I can't believe I forgot to update my blog with the news that THE BOAT IS BACK. The deliver skipper pulled Tiki J into Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda last Wednesday night. I think it was around 8 local time. He unloaded his gear and did some cleaning before bringing her over to Coyote Point mid day Friday. I finally got down there to get some stuff off her on Tuesday night. I took four big bags (a huge Ikea bag and some boat tote bags) of Tupperware and towels to wash, canned food to stow somewhere as Earthquake / emergency food, stuff that doesn't need to be on the boat now that the race is over, stuff in general... The smell that came out of the washing machine when it started to fill with water with the towels in there was... interesting... Oddly enough they didn't seem to smell before I put them in there. One was very mildewed and they were all damp but I was not expecting the smell. The mildewed one did not come clean at all. I'll give it one more shot with bleach and see what happens. Some of the food in the Tupperware that was supposed to not need refrigeration got a little FUNKY. The heat and humidity can take its toll on even "shelf stable" items. The dishwasher seemed to get out all the smells so I don't have to trash any of my Tupperware.
The boat is still a bit of a mess. It really isn't bad considering the thousands of miles she has sailed since July 6! But definitely needs a good scrub. Like I said, I unloaded a lot but I did not even touch the fridge. There was quite a lot of food in there that we need to get out before it, too, gets funkified. I invited another one of the crew to help himself and hopefully he will, otherwise maybe we can get that cleaned out this weekend. The refrigerator is ON so the food should be OK as long as it is still in date.
The delivery skipper had trouble with the autopilot but I think that is the only thing on the fix list! One thing doesn't seem too bad. Though there may be other things I am forgetting about / don't know about.
Scott gave a presentation about the race at our yacht club membership meeting on Tuesday. He asked if people knew how long it took us to get to Hawaii. He made the EXCELLENT point that yes it took us 12 1/2 days to SAIL there but it really took us 22 months as that is how long it took us to go from his buying the boat to being ready to go. It is definitely a commitment and a process.
I do recommend the trip to anyone who is considering it. Honestly, WHATEVER adventure you are thinking of--be it going camping at that place near your house, sailing to Hawaii, cruising the Caribbean, Climbing Mt Everest... go do it! What are you waiting for? I sure don't want to be one of those people that puts everything off until I am retired and then I find out I have cancer or whatever and never get to live my dreams. I hope to emulate many of the amazing people I have had the privilege of knowing through my yacht club, too many of whom have died since I have known them; people who sucked all the marrow out of life (to paraphrase Thoreau).
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
Ronnie Simpson Podcast
1 week ago
2 comments:
Totally agree with you on not putting off the adventures. The best time to anything that you really want to do is NOW.
Troubling question: how did 1 person sail the same boat back from Hawaii that a team of 7 sailed on the way there, particularly if the auto-pilot wasn't working?
LOL actually there were TWO guys on the way back. Yes we could have gone over with less than 7 people, however "racing", which includes flying the spinnaker, is more demanding than motor sailing for a delivery. We always had three on watch and if we were jibing or changing sails we'd wake up more people.
The delivery skipper had wanted to take three people so they could get a decent amount of sleep but the third person he had lined up backed out and he could not get anyone else at the last minute.
The delivery crew was hating life with having to hand steer as much as they did after the autopilot broke. We did not use the autopilot on the race, other than a few minutes one day to see if it worked, which it did.
There is a double handed division in the Pac Cup, as well as a separate single handed race. How many people is the right number for a 2000+ mile passage depends on a lot of factors, not the least of which is how you feel about sleep. :) I would love to do the trip with just my husband but I don't think I could handle the lack of sleep. thanks for reading!
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