Photo by Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy has made a name for himself with his captivating photos of people and places around Richmond.
Rather than a camera snapshot, however, the one image etched in Murphy’s mind and soul is sailing the Narragansett Bay with family during his childhood in Barrington, Rhode Island. He treasured the experience so much, he says, he always wished he could live on a boat.
Murphy’s love of the water was the through line of his career. “I went on to work on boats for 30-plus years,” he says. He joined the U.S. Coast Guard after high school and learned navigation, then worked as a marine mechanic for decades. He met his first wife on a ship in the Caribbean, later moving with her to Richmond to be near her family. “I spent more time in the bilge, working on boats, than I have running them. It’s time to sail into what I was always meant to do,” he adds.
In 2024, Murphy, 61, decided to make his dream come true. “I realized I’m at an age where you either say, ‘I’m never going to do it,’ or say, ‘Darn it, I’m going to do it!’” he explains.
Murphy on board the Pilgrim
Today, Murphy’s not only living on a boat, he’s planning to sail away on the adventure of a lifetime. Next spring, he will sail north from Virginia to New England, stopping along the way to explore. He’ll visit Rhode Island, then go on to Maine, a state he’s seen once that struck him with the beauty of its beaches.
Murphy then plans to turn around and follow the U.S. coastline all the way to Texas, docking most evenings and going ashore. “It’s a solo adventure to meet people,” he says. He’ll use an electric scooter he named Eeek! — the sound he made when he first tried it — to get around when he docks for food and supplies, and he hopes to adopt a kitten to take along for company.
He’ll also make virtual friends, as he envisions chronicling his voyage on social media. In addition to his camera equipment, Murphy has a drone on board to document the expedition, he says.
In many ways, the journey began about 18 months ago, when Murphy started searching for a sailboat on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. He found her in Yorktown and named her Pilgrim. “Like a 1954 VW cargo van, my girl is vintage. She is a 1983 Sabre 30 Mk II and is sloop rigged [with a single mast and two primary sails]. She’s 30 feet long and 10 feet wide at her widest point. It’s small, but I love it,” he says.
The decision to not only buy, but live on, a sailboat wasn’t made easily, Murphy says. His finances and health were both concerns — he’s still building his retirement fund, and he was experiencing now-resolved complications from diabetes, he explains. His family worries about his safety on the water alone. But Murphy has decided to pursue his dream. “I’ve got to have faith I can go out there and do this,” he says. “I’m willing to take the risk, because when I go out sailing, I’m in my happy place. I would be more afraid of not trying.”
Murphy decided to dock Pilgrim in Yorktown, which offers easy access to the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, while he updates the boat in preparation for the trip. “I am slowly making her mine,” he explains. “The previous owners took very good care of her, and it shows where it counts. She has her original engine. Fortunately, I’m a marine mechanic. I’ve upgraded the electrical and installed solar panels. I don’t work on this boat; I take care of her, and she takes care of me.
The cabin of the Pilgrim
“My home rocks in the wind, and I can hear the sound of the halyards slapping on the masts of the other boats, but I sleep well,” Murphy continues. “I’ve survived 45-knot winds. I have to pump my toilet by hand, and I have to haul water into my boat in jugs. In storms, the boat creaks and makes noises, but the most relaxing place to be is on the boat.”
The Pilgrim moored in Yorktown
However, he adds, “You always have to be alert for problems and dangers.” During a trip across the bay in February, rough weather came in more quickly than expected. “Pilgrim took it well,” Murphy recalls, “but at one point she did lay over on her port side far enough that water washed into the cockpit. Things went flying all over the boat. On that trip, I knew she was a seaworthy girl.”
Murphy plans to retire next year before embarking on his trip, but for now he still works as a marine mechanic. He also teaches classes in the subject at New Horizons Regional Education Center in Hampton. “His knowledge is unparalleled and has inspired me,” says his son Kyle; he and his brother, Daniel, live in the Richmond area. Kyle says his father has always shared his love of the water with them.
When his sons were young, Murphy remembers, he read his favorite book from childhood to them: “Scuppers the Sailor Dog” by Margaret Wise Brown, about a dog who fulfilled his dream of sailing the ocean. More recently, he’s shared the book with his grandchildren, who love it, he says. To them, he is like a real-life Scuppers, achieving his dream.
“It’s magical,” Murphy says of the breathtaking views and gentle sounds of water and wind while he sails. “When I’m not here, I miss it. I want to do this for the rest of my life.”
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