The award winning author is a licensed sea captain who has made over 20 sailing trips between New England, Bermuda and the Caribbean. He has also run larger ships in the oil fields, charter boats in the FL Keys, and a ferry in Boston Harbor. He has lived aboard a classic wooden sloop in the Caribbean and sailed in both the Mediterranean and South Pacific. He currently resides in Sarasota, FL with his wife Louise and their two black labs. Maelstrom Part I was a semi-finalist in the 2019 CIBA CLUE award for best new suspense/thriller novel of 2019. Callie Awakens (Rip's newest work) was just awarded a 1st place CLUE award for best new Suspense/Thriller of 2021. Wayne Stinnet the author of 19 Jesse McDermitt books and 5 Charity Styles novels wrote of Maelstrom Part I: "The story is great and the characters very believable. Highly recommended."