VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT:  ERIN GATLING, CASEY SCHILLING, GUNNER (10) and PAIGE (7)

Boat Name and Type:  Our 2015 Catana 47 "Endless Playtime" was unfortunately dropped in a boat yard during bottom painting.  We are now finally about to get our next boat, an HH 44 due to finish off the assembly line late spring 24.

Our new boat will be registered in Bikini, Marshall Islands.  We plan to pick it up in China from the production line, and sail it to Japan, up to Alaska and down the California coast by Christmas '24 - ending in Southern California, where the kids were born.  We consciously don't make plans any further out than that and leave them really rough to give us room to change them on the fly.

Home Port:  Hampton, VA - also known as the package depot for the Salty Dawgs rally, since we've been volunteering to receive and deliver everyone's packages and mail since 2021.

What are you up to now?:  We recently purchased Willoughby Marina in Norfolk, VA - just on the opposite side of the bridge next to Hampton.  We are currently starting renovations to make it the welcoming transient hub of the central East Coast, USA.  It's a massive project, and we're just at the beginning, having owned it less than a year.  We are very excited about what is to come!

Years volunteering for the Salty Dawgs:  Three

How do you volunteer for the Dawgs?  We are problem solvers at heart, from our old careers as engineers at Spacex.  Therefore, when we heard there was an issue where no one could get mail delivered at Bluewater after it got new owners, we jumped in and volunteered our brick and sticks house down the street to get everyone's packages each fall.  You will often see our kids delivering packages - sometimes in the anchorage via a pink electric boat borrowed from Electrified Marina.

Why do you volunteer for the Dawgs?  Because we are a community of like minded people who love to live on boats and travel.  Most go us have similar passions involving being eco-friendly to the land, water and ocean life.  We are proud to be part of the Salty Dawg community. 

Other interests?   Too many!  The kids do a lot of gymnastics, obstacle course Ninja, surfing, swimming, mountain biking, skiing and snowboarding, wing foiling, paddle boarding, snorkeling, scuba and more.  You will always find us outside having fun (hence our boat name, Endless Playtime).  Erin also really enjoys her business entrepreneurships - developing Willoughby Marina and Electrified Marina.