A New Esperanza Family Member

Ray McNeil is our new Esperanza family member. We met Ray a few months ago and we have become fast friends. He is always willing to help with a smile on his face, and has a wealth of understanding about many different aspects of boat life. As we got to know Ray we asked him if he would be interested in coming with us on our circumnavigation. After some thought he has agreed! We are so happy to have such a wonderful and knowledgeable person joining us on this adventure. We wanted everyone to get to know Ray because you will be seeing a lot of him throughout the trip.

Ray grew up sailing a sunfish on the Texas Gulf Coast, and carried sailing with him to North Texas through high school in a shellback dinghy. He purchased his first cruising boat, an Endeavor 32 in 2015. Ray repowered it with a Yanmar 2qm20h that he rebuilt including doing the head work. He Cruised Sabine lake, Galveston Bay, and Cameron Louisiana extensively both with and without the PAYC. In 2017 Ray purchased Mariah 31, Pacific Sea

craft, in poor condition heavily damaged by termites, rebuilt the entire bowsprit platform, Samson posts, recoated the foredeck and mast support, as well as the wooden compression post. The monitor windvane was also self suited including the mounts. All that work has survived multiple hurricanes thousands of nautical miles without need for repair.

Ray has crewed Kemah to Tampa non stop on a Hans Christian 42, triple handed he also

single handed full time over 2 years straight, navigating every inlet between Port Aransas Texas and Pensacola FL. One summer Ray worked/crew on the tall ship Elissa, which was very challenging. He has Navigated the Mississippi River lock system single handed without incident.

Ray has incredible experience in many areas. Here are some of the Licenses/certifications and know-how Ray has:

• An active paramedic license

• Paid rescue, deep, advanced, and open water certifications

• Heavy duty truck ASE - diesel air conditioning and diag, Preventative maintenance and inspection, Electrical systems diag and repair

• Designated infection control officer, CPR, First Aid, TWIC, Interior and exterior firefighting, hazmat ops

• USCG OUPV near coastal captain's license

• Run large twin screw boats up to 35'

• Professional private deckhand, fisherman, and mechanic for a Jupiter 38 used for entertaining commercial clients, panther 38 airboat also.

• Care for, deliver and maintain multiple other center console boats for very resourceful customers.

• 3 years professional mechanic experience building HMMWV and heavy military trucks as a civilian contractor.

• Austere environments include deployments through hurricanes, emergency medical task force Mobile Medical Unit, Non Government Organization contracting on military based refugee camps caring for unaccompanied children and Operation Allies Welcome/OAR serving as dedication isolation paramedic, ER, and QRF Lead.

We are excited to travel the world with Ray and we look forward to some great memories.