A sailing outfit based around the 51-foot ketch Arbella is offering offshore passage opportunities for sailors looking to gain experience on bluewater routes between Canada and the Caribbean. Salty Coffee Sailing Expeditions, founded by Tucker and Catherine—a husband-and-wife team with 15,000 nautical miles of offshore experience—provides hands-on training aboard a rugged, performance cruising boat.
The program runs seasonally from November to June and includes passages from the Canadian Maritimes to Bermuda, the Caribbean, and return. According to the organizers, trips are open to all experience levels, but participants are expected to take an active role in sailing and vessel operations.
Sailors join the boat as working crew members, standing watch, handling sails, navigating, and participating in routine tasks aboard. The goal, says the team, is to give participants real-world offshore experience under the guidance of a licensed captain and experienced mate.
The platform for the program is Arbella, a Skye 51 designed by Kaufman and Ladd and built in Taiwan in the early 1980s under Alden Yachts supervision. The design features a long fin keel, skeg-hung rudder, and ketch rig. Only 18 Skye 51s were built, and the boat is known for combining traditional offshore qualities with a relatively fast hull shape and manageable sailplan.
Below, Arbella includes two cabins, multiple bunks, two heads, a navigation station, and a U-shaped galley. The boat’s layout and rig are suited for short-handed offshore sailing, with multiple sail combinations available for varying wind conditions.
Salty Coffee’s co-founders describe the program as a way to help more people experience offshore sailing while also building competence and confidence in passagemaking. While the tone of the experience is intentionally hands-on and collaborative, it’s not positioned as formal instruction or certification.
The company got its name from an early sailing memory: attempting to drink coffee while sailing upwind into 20 knots of breeze and taking spray in the face. That moment, they say, reflected both the challenge and clarity that comes with going offshore—a theme that underpins their approach to the experience.For more information or to see upcoming passages, visit saltycoffeesailing.com.
