Reelin’ In the Years: Reconnecting With Marc Hightower and ‘Free Bird’ Part 1
Marc Hightower first appeared on the Latitude 38 radar when he showed up at the very first Sea of Cortez Race Week in spring 1984. He stood out even then, not for being young, good-looking and adventuresome — weren’t we all back then? — or even for being a singlehander. What set him apart was his boat, the bright-red Montgomery 17 Free Bird. Anchored amid a fleet of 70-some other cruising boats, at first glance Free Bird seemed almost like somebody’s oversize sailing dinghy.
But this was no plaything, or some crazy guy sailing a marginal daysailer on a lark voyage. Marc was a serious sailor, and Free Bird was a serious long-distance cruising boat, ingeniously compressed into a small package.
We were intrigued, to say the least. After Race Week, we stayed in sporadic contact as Marc made his way south along the coast from Mexico into Central America — mostly by himself but with the occasional company of equally adventurous young women. At the time, we recall he had his sights set on getting the boat to the Caribbean, and keeping going. Several articles by and about him appeared in these pages over the next few years.
The last we heard in the late ’80s, he had put Free Bird on a trailer and was getting her towed across Guatemala for more cruising in the Caribbean. Then comms dried up. In those days before smartphones, Starlink and social media, that’s the way it often went. We long wondered what had become of him.
Ironically enough, the internet finally provided answers. By complete chance, we came across a post on the Montgomery Boats website showing Marc and Free Bird — reunited in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, this past March after almost four decades apart! There was also a short report from the man himself, still adventurous and adventuring at age 68.
“The new owner, Hector Zachrisson, saved her from an ignominious fate of being cut up and converted into a barge for hauling material,” he wrote. All the cruising gear had been removed, he noted, and the boat has been converted into more of a daysailer. Hector had done an amazing restoration job, right down to a new set of sails. “He was kind enough to allow me to take her out sailing,” Marc wrote. “It’s like we were never apart. She handles beautifully and is a joy to sail.”
We had to know more. We were able to re-establish contact with Marc to see what he’s been up to for the past lifetime-and-a-half. It’s been a bit like catching up with Phileas Fogg after that 80-days thing. And well worth sharing with readers, starting at the start.