400 miles, alone

[Alan H]

I'm baaack for a couple of days, anyway!.

I was "out there" as in offshore, off the Nrthern California coast Wednesday though Sunday, about 6: 00AM. I was in my boat, the Santa Cruz 27 "Ankle Biter", solo. This solo sail was intended to fulfil one of the major requirements for doing the 2008 Singlehanded TransPacific Race...San Francisco to Kauai, Hawaii. To qualify, you must sail 400 miles, alone. This 400 mile voyage must get to a point at least 100 miles offshore, and you cannot touch land at any point during the trip, though you can anchor. I didn't finish the Great Pacific Longitude Race (the "LongPac" earlier this summer due to light wind, a failing radio and a rotten attitude, so I needed to go out and try agagin.

It was very light wind out there, in fact one day I sat and went absolutely nowhere for eleven hours.....not a BREATH of wind for eleven hours. That plays hell with your mileage, and attitude!. It was light...but there was some wind all day Wednesday and Thursday, too.....repeat of the last race out here, though at least the wind was out of the south for the first day and a half, not smack on the nose, out of the West like it was on the LongPac.. "Libations, Too" is much slower than my boat, so I reefed and slowed down to hang with her the first day and a half. I put fifteen miles on Richard anyway, but that was my good deed for the month. It was good for me, too. It was really nice, a REAL attitude booster to have someone to talk to every four hours, for those first days.

Anyway, I talked to the Luminous Joan on the satellite phone on Friday night and she told me that NOAA was forecasting a Gale for Monday. So I had to get in on Sunday. No Gales for me! I've dealt with one already in 2004 and I have no need to repeat that experience. So I turned around at 6:00 AM Saturday in building wind and TORE back...covered the 140-odd miles between that position and the Golden Gate Bridge in 22 hours....do the math. We were FLYING. It was very stressful out in the Gulf of the Farallones that night. I came in about 5 miles further south that I had intended and all my carefully memorized courses for the bazillion Farallones races I've done did me no good at all. I got disoriented, but finally spotted the Golden Gate Bridge about 5 miles out and then it was fine, though it seemed like forever.

I drove the last 8 hours, I didn't trust the autopilot or the windvane to drive in those conditions, and that put me in one very uncomfortable, hi-stress sitting position for a long time. I"m paying for that, now.

Anyway, once under the Gate I sailed to the cove and anchorage at Treasure Island and dropped the anchor and crashed for about 6 hours....got up at 9:30 and spent some time with dividers and added up exactly how far I'd gone out there....318 miles.

I need to cover 400. So that meant I had to do 82 miles in the Bay before I could tie up to a dock and step off the boat. So that's what I was doing Sunday and Monday. I sailed from one end of San Francisco Bay to the other, and back again. I wound up anchoring out at Belvedere Cove on Sunday night.

The miserable position I was in on Sat night/Sunday AM teamed up with being so tired that I just dropped into my bunch in my wet gear meant I slept a cold night on Saturday and cramped up. I've pinched a nerve and my left ankle is numb and I have "drop-foot". It made for some interested balaning acts on Sunday and Monday while I was sailing the Bay. However, that's what I did, I sailed a massive "tour" of San Francisco Bay from one end to the other to rack up the miles.

The sail down the Alameda Estuary to my berth turned into an interminable ordeal in no wind and dead batteries (thus no running lights...just waiting for the local Coasties to cite me). I entered the Estuary about 5:30 on Monday and I didn't hit the dock, four miles, just four miles later until 9:00. I got off the boat, done, *finis* at 9:08 PM Monday night.

However, then comes time to put the boat away. With all the extra gear I had on it, it took 3 hours, and then the tide was so low that I couldn't hoist her out! *GRRRRRR***** ... so I drove home, got home at 1:30 AM this morning, took a shower and slept until 7:00. Then it was back up again, an hour for breakfast and BACK to Alameda to return my liferaft and hoist the boat out...all fine, EXCEPT....a bigrig truck jacknifed on the San-Mateo/Hayward Bridge and you can imagine what that did to traffic dwon here. I left the house at 7:00, didn't get to work until 1:00. Oyyy.....

However, it's done....DONE. I covered about 406 miles, total and gotten more than 100 miles offshore. I've qualified for the Singlehanded TransPac. Hanalei, here I come!

[Panache]

...However, it's done....DONE. I covered about 406 miles, total and gotten more than 100 miles offshore. I've qualified for the Singlehanded TransPac. Hanalei, here I come!

Alan,

You suceeded in what you set out to do. Well done and welcome home!

Cheers

Jamie

[Yaish]

I get so jealous of even a bad day sailing, I can't wait to get my boat. (probably wont happen for years)

[Alan H]

I just re-read that post It was a C&P job, and I should have checked it before posting it....part are totally incomprehensible!

[Panache]

...I should have checked it before posting it....part are totally incomprehensible!

How is this different from your normal mode of speech?

Cheers

Jamie

[James MacMillan]

In 1979 I crewed for a friend as we moved his boat from Camp Pendleton Harbor to the marina at Pearl Harbor. After that trip, we didn't speak to each other for maybe three months!

We were both blaming the other and ourselves for the petty things that happen on the open ocean.

We finally put it all behind us, and then I crewed for him doing the reverse in '85.

I don't know what was different the second time, but we had a blast. Older, wiser, who knows?

As you already know = You are going to love the TransPacific!

Good Luck!

[ccga3359]

Ratty to Mole: "There is nothing- absolutely nothing-
half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."

Thank you Kenneth Grahame for the quote.

Well done Cap'n.

[BEEDEE]

Well done Alan! I love sailing but would never consider a single handed trip such as you are entering. It takes a special person.

Brian

[Dirk Skene]

Me do that No Way You're a better man that I am, Ginga Din

[starbkjrus]

Congratulations and good luck Alan.

I'll wave from the bar on the lido deck when you go by.