"What do you do in the Winter?"

As the founder and primary captain at Sea Newport, I receive a lot of questions while operating charters. As we cruise around the harbor, I love engaging in thoughtful conversation with our guests: usually about Newport, the boating lifestyle and getting a small glimpse of our guests' lives as well. After thousands of conversations, by far the most frequently asked question I have received is:

“What do you do in the winter?”

Honestly, I never quite know how to answer this. Both before and after graduating from Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 2019, my life has revolved around boating. In the downtime between the Newport charter seasons I have worked on ships, I have raced sailboats competitively, been a ski bum, and even worked in an office! None of these answers seems overly exciting though. I have lived in Newport my entire life, I am extremely passionate about the area, but I felt I could do more with my downtime. This year I set out to change that.

Last spring, my wonderful girlfriend Grace proposed the idea of moving out west for the winter. She has a big girl corporate job which was allowing her to relocate if desired, and I have nothing but time from October to April. With many years experience operating heavy equipment from ships to forklifts, trucks towing trailers to high performance racing boats, continuing my offseason desk job at a CPA firm was not going to suffice. I logged onto a few job boards and started sending out applications. An interview here and there, but even with a wide range of skill set crossover, I had little faith any of the places I applied to would consider someone with such little practical experience.

Once we decided we would send it out west, we needed to find a place to live. For many reasons we landed on Salt Lake City, Utah as our winter base. Both Grace and I are avid skiers, we love the outdoors and felt Salt Lake had the perfect mix of city and mountains. The last week of October, we loaded up her Subaru and set the autopilot for 270°. This road trip would turn out to be something you’d see on the Travel Channel or an Anthony Bourdain show (RIP).

We stopped in so many places, eating local favorites and visiting many friends, both new and old. After an impromptu tour of Wrigley Field, we met up with Grace’s cousin who is living in Chicago. We joined her cousin and her cousin’s friends to watch Survivor at a neighborhood bar in Lincoln Park and after a late night frozen custard mission, we departed feeling like everyone we had just met we had known forever.

After the Windy City, I was in the passenger seat scrolling Instagram. I came across a post from an old friend from youth sailing. It was his first post in nearly two years and he tagged our next stop, Denver, as the location. Over 10 years prior, him and I were amazing friends, traveling the country competitively sailing. We had lost touch for many years but I reached out to see if he was around. When Grace and I arrived to town, we grabbed dinner with him, reviving faded memories of our youth and reliving unforgettable times. Moments like this are pretty special. This dinner lead to a legendary ski trip to Steamboat, CO a few months later!

Apre in Steamboat with childhood friend Carter (middle) and longtime friend Hayden (left)

Following dinner, we met up with one of Grace’s college friends who was now living in Denver for a Halloween party. There is nothing like going to a house party where walking in you know absolutely no one, but leave feeling like you know everyone.

Leading up to leaving Newport and even on the road, a great unknown loomed. What am I doing driving to a new place on the other side of the country with no plan? It wasn’t until we were 8 hours into the drive, in the middle of upstate New York, that I received two fateful calls.

The first was from the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake offering me a position as an Ice Technician for the NHL’s newly formed Utah Mammoth hockey club. Stoked beyond belief that an NHL team would take a chance on a boat captain from Rhode Island, I immediately accepted the job.

Moments later, the head groomer at Deer Valley Resort called me offering a position to operate snowcats at Utah’s’ largest resort. I was beside myself that through all the applications I sent on a whim, interviews I overly prepared for while thinking I had limited to no chance, two of the most premier companies in the state wanted to hire me.

I ultimately had to decline the Deer Valley gig, much to Grace’s pleasure as I would not be working continuous graveyard shifts. The head groomer offered to bring us on a ride along which is quite an amazing offer. I still need to take him up on that…

After five days of driving and making stops to visit friends and family across the country, on November 1st we arrived to Salt Lake City. A week later I was 20 minutes south in Sandy, UT at the Mammoth’s brand new, multi-million dollar, state of the art practice facility. Here I met what would become one of the best mentors I’ve ever had.

Since I was a child growing up in rinks, playing hockey, and enjoying the occasional professional game such as the Providence or Boston Bruins, I was infatuated by the Zamboni. What an incredible machine that can transform a rutted out, snow covered surface into a perfect mirror finish in minutes. Over the course of a hockey game, fans cheer on their favorite team, boo opposing players and the referees, and trash talk opposing fans. Then for about 10 minutes, whether home or away, everyone in the arena can agree on one team to cheer for: the Zamboni drivers.

Working my first NHL game as an ice technician.

No one encapsulates a Zamboni driver better than my mentor Matt. A long salt and pepper beard, Mammoth branded Carhartt jacket, short in height but tall in stature; first impression you know immediately who runs this building. The moment I met him I had a feeling we’d get along just fine. His calm approach to training is something I strive to develop and bring back to Sea Newport. Mistakes are embraced when made the first time, like a disappointed parent he wasn’t mad, just make sure not to make that mistake again. His professionalism working with players, coaches and front office staff is unparalleled.

Is the building too warm? “Not a problem, let’s adjust that.”

Ice too soft? “Let’s walk back to the chiller room and adjust the set points.”

A player and coach want to jump on the ice for extra training? “Want me to remake the ice for you guys quick? No, okay here’s the nets.”

Matt’s standards for operating the rink is the hockey equivalent to the goals I set for Sea Newport’s charters. Maintain the highest quality while retaining humility and limiting ego. Maintaining the highest standards while being approachable to everyone. Work ethic and desire to continue learning keep you youthful, whether you’ve been in an industry your entire life or it’s your first day training.

The similarities between operating a charter boat and Zamboni are incredibly similar. To start, they both require going in circles all day. There are so many controls, all doing very important roles. You need to know what everything does, controlling them effortlessly, all while distractions are imminent. Maybe it's a guest onboard wanting to have a conversation during a close quarters crossing situation or perhaps an NHL team is casually standing on the bench waiting for the ice to be ready for practice… managing stress, remaining professional, and reverting to your training is paramount.

One key skill I have developed through the years as a charter captain is limiting being star-struck. We all have role models and are a fan of something or someone. Reminding yourself everyone is human and treating everyone as such is the best way to live. I divide people into two categories: good humans and assholes. Pardon my French, but we’re all adults here.

People always say “don’t meet your heroes”, I completely disagree. Meeting your heroes allows you to much better judge which category your heros fall in. That way you truly know if you support them or not. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how many folks I’ve grew up idolizing which turn out to be wonderful people outside of their professional lives. From musicians, race car drivers, hockey players, celebrities and more, they are all just regular folks with great talents. They want to be treated like a regular person. Between the rink and the boats, I strive to provide that.

Now that my time in Utah is winding down and I am planning my departure, I am sad this door must close. But while one door closes, another one opens. This new door opening is Bonnie & Tide. I am so excited to continue growing Sea Newport and with Matt’s training, I feel extremely confident expansion will be a success. Having trust in good people will always prevail. Proper preparation and training will allow Sea Newport to maintain our high standards of quality, even if I am not able to captain every cruise aboard both boats.

I am so grateful I now not only have an answer to what I do in the winter, but also a story. This is just the surface of the story, but we can save the rest for chats aboard the boats this summer!

Cheers,

Captain Curtis Adam