Sailing Story: Mark and Tina McHenry

Sailors have had some odd sightings over the years, from mermaids to the Loch Ness Monster. But what about eerie sightings from above? Mark and Tina McHenry were on their first bareboat charter with their daughter when they spotted mysterious lights in the night sky.

“At first I thought it was a car dealership with big spotlights, but it kept going and I didn’t know if it was a meteor,” Mark said. “It hung around for a while, it was really weird.”

While Mark busied himself taking photos, his daughter, Lauren, was already on the hunt for answers.

“Our daughter is on her phone all the time so within 5 minutes she had told us about Starlink just taking off,” he laughed. “We had a little bit of anxiety but she was able to get us off the ledge pretty quick.”

The mystery may have been solved but the new thrills and adventures still continued. 

Mark and Tina had been planning this trip for months. After they received their ASA certifications from Go Sail Virgin Islands, they knew immediately that they wanted to plan a bareboat vacation with Go Sail next. 

“By nature we are over planners,” Tina explained. “The only nerves we had was it was our first time [sailing] without someone else on [the boat].”

However, the couple realized in no time that they had all the preparation they needed from their Go Sail ASA courses

“The things we had to do a lot on our sailing trip were the things we practiced with Trevon,” Mark explained. “Once we got the first little jitters out we were golden.”

However, Mark and Tina had to make sure the trip wasn’t just fun for them. They had convinced their daughter, Lauren, to come along too. They started their sail knowing it wasn’t exactly the type of trip she would have planned herself. 

“Our daughter doesn’t necessarily share the love of the beach or the sun that we do,” Tina laughed. “It was probably more about the on land experience than the sailing experience for her.”

Still, Mark and Tina were able to create a trip they knew Lauren would fall in love with. 

“We used an itinerary off of the Go Sail Website meshed with a guide,” Mark explained. “We talked to her afterwards, she said she’d go do it again. When we go back to look at the pictures— she’s always smiling!”

While Mark and Tina would love to continue their Sailing Story with Lauren, they explained that they’ve been working hard to recruit others to join them as well. 

“She’s graduating from law school in about 6 weeks so she may be at a desk somewhere for a bit,” Mark explained about his daughter. “[But] we’ve been talking to a lot of people and they’re like ‘we want to go! We want to go!’ so I don’t think we’ll have any shortage of people wanting to go with us.”

Mark and Tina’s next sailing trip, with two other couples, is planned for November. Check out the Bareboat options here. 

“Our goal is to do at least a couple of trips a year for the next few years and then decide if that’s what we want to do more long term,” Mark said. “… and then maybe invest in a boat.”