Ed Sherman (middle) is the vice president of educational programming for the American Boat and Yacht Council and is the former chairman of the marine technology department at the New England Institute of Technology in Warwick, Rhode Island. An experienced racer and cruiser and Boat of the Year judge, Sherman is the author of four technical marine books, a frequent contributor to CW and other boating publications, and often works with boatbuilders, marine surveyors, field-service staff personnel and engineering staffs in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.
Cruising World editor-at-large Tim Murphy (left) grew up living aboard a 41-foot ketch and sailing along the U.S. East Coast and the Bahamas. At age 18, he earned a 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard license and has worked around boats ever since, delivering them, writing about them and teaching people how to use them. An independent writer and editor based in Rhode Island, he is the co-author of Fundamentals of Marine Service Technology, as well as hundreds of articles. He is the owner of a 1988 Passport 40, Billy Pilgrim, which he is outfitting for extended voyaging.
CW contributing editor Alvah Simon (right) is a veteran cruiser and award-winning author whose harrowing, best-selling book about spending a winter locked in ice above the Arctic Circle, North to the Night: A Spiritual Odyssey in the Arctic, is a modern classic.
A two-time circumnavigator, Simon is currently based in New Zealand with his wife, Diana, and their 36-foot steel cutter, Roger Henry. Decades of sailing on small boats and tight budgets in far-flung corners of the world have honed his sense of practicality, simplicity and safety.
