ABOUT US

Casey Brooks

...grew up in land-locked Helena, Montana enjoying all the outdoor activities afforded by the Rocky Mountains and near-by fly-fishing streams. He found his way to the West Coast as soon as possible to study political science and history at Santa Clara. It was the height of hippy scene in San Francisco, but he was "tuned in and turned on" to the beautiful yachts in the Bay area and Sausalito.

Scheming to someday own or build one of his own, he headed for Alaska during the oil boom to earn and save more money than he could have imagined in the "lower 48".  In 1976 he rented a barn in Washington state, purchased the plans, and Retriever was conceived. Four years later she was launched in the Pacific and Retriever and Casey headed south.

They spent a few years cruising Central and South America, then jumped off from Galapagos to cross the Pacific. Casey visited 60 countries during his round-the world, and started construction companies in Fiji, Guam, Samoa and the Philippines. Continuing west-about, he stopped in India, explored East Africa, and braved the Red Sea up to the Mediterranean. Casey crossed the Atlantic in 1998 landing in St. Lucia, and headed north to America looking for work to finance much-needed repairs. With any luck, the full story of his adventures over these 20 years will actually be published some day.

Lori Shea

...was born in Mystic, Connecticut, on the Stonington side of the river, just a stone's throw from the Mystic Seaport, a Whaling and Maritime History Museum. A decade later in Noank with Palmer Cove in the backyard and many sailing classes, Lori got her first sailboat, a Sunfish, at age 11.  The following year, after-school work was at Spicer's Marina, varnishing masts and scraping barnacles in hopes of being invited to crew to Block Island in the summer.

That began a life-long affection for Block Island (RI), including many happy summers and a few storm-tossed but somehow satisfying winters. After studying music at the State Conservatory of Music in Puebla, Mexico and business at Strayer University in Washington, DC, Lori found a home in Key West, and returned there from myriad travels, through Europe, Asia and Central America, for more than 20 years.

Lori had many successes in restaurant management over the years and started her own consulting company in Miami Beach in 1992, taking full advantage the art-deco resurgence in the world-class hotels and restaurants of South Beach.

Casey & Lori met in Key West in 2001 and took off for Cuba soon after.