Our Story

What started out as a passion for travel, turned into a love of sailing

How it started

Darren and Amanda launched their sailing journey with a dream to scuba dive from their sailboat in the most remote corners of this world. The pandemic quickly derailed those plans, bringing them instead to the very cold climate of the North Atlantic as they retraced the original Viking’s route, sailing from the United States, Newfoundland, Greenland, across the North Atlantic to Scotland. Scuba diving was put on hold for some epic sailing in some of the most beautiful fjords on this Earth.

A Desire to

experience | learn | connect

Why Outer Passage

Dolphins on the bow

When the journey began, Darren and Amanda understood sailing as a mere means to travel adventurously. However, somewhere in those thousands of miles sailed, they fell deeply in love with sailing. Travel became more about the journey than the destination.

Now enter Outer Passage, an opportunity to connect, share, and explore WITH other like-minded adventurers. Not only does the journey continue, but with Outer Passage, the sailing continues with YOU aboard our performance cruising multihull. We love boats that sail well, cruise fast, and offer comfortable accommodations.

Whether your new to sailing, curious about cruising or simply want a new adventure. Outer Passage wants to give you the experience and confidence to pursue your sailing dreams through offshore and coastal passage opportunities.

Meet the crew

US Coast Guard Licensed Masters

For the past six years as full-time liveaboard cruisers, Darren and Amanda, have racked up over 35,000NM, sailing the Viking route across the Northern Atlantic to Greenland and the UK, navigating to the edges of the Mediterranean Sea and finishing a circumnavigation of the northern Atlantic Ocean from the Canaries to the Caribbean. In these sailing expeditions, they have grown fond of the sea, appreciating its power and beauty, and enjoying long distance passage-making.

Check out their YouTube channel and other social media platforms.

  • Although Darren was born and raised in land-locked Reno Nevada, there was no shortage of adventure in his life. He began racing go-karts, flying aeroplanes, and competing in downhill ski racing at an early age. Transitioning to a life at sea has been no different in the planning, preparation, and safety precautions needed for an adventure on our world’s oceans.

    Darren has graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Nevada, Reno; and has over a decade of experience working for Siemens in the power generation industry. Undoubtedly, his years of racing cars, skis, and really, anything that moves, has given him the knowledge to repair, fix, and upgrade all parts of the sailing vessel, giving him the title of ‘All-around fix-it man’.

    When he isn’t elbows deep in a boat project, Darren enjoys riding bikes, exploring the underwater world, and getting lost in a new town. At the end of the day, he appreciates a good beer or Scotch and can fall asleep promptly after a delicious sweet.

  • Growing up along the east coast of Florida, Amanda, aka Panda, has lived by the water all her life, but only truly fell in love with sailing when she started cruising on her own sailboat.

    Amanda is always up for an adventure, when she is not at the helm, you’ll find her in the galley cooking a new delicious meal for the crew or in the water identifying all the wildlife. Her passion to learn and calming nature are infectious.

 Partnerships

Life on the water can be tough. These companies have stood behind what we do at Outer Passage, to support our mission, and keep our project moving forward. We love doing business with good honest companies and are happy to highlight our official partnerships.

 

Balance Catamarans

Balance has recently welcomed Outer Passage as Balance Sailing Ambassadors, and for good reason: We preach the benefits of performance boats that sail well and Balance is exactly that! More-so, we find our guests already eyeing build-slots for their own dream Balance Catamaran.

Ronstan USA

Ronstan is a premier sailing hardware manufacturer, suppling blocks, furlers, and the legendary Anderson winches. Whenever we are in need of anything to support our running rigging, Ronstan USA is there for us!

Helly Hansen

Helly Hansen is a leader in providing high performance outdoor gear to professionals all over the world, including your crew at Outer Passage. Find us sporting the latest in foul weather gear, base layers, and sailing specific clothing.

SunGod

We are ALWAYS wearing sunnies, and SunGod has stepped up to keep Outer Passage safe from those rays and looking fly! Even better, SunGod offers lifetime guarantee, even when we have a mishap, and they are a 1% For the Planet member <3