The Cruising Club of America (CCA) has chosen Christopher and Molly Barnes of Alta, Utah, as recipients of the Far Horizons Award for 2025. The premier sailing honor for a CCA member, this award recognizes the sailing achievements of an individual or couple who have embarked upon a cruise or series of cruises that demonstrate the broader objectives of the Club, including the adventurous use of the sea.
A three-year, 36,000 nautical mile cruise undertaken by the Barnes family from 2013 to 2016 included a circumnavigation of South America and rounding of Cape Horn, with stops at Easter Island, Chile; South Georgia Island in the sub-Antarctic Ocean; Arctic Norway, and a wintertime crossing of France’s notorious Bay of Biscay. Crew comprised their sons, Porter and Rabbit, ages 10 and 9 when they started.
When informed of the award, Molly and Christopher had just completed another summer season in Newfoundland and southern Labrador, Canada, and expressed surprise. “We are honored and a bit daunted to be in such esteemed company,” they said, noting that it is “a real thrill to receive the award on behalf of all four of us.”
Christopher and Molly co-founded the High Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based outdoor leadership program for high school students, becoming recognized experts on risk management. After taking other people’s children on adventures in the mountains and canyons for 18 years, they decided it was time to take their own sons on one. Having previously introduced them to sailing in Maine on a 35-foot Cape George cutter, they commissioned a Boréal 47 in France and departed on their first significant offshore passage, to the Caribbean, in 2013.
The Barnes’ approach with their boys was to start slowly and emphasize safety, fun, and learning. The boys were treated as crew, not passengers, and as their skills developed they took on increased responsibility while earning more freedom and independence. Within a year of setting out, they were mastering the electric autopilot and wind vane, trimming sails, and soon began standing longer watches on their own. During the long sail from South Georgia to Norway, the boys taught themselves celestial navigation. By now they had become a cohesive crew; in Porter’s words: “The four of us were on the same page, working toward shared goals and enjoying shared experiences in a way that I had never seen in a family.”
The Barnes take a professional approach to cruising. From weather analysis to risk management, from passage planning to “keeping things fun on board,” they are exceptionally competent. These qualities are evident in numerous articles they have written, including an engaging article Molly and Porter contributed to the 2019 CCA Voyages magazine, for which they were awarded the CCA’s Vilas prize.
The Barnes are a talented and delightful family according to those who have spent time with them. Their voyage, along with continued adventurous cruising to Canada’s treacherous Sable Island and the Canadian Maritimes, qualifies as a “particularly meritorious voyage or series of cruises that exemplify the objectives of the Club” as specified in the Far Horizons criteria.
