C. RUFUS PENNINGTON, III – TRIAL ATTORNEY, OF COUNSEL AT COKER LAW CLICK HERE FOR MY LAW PRACTICE →
Log of a sailor

Rufus Pennington
upon the sea

Forty years in the courtrooms. Another apprenticeship under sail — coastal passages, blue-water crossings, and the slow education of wind, current, and weather.

30°20′ N, 81°24′ WHome port — Atlantic Beach, FL
EST. 1993Years under sail
OFFSHORE / COASTALPassage type

How this began

Long before closing arguments and appellate briefs, there were small boats and a Florida coastline with beaches and salt creeks. Sailing started as a way to leave work behind for a weekend and became, over four decades, a second education — one measured in hard-earned wisdom and nautical miles rather than verdicts and judgments.

The trips grew into coastal passages, then offshore legs, explorations of the Bahamas, then full ocean crossings — each one a study in patience, preparation, and respect for a sea that does not care about a trial calendar.

The next time someone tells you they have a crazy idea — sailing alone across an ocean, or something just as impractical — don't tell them to wait until they have more money, or time, or a better excuse. Let your first words be, "oh, hell yes." — on solo ocean sailing
Home Waters
Northeast Florida / Atlantic Coast
Longest Passage
3,088 nm, Maine to Portugal, solo
Notable Waters
Bahamas, Caribbean, Gulf of Maine, North Atlantic, the Azores, Europe

The boats

Current vessel — in preparation

Guerrera

A Class40 undergoing a five-month refit in Normandy, being prepared for a solo, nonstop circumnavigation — the boat, the systems, the safety gear, and the sailing program, in detail.

Explore Guerrera →
Prior vessel — transferred to new stewardship, 2025

Malabar

A 1973 Hinckley Bermuda 40, twice sailed solo across the North Atlantic — an aborted 2024 attempt and a completed 2025 crossing, Maine to Portugal by way of the Azores.

Explore Malabar →

Follow the voyage

Day-to-day updates, photos, and video live on Instagram and Facebook — the website gets the long version.