Josh Kegan and Enrica Rossi’s boat the S/V Lúthien appeared on the horizon of Menemsha Harbor on Saturday morning for the first time in a year. The couple had set off last May to sail the Atlantic circuit — leaving from Menemsha and heading to the Azores, then down to the Canary Islands and back by way of the Caribbean.
The two were greeted on Saturday by Mr. Kegan’s parents, who brought a bouquet of flowers.
The port of call was meaningful for the sailors. Josh grew up spending summers in Menemsha where he learned to sail. His nautical experience also includes four years in the Coast Guard.
Ms. Rossi got her start sailing on Quitsa Pond when she began visiting Mr. Kegan’s family, who now live in Chilmark full-time.
The idea to spend a year sailing the Atlantic circuit was hatched in the days after the couple were married in 2019, at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury.
“We were driving up, or maybe it was on the honeymoon, the first morning we had after the wedding, that we really said, we’ve got all the wedding stuff behind us, we don’t have to worry about that anymore, so are we doing this?” Ms. Rossi said. “And then we decided we would find a boat and do this trip in some way.”
They purchased the 35-foot S/V Lúthien in 2020 and spent a few years doing repairs and making preparations for the journey. Before setting out across the ocean, the longest trips they had taken were two or three weeks at a time.
The couple lives in New Hampshire. Ms. Rossi works in film as a freelancer, and Mr. Keegan is an airplane pilot and was able to get a leave of absence from work.
The couple set sail in May of 2024.
Mr. Kegan said that while parts of the trip felt like a vacation, the journey was difficult.
“It is genuinely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said. “That amount of time on this space when everything is moving all the time is incredibly mentally taxing...a lot of highs and lows in adventure. Some things that were difficult, and then some things that were really awesome that you would have no way of experiencing otherwise.”
The couple took shifts keeping watch, although sleep was hard to come by. Ms. Rossi said they had to cocoon themselves with pillows to keep from rolling around the boat.
“You’re not doing that much, but you’re always doing a little bit of something,” Mr. Kegan said. “There’s this low level of constant stress. Maybe you read a little bit, and then you go up and check what’s the wind doing — are we still on course, are there any vessels nearby?”
Sailing to Madeira, Lúthien got stuck between two storm cells. Mr. Kegan recalled that for half an hour, the boat remained at a 45-degree angle. All he could see was the spray of water going sideways and the navigation lights.
When the storm began to calm, Mr. Kegan looked to the wind indicator, which read 37 knots — about 43 miles per hour.
“After that passed, I remember when I looked up and I could see the stars. That was just the most relief I have felt in my life,” Ms. Rossi said. “That means the clouds have passed and we’re safe, we’re okay.”
Mr. Kegan said the storm made him realize how hearty Lúthien was, which was a comfort.
“What I learned pretty quickly is the boat can take a lot more than people can,” he said. “We are the weak point in this system, which in some ways is kind of scary, but in other ways it’s kind of comforting.”
They couple was at sea for Christmas and New Year’s, but they weren’t entirely alone. Over the radio, they heard Christmas music being played from large cargo ships in the area.
“People were playing Christmas songs on the radio and it felt like this unique kind of companionship,” Ms. Rossi said. “We’re all hundreds and thousands of miles away from home, but we’re all here together, just wishing each other a happy Christmas.”
Not long after, when they were between the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands, they were approached by a boat filled with migrants.
“There was like 30 people on this boat that was smaller than our boat, just an open boat, and they came up to us,” Mr. Kegan said. “There was a language barrier and I wasn’t sure what they wanted.”
Mr. Kegan said he shared some water with the other boat and then didn’t see them again.
“That’s something that I’ve heard about in the news but I had never seen,” he said. “We share the same world together, but we’re in completely different parts of society and how we live our life.”
Ms. Rossi agreed.
“This whole trip has been a lot of these extremes, where you pull into a very small island in the Caribbean, and you interact with the locals that live there and try to put together a living, and then you get passed by 200-foot, gigantic, mega yachts with people who own billions of dollars. It just really puts you in touch with what you really have,” Ms. Rossi said.
The couple first made landfall back in the United States in Charleston, S.C. and then arrived in Menemsha on Saturday.
They both see the trip as a major accomplishment.
“It’s not as bittersweet as I would have expected,” Ms. Rossi said. “It’s the accomplishment that stands out in my heart, where I’m happy to have finished it.”
Mr. Kegan agreed, saying he still loves being on the water after a year of it.
“It’s like they say, leave the party while you’re still having fun.”
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