Laura Kussman
I met Laura on the 70-foot schooner Dirigo. It was bound for Mexico, but I got off in San Diego. Dolphins swam off the bow. We sailed through a gale and at least 10,000 red jellyfish. There were two captains, father, and daughter and her name was Captain Morgan. She had a little boy, and with him, that meant the boat had three generations on it. Laura and another one of the crew, Mason, partnered up on that trip. One day we all got into the dingy and surfed the boat through the breakers and got all wet. The sun was setting, and there were blues and pinks. I have a fond memory of Mason picking Laura up and spinning around in the surf. After bouncing around Mexico for a bit, they made their way up to Orcas Island, where Mason was from, but now they are in Hawaii helping to prepare another schooner for another trip. In March of 2020, I asked them if they had some songs and a tinyboat up in Orcas, and these are what they sent. Below are some of her words from March of 2020. Find her Instagram: @laurakussworldwide
“I was raised in the Pacific Northwest. By trade, I'm a writer, designer, reporter, and Pilates instructor living on Orcas Island in the middle of the Salish sea. I've come to realize I'm the type of person who embodies the phrase "I'll try anything once!" I struggle with the mastering-a-skill side of things. My guitar playing is a testament to this. My phone died 30 seconds in...but damn, it was beautiful. In the background, frogs sang their lullabies to each other, and someone cooked dinner on the barbecue. I moved to Orcas after sailing to Mexico on a schooner with Jordan, actually! My partner and I dream of purchasing a wooden boat of our own and sailing around the world. I will get seasick, but when I was 20, I broke my back by tumbling down a flight of stairs in Italy and shattered a vertebra, so truly nothing can be harder than that, right?” Laura, March 2020