maine. And, every other year the SDSA continues Downeast with a follow-on rally to Nova Scotia, with starts in Rockland, ME and Provincetown, MA. Both rallies are considered “stepping stone events” for skippers and crews who want to get into passage making in the company of other cruisers before making the long 1,500-mile passage from Hampton to Antigua in the Fall Rally. The Downeast rally departs Hampton on July 6 and sails straight to Newport where the larger fleet gathers for a July 11 departure for the 40-hour run through the Cape Cod Canal and across the Gulf of Maine to Rockland. After the festivities following the Downeast Rally, those sailing in the Maritime Rally will depart for Shelburne, Nova Scotia and from Provincetown, MA, and then further east along the Nova Scotia coast to the Bras d’Or Lakes and Baddeck. The sign-ups are open for both summer rallies and all cruisers who want to explore Downeast and Maritime cruising are invited to join the fun and get some offshore experience. Check out the rallies here.

Downeast Rally
Maritime Rally

The Salty Dawg Summer is going to be a busy one.  

Salty Dawg Homeward Bound Rally Registration is Open     

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association has hosted a rally from the Caribbean to the U.S.  East Coast since 2012.  In 2020 The Salty Dawgs renamed it The Homeward Bound Rally, bringing hundreds of COVID-19 stranded cruisers to the United States for the summer.  The rally continues and this year there are some exciting changes.  In the past the rally began in St. Thomas, USVI, and it will still do so, but this year there are other options.   Rally participants can also choose to leave from Marsh Harbor, Bahamas or from Bermuda.  The rally includes weather routing by The Marine Weather Center, position tracking by PredictWind, and an extensive level of coordination and support by the SDSA support teams during the offshore passage.  

This past autumn many of the SDSA Caribbean Rally participants wanted to stop in Bermuda on their way south but weather made that option difficult, so Bermuda is now an added option for the north-bound Homeward Bound participants.  After an April 29 departure dinner in Antigua the rally boats will head to their northern departure points on or about May 1.   Cruisers gathering at the departure points can expect the usual Salty Dawg pre-departure social and security meet-ups.  Boats meeting up in the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands will head to the US on or about May 10.  The Bermuda to U.S. departure date is scheduled for May 14.  

As always, the Dawgs have a busy summer sailing season scheduled with rallies up the US East Coast from Annapolis to Nova Scotia with the Downeast Rally and the Maritime Rally, and rendezvous in Essex CT, Newport RI, and Rockland ME.   The summer rallies are a great way for sailors to gain off-shore sailing experience while they have a great time meeting Salty Dawgs and learning about their mission to help sailors become cruisers.  Use this link for information on the rallies and this link for information on other events.   

All Salty Dawg rallies and events are led by seasoned sailors who volunteer their time and knowledge to help cruisers realize their dreams.  The Salty Dawg Sailing Association is a Rhode Island registered 501c 3 non-profit organization dedicated to fostering safe seamanship, safe passage-making, and camaraderie in the cruising community.