RON RITTER – FOUNDER AND COMPANY DIRECTOR
Ron has spent 25+ years engaged in exploration, research, and environmental work. He earned his BS in Biology from the University of Miami, and Ph.D. in Zoology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, UK. Field research includes mid-water and deep ocean benthic sampling, reef ecology; cave exploration and applied terrestrial ecology. He was crew on multiple marine research cruises in the Caribbean, Grand Banks of Canada, and served as a Fisheries Observer with the National Marine Fisheries Service in the Bering Sea.
Ron designed and led a 3-½ year wildlife research project in Botswana’s Kalahari Desert in support of the Government. This was followed by several extended discovery and survey expeditions to caves in the western part of Botswana. Prior to this, he was a team member on an extended expedition across the Trans-Amazon Highway and up the Xingu River. He has over 20,000 nm of ocean sailing experience on Sea Dragon. He holds a Marine Radio Operator Permit, US Sailing Cruising certification, Wilderness Medicine First Aid certification, PADI Divemaster, TDI Deco/Advanced Nitrox and NSS-CDS/TDI Cave Diver. He is also a General Class HAM.
Balancing out his outdoor work, Ron has spent the last 15 years working in global business and government focused on strategy and operations performance.
In 2008 he was awarded the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service.
In addition to core work in business, he has helped to develop a national strategy for the Audubon Society and a local Land Conservancy. Ron has over 15 publications related to his exploration work and is a National Fellow of The Explorers Club.
MARY VAUGHAN-JONES – Captain
I grew up in North West England, spending every weekend outdoors in the Lake District. After attending university in Cardiff, I worked as a personal trainer, working in the Middle East for a time before discovering the Clipper Round the World Sailing race. I became completely hooked on offshore sailing and after completing half the 19-20 race (pre Covid!) I gained my Yachtmaster qualification in order to be able to work in the industry. I became the skipper for a youth trust based in the Solent, England, working with young adults in order to widen their horizons and build their confidence which I found immensely rewarding. The itch to see more of the world by sea led me to becoming a freelance cruising instructor which enabled me to work with a variety of companies on a range of boats from 20’ to 70’, cruisers to high spec race boats. I spent some time in the Caribbean and around the UK helping refit boats until the Clipper Race restarted. I returned as a first mate, helping lead a crew of amateurs from the Philippines back to the UK and also completing my own circumnavigation. Having already seen the North Pacific, I’m excited to be on board Sea Dragon and explore more of the Pacific’s waters and islands- showing others the joy of ocean sailing, discovering the world around them and our effect on it, as well as teaching them to sail and work as a team.
Mary holds her Yachtmaster Ocean with commercial endorsement as well as her MCA Proficiency in Medical Care certificate.
ERIC LOSS AND SHANLEY MCENTEE – Shore Side Operations
Eric Loss and Shanley McEntee have been with Pangaea Exploration since 2012. They have extensive experience working with scientific and non-profit research groups and enjoy running educational adventures for school groups. Eric and Shanley have taken Sea Dragon through the Panama Canal, up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Chicago, and to the Baltic, the Caribbean, West Africa, Central America, and the Central Pacific.
Shanley, born in 1987, grew up surfing and swimming in the Pacific in Del Mar, California. Throughout her youth, she worked with the Surfrider Foundation to protect California’s coastlines. She has a BA in Environmental Policy and Marine Science from Western Washington University. Her love and curiosity for the sea also extends underwater, where she is a PADI Rescue Diver.
After college she learned to sail, combining her passion for science, the environment, and the sea by spending several months aboard Sea|Mester’s schooners Ocean Star and Argo. Soon after she earned her Ocean Yachtmaster license. Shanley is the medical officer onboard Sea Dragon while on expedition and, alongside Eric, runs and maintains her both on and off program.
Eric, born in 1985, grew up in Laguna Beach, California. During his youth, he sailed dinghies, raced CFJ’s, Larks, and C420’s, and taught sailing to children in Dana Point, California. As a member of the Sea Scouts, Eric gained experience sailing and repairing cruising sailboats, 80’ to 130’ schooners, ketches, and brigs, locally and on several ocean crossings. He also earned the Sea Scout Quartermaster Award.
After graduating from Bowdoin College, Eric became a PADI Divemaster while working for ActionQuest and Sea|Mester, developing his teaching skills as he progressed from running summer programs on 50’ yachts to skippering 88’ and 113’ schooners throughout the Eastern Caribbean and across the Atlantic. In 2011, Eric took a break from professional sailing to buy and refit Odyssey, an Islander 36, to attempt a non-stop solo circumnavigation. Eight months later, he returned to Los Angeles, having sailed past the Great Capes of the Southern Oceans and back up the Pacific to his home port.
When not aboard Sea Dragon, Eric and Shanley have sailed throughout the Caribbean, across the Atlantic, and to the Arctic Circle aboard their own Pouvreau 42 Cutter, Fleur Australe.
Qualifications:
Eric is an Ocean Yachtmaster with commercial endorsement, USCG 100 ton master, PADI Divemaster, and holds his MCA Proficiency in Medical Care at Sea. He has sailed over 100,000nm worldwide.
Shanley is an Ocean Yachtmaster with commercial endorsement, PADI Rescue Diver, and holds her MCA Proficiency in Medical Care at Sea. She has sailed over 75,000nm worldwide.
DR. SPIKE BRIGGS, BSc, BM, FRCA – CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISOR
Spike serves as principal medical advisor to Pangaea Exploration. With the full MSOS team, he provides direct at-sea medical support to the Sea Dragon crew. He is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia in Poole, UK. He originally graduated with a degree in civil engineering and worked for ten years designing foundations for oil rigs, before returning to medical school. He has sailed all his life, including the Fastnet and racing around the world in 1996 as navigator. He is an instructor for advanced life support and advanced trauma life support courses, and he lectures at Southampton Medical School. He is an advisor, instructor, and examiner on medical aspects of yachting for the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Medical Support Offshore Limited (MSOS) was formed in 2006 by Dr. Spike Briggs, Dr Campbell Mackenzie, and Dr. Tommo Tomson. The aims of the company are to provide medical training, medical kits and telemedical support to the sailing community, which includes racing teams, adventure companies, and private individuals.
The directors have very strong sailing backgrounds, and all have dealt with medical emergencies at sea, from the Solent to the Southern Ocean. This gives them valuable experience and authority when teaching sailors how to deal with life-threatening medical emergencies, and when giving advice over the telephone to sailing boats, far from help on the ocean.
