Tedi Huszagh: Sailing The Atlantic

Story by JULIE HALES

Photography by SUSAN DELOACH

The beauty of the ocean, along with its mystery, its pleasures and its majesty, is something that many people never have an opportunity to experience. Most can only imagine.
Envision yourself on a boat, thousands of miles from shore, nothing but you, the ocean, and the crew of two other people on board – the sole purpose of your trip is to sail across  the Atlantic Ocean.  What a dream for most, but a reality for  Theodora Hamilton Huszagh. Called Tedi by her family and friends, she spent her 22nd birthday sailing across the Atlantic Ocean!
Born in Athens, Georgia, Tedi and her family moved to Denver, Colorado on her 10th birthday. She spent the next 9 years of her life living in and around the Denver area where there isn’t much opportunity to sail. While growing up, Tedi visited her grandparents frequently as they sailed all over the coast, her grandfather taught her how to sail on one of those visits to Charleston. And, of course, she fell in love with it so she decided to pursue that love of sailing and got formal sailing training while in Charleston.
Tedi has two brothers. Her younger brother moved from Denver to live on the sailboat with his grandparents, then living at Dataw Island.  Tedi’s mother soon followed.  Tedi stayed in Denver for a few years, but she began to miss her family, her move to Dataw in 2011 was inevitable.
In 2010, Tedi’s mother, Susan Huszagh bought a sailboat that had been in storage for about 14 years, a Bayfield 25, for Tedi and her brother.  The boat needed some work to get it back in the water but as soon as the boat was in the water, Tedi’s passion for sailing ensued. She had a dream of sailing this boat to the Bahamas. “This is a great little cruising boat and perfect for the Bahamas,” she says.  One night, she posted on Facebook:  ‘I just want someone to run away with me, is that too much to ask?”
Little did Tedi know, a comment made back to her would open the door for her to a Trans-Atlantic trip. Captain Charles Beldin replied, “Why don’t you run away with me.  I am doing a Trans-Atlantic.” She asked him for the details of the trip.  “This trip sounded way cooler to me than my plans for the Bahamas,” she said. When Tedi got the details of the trip, she found that if she could cover her cost to fly to the Canary Islands, she could travel back to Dataw on board the sail boat with Beldin and his first mate, Colin Gasque.
The adventure began.  She spoke a little bit of Spanish, which made things a bit easier while there.  They had fun getting the boat ready for the journey and were ready to set sail. They left the Canary Islands on November 5th and returned to Dataw Island on December 20th.  Thirty eight of those days were spent on the water – 3300 miles of sailing.
“The trip was pretty intense but very relaxing at the same time. We took turns on four hour watches and you never knew what the weather was going to be like when you went out on your watch. Sometimes there were squalls that would scare the pants off of you. On the last night of the longest leg of the trip, we went from seeing Antigua miles away, to literally not being able to see five feet in front of us. I was really scared! Charlie said let’s get those sails down – the winds were blowing at least 50 knots. It was terrifying!”
“It is beautiful.  There is silence, then the sound of the waves.  Then you think, and you think, and you think.  There are some things that I saw that were just unbelievable.  All three of us on board celebrated our birthdays while we were gone.  On my first morning watch, there was this big pod of dolphins, and I kid you not, there must have been over 100 of them and they were doing flips and playing with the boat.  And, it was just me out there. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen,” Tedi adds.
On December 4th, Tedi’s 22nd birthday, she had what she calls the most amazing birthday gift.  She saw a whale.  She recalls, “It was pretty awesome!  I had never seen a whale before. I only saw it briefly, but it was an amazing experience.”
Tedi still has plans to make that trip to the Bahamas.  As payment for her Trans-Atlantic trip, she received all the Bahama  navigational charts and CD’s.  She is hoping to make that trip in November or December of this year, a trip she will most likely make alone.  When asked how she felt about making that trip, she said, “It gets lonely out there, very lonely sometimes.  But I don’t get scared.  Bad weather is going to come, I learned that on this trip. You can’t avoid the bad weather,  you just have to know how to handle the boat.”
Tedi definitely has plans for her future.  She has her sights on getting her Captain’s license, which will require a lot of hours on the water. She plans on taking the classes, getting her license, learning the waters and making her living on the water. “A lot of people spend their whole life dong things they don’t want to do.  They go to school and then get these jobs and then they work for 30 years and they hate it. If you just find something that you like to do, then find a way to make that your job.”
Tedi will soon be leaving for Horta in the Azores.  She will be going with the same captain as before, but on this trip, she will be the first mate.  “I got a promotion,” she says with a laugh. They will be leaving from Dataw Island and be gone for about a month, with three weeks of sailing time. For now, Tedi spends her days working at Groucho’s as a server and lives on her sail boat at Lady’s Island Marina with her Jack Russell Terrier, Jackie-O.
Accomplishing what Tedi has at 22 years old is unheard of for most females her age. “I don’t catch nearly as much flack for my age as I do for being a girl. Being a girl on the water is sometimes tough. But, my grandmother had it much tougher than I did. She taught me, if someone thinks you can’t do it, you just have to prove them wrong.”
One must wonder what obstacles she has faced in her path. When asked, Tedi takes a long time to answer. She almost seems like she wants to avoid giving an answer.  But, she does.  “I am bipolar. It is what it is.  One of my doctors tells me that he is diabetic and has to take his insulin.  Well, I am bipolar and I have to take my medicine. Being bipolar has definitely been an obstacle to do what I do.  Moods sometimes can be volatile and get in the way.  My depression can be more severe than my mania.  And, sometimes out there on the water, you tend to get a little depressed when you get lonely.”
“We moved a lot when I was in Colorado.  It was hard.  I never felt like I really had a home-home after we left the farm in Georgia. It was tough not having a home base, so my Mom became my home base. Wherever she was, that was home.”
When asked how she liked living in the Lowcountry, Tedi quickly responds, “Lowcountry life cannot be beat! This is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I have been to some pretty cool places. This will always be my home. I love it here.  I love the people here.  I love the pace here.  I love just about everything here, except the sand gnats. Those things can go.”
Tedi loves life, she’s living her dream. On her days off from Groucho’s, you can find her sailing around on the Beaufort River.  In the evenings and in her spare time, you can find her watching sports or learning to play the guitar.  She is a huge sports fan,  “I am a Colorado Rockies fanatic.  I love the Denver Broncos.  Peytan Manning is the man,” she says. And, when it comes to college football, this young lady goes back to her Georgia roots.  “I am a Georgia Bull Dog! Sports and sailing.  Those are my things. And I love music, all kinds of music.”
But Tedi’s biggest love is sailing.  She says, “When you turn off that engine and you are still moving, there is just something so beautiful about it. There is nothing like it.”