One could say that the husband and wife co-captains of the J. & E. Riggin windjammer were destined to one day own and command this particular vessel.
Justin Schaefer and Jocelyn Schmidt both grew up on the water. Justin, at just a year and a half old, was introduced to sailing by his captain father. The family would sail their 30-foot fiberglass sailboat along the south shore of Long Island most summers. Justin jokes that his mother wouldn’t allow his father to take Justin on the boat when he was under a year old. To keep the child safe, Justin’s father took a child’s seat that’s typically used on the back of bicycles and bolted it to the sailboat. “So when my father had to go forward or down below, or do any sort of boat handling, he would plop me into the seat and strap me in so he could take care of whatever needed handling,” Justin remembered….