Sailing World – July-August 2019

in a situation that requires a

quick decision?” I ask. “Who

makes the final call?”

“That would be Carolyn,”

Zarella declares, nodding toward

Carolyn Grant, his wife of three

years. “She’s the one who

ultimately calls the shots.”

“The only problem is that

Ron has his head so far up

Pat O’Conner’s ass that he’s

developed hearing issues,”

she responds.

The crew pauses, and then a

round of laughter erupts. Zarella

brushes off the remark, but

beneath Grant’s zinc-covered

face is a hint of frustration, and

I understand why. There was a

point in the second race when

the course took us through

St. James Cut, a tight little strait

southeast of St. Thomas.

The water in this section of

the course is shallow enough to

see stingrays darting through

coral heads. O’Conner, trim-

ming the spinnaker, was telling

Zarella to head up to keep the

spinnaker filled. Zarella followed

orders and turned the wheel

ever so slightly until Carolyn

spoke out. Her eyes were glued

to the depth sounder and she

knew we were approaching dan-

gerously close to shallow water.

Blackfish was headed toward

rocks and only after a moment’s

hesitation, Zarella heeded his

wife’s advice and changed

course to pass safely through

the cut. A moment such as this

is inevitable when a Nantucket-

based power couple runs the

show themselves. Grant says

they didn’t want a boat captain

calling all the shots: “Between

Ron and I, we have more than

enough confidence in our expe-

rience to manage whatever

comes our way.”

Zarella takes pride in his

ability to gather information

from the people around him

and choose the best course

of action onboard, a style of

leadership he’s honed through

years of corporate manage-

ment. Grant, on the other hand,

has enjoyed a long career in the

sailing industry. Her accomplish-

ments include three IOD World

Championships and a circum-

navigation. She was once the

head coach of the Hampton

University Sailing Team and is

the retired Director of Sailing

at Nantucket’s exclusive Great

Harbor YC. Zarella and Grant

come from di”ering manage-

ment backgrounds, but Grant’s

sailing knowledge dwarfs

that of her husband, a fact he

readily admits.

“Carolyn has forgotten more

about sailing than I’ll ever know,”

Zarella confesses. “She’s great

at crew training in specific posi-

tions, and that’s part of the

reason we fit so well together.

The most important part of

owning this boat has been

understanding our relationship

as husband and wife.”

“People kept asking us who

was going to be the skipper,”

Grant says. “Ron is so type-A

that he needs to be on the

helm, and I hadn’t steered in

such a long time that I didn’t

mind running the crew.”

Grant, who spent so many

years coaching, now coaches

Zarella, “When he manages to

listen, that is.”

And there were plenty

of coachable moments in

St. Thomas. The regatta’s

courses require teams to navi-

gate islands, shoals and channel

markers rather than windward-

leeward buoys. The racing

is close-quarters combat at

times as competitors fight for

favorable windshifts and cur-

rent relief. When boats get close

to shore and tacticians start

hollering for “water,” someone

inevitably gets ping-ponged to

the back of the fleet, particu-

larly in the legs when boats are

overlapped. Throughout this

first day, Blackfish had a num-

ber of quick decisions to make,

and based on the day’s results,

Zarella might’ve been wiser to

listen to his wife more often.

“It’s a constant battle,” Grant

says, taking a sip of chardonnay

as the wait for a tender contin-

ues. “But we’re working on it.”

Before tying the knot, the

couple had known each other

for years at Great Harbor, where

Zarella serves as Commodore.

His interest in Spirit of Tradition

yachts was piqued a decade ago

when he bought a Herresho”

Alerion 26, a retro classic now

popular on Nantucket. He

missed his days of Farr 40 sail-

ing, however, and decided he

needed more waterline.

“My design vision for this

boat was the Ferrari 550

Maranello,” Zarella says. “To me,

it’s the most beautiful car ever

designed, but it can still blow

anyone o” the road.”

With Blackfish, he got the

nautical Ferrari he was look-

ing for. With its traditional teak

overlay and Alaskan cedar

deck boards and the warm o”-

white and varnished brightwork

interior, the boat is 50 feet

of pure craftsmanship. The

modern-shaped hull is built of

cold-molded, tongue and groove

Alaskan cedar planking nestled

between western red cedar

veneers. The boat’s sleek black

lines resemble an orca, from

which it takes its name—but

it’s more like a grand piano on

water, a true work of art.

“The designer kept asking

me if I wanted a pretty boat

or a fast boat,” Zarella says.

“And I repeatedly told him I

wanted both.”

When Blackfish’s construc-

tion began, Zarella and Grant

were mere acquaintances.

Zarella leaned on Grant’s exper-

tise to guide him through the

boatbuilding process. After a

year and a half of interviews, he

and Grant chose Jim Taylor as

its designer, and Main’s Brooklin

Boatyard as its builder. Working

so close together, one thing led

to another and Zarella found

himself a partner in Grant, both

on the water and o”. By May

of 2017, a year and a half after

their wedding, they commis-

sioned their one and only child.

“When we were sailing the

last windward leg, I had a

moment to myself,” Grant con-

fides. “Just being here, realizing

that all the hard work has paid

o”, and that we’re finally doing

what we set out to do. It’s

been a great experience, and

I couldn’t have found anyone

better to make the adventure

with than Ron.”

After sharing so many stories

and rambling on, the cold beer

is depleted and the crew grows

restless. We start blasting the

signals toward shore again, and

after a few more minutes, a big-

ger and better tender finally

arrives, gliding smoothly up to

our beam. Zarella takes Grant’s

hand and helps her transfer.

It’s a long step down and the

tender is twisting in the waves.

As we shove o”, the couple

fires glances at their baby,

tucked in for the evening, its

dark hull shining against the

bright blue water. In the glow of

another Caribbean afternoon,

Zarella wraps his burly arm

around Grant and pulls her close

as we weave our way through

the mooring field.

The three of them are good

together. Q

Former sailing coach Carolyn

Grant serves as Blackfish’s

tactician while her husband, Ron

Zarella, has the pleasure of steer-

ing the boat they built together.

PHOTO: INGRID ABERY

STARTING LINE

EXPERIENCE

SUMMER 2019

SW

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