The Sailors

The CREW of  NORTHERN STAR:

Carl Richards, Captain

Previous training:  Ph.D. Fresh Water Stream Ecology
Retired, Director of the Mid-Continent Ecology Division of the Environmental Protection Agency, Duluth, Minnesota.

Experience with a myriad of boats, incl tugs and barges, skiffs, 20 ton research vessels, fishing boats, canoes, kayaks, and finally sailboats.  Sailed and raced sailboats on Lake Superior from 2002 to 2014.

Roles:  Father, husband, fisherman and sailor.  Chief navigator, Radio technician, plumber, mechanic,  boat swab, major boat projects coordinator, finance officer, science photography, avid reader of all things nautical, writer and occasionally, harmonica player.


Ardys M. Richards, Admiral 

Fleet includes NORTHERN STAR and dinghy,  Legal Tender
Previous training, M.S.W. Social Work
Retired, Medical Social Worker, Duluth, MN and Superior, WI.
Introduced to sailing and boat ownership in 2002.  Sailed and raced sailboats on Lake Superior from 2002 to 2014.

Roles:  Mother, wife, sailor, gardener, bread baker, chief galley cook, guru of boat organization, seamstress, First Mate, Assistant Navigator and Radio communications, Supplies Planning and Procurement, artist, writer, photography, singer and sometimes mandolin player.

Together we have four children--two on the West Coast of the U.S.,  one on the East Coast and one in Chicago. We share our boat with a rescue Border Collie named Jax.  His jobs are to awaken the crew at sunrise, enforce crew exercise and protect the boat from pirates and squirrels.

Our third sailboat, NORTHERN STAR, was purchased in Annapolis, MD in the summer of 2014.   We retired in March, 2015 and moved onto the boat, in Annapolis, in April of 2015.