Well, this summer was exciting!

My friend, Larry from another boat asked me to help sail a boat back from Hawaii to San Francisco. The boat was an Olson 40 that sailed to Hawaii in the Pacific Cup race. I hadn't sailed across the Pacific before so I agreed to help him. At the end of this blog is a list of lessons learned.

Lynndee and I arrived in Oahu the week before we were planning to take the boat back, so we could spend a little time enjoying the island before the long trip back. While there, I discovered the boat didn't have sleeping gear (blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, etc) nor did it have cups, bowls, flatware for eating, etc. So, Larry and I made a stop at K-Mart to get some of these very basic needs.

We arrived at the boat on 5 August in Kaneohe Bay. When we stepped aboard, the first thing we noticed was the decked had been painted to many times, there was no non-skid on the decks at all. In fact,Larry's foot slid right off the deck while we were tied to the wharf! That was a scary thought, sailing a boat with no no-skid on the decks for 2100 miles. We also saw that the boat was rigged with a tiller instead of a steering wheel and no was of locking the tiller in-place. This means we will have to hand-steer the boat 100% of the time, 24/7. We also discovered that the autopilot only works in calm waters (bay sailing and motoring). Below, the boat had little headroom, and only a single rope strung across the ceiling for a hand-hold. This was going to be a real challenge.

We left at 3:00pm on Sunday into 18 knots trade winds. But before we left the bay, we filled up 12 Jerry Jugs with diesel as the tanks only hold about 40 gallons, and we will need lots of fuel to motor through the Pacific High, if we hit it. The owner chose to sail almost directly toward San Francisco, instead of the normal approach of sailing North past the Pacific High then turning East towards SF so we would have a good angle on the wind on our approach to SF. This meant we sailed hard on the wind for 5 days, the boat slamming down off each wave and healing 30 - 40 degrees day and night. The pounding of the hull off the waves was very violent and allowed no rest, let alone sleep. I told the owner, I certainly wouldn't treat my boat that way. We broke some pieces of gear doing this also, se had to rig alternatives. Over these 5 days or so, we were also dealing with rain squalls. The squalls would come up fast and drench us along with 25 knots of wind. Then, behind them, the wind was calm. It wasn't too bad during the day as you could see them coming and either steer around them, or prepare for the attack. But, at night, they came on without warning. About the 5th day out, I discovered that if I tied the tiller slightly to windward, it would balance for quite some time, if the wind stayed the same and we held the same point of sail. This allowed us to take breaks at the helm a bit. Oh yea, I almost forgot, the starboard diesel tank had a leak in it, so we had diesel fuel along with the salt water all inside the boat on the floors. This made the floors slippery and ice and smelly to boot. And, the boat leaked a lot of salt water down below so none of my clothes were dry anymore. The sleeping bag I bought was soaked, the pillow and all my foul weather were soaked with salt water and smelled terrible. Oh well, I wasn't going on a date anytime soon.

At about 700 miles out, we came to the Pacific Gyre, a section of the Pacific which they call the "garbage patch". We saw every kind of garbage out there for a whole week. Nets, styrofoam (I will not use styrofoam again), plastic, refrigerators, telephone poles, fishing floats, etc. I promised Lynndee I would find her a Japanese glass fishing float, and about half way across, I found one. It is blue/green and about 10" in diameter, and is hand-blown glass. During these days, we motored some days, and sailed others, when we had wind. It was hot and sunny. That allowed us to get some much needed rest.

On our approach to San Francisco, we had good winds and were making 140 mile days, so we would have enough fuel left if the winds died and we had to motor the rest of the way. Finally, the last 100 miles we had 20 knots of wind and it was getting dark. Larry and I wanted to reef the mail sail and drop the jib for the night so we wouldn't have to do it in the dark at 2am when the winds increased. The owner said "no, the boat can take it". We didn't like this, but it was his boat. I relieved Larry at the helms at midnight after no sleep due to the violent motion of the boat. I told Larry to tell the owner we needed to reef, but the owner maintained his position. So, I was left to steer a severely over-canvassed boat. During the next 2.5 hours, we sailed up to 12.5 knots and the boat slammed terribly. Finally, at 2:30am, the winds were 28 knots with huge seas on our beam. We took a knockdown which almost catapulted me out of the cockpit. I held the tiller with one hand and the lifeline behind my head with the other to keep me inside the boat. Then, the owner popped his head out of the cockpit and said Larry had fallen out of his bunk and bumped his head.

I yelled at him to get this @#$% boat reefed. It took some time to get that done as I had to stay at the helm and Larry was injured, so the owner had to do it himself. Finally, the owner said he couldn't go below as he felt sick and wanted me to take care of Larry while he steered. I went below and saw that Larry was very bloody, there was blood all over the floor making it slippery, and Larry had concussion and amnesia. I checked his wounds and found a 6" gash across the top of his head and could see his skull along most of the gash. I checked the medical kit for sutures, needles, saline solution, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotics and the like but found none. So, I checked his skull for fractures then bandaged him up as best I could. I had to use one hand to support myself in this dark pitching boat, while holding a flashlight in my mouth and use the other hand to to the bandaging. Larry looked like the flying nun when I got done. I called the USCG and told them we had a medical emergency, and they put me in touch with the flight surgeon, who walked me though checking Larry for signs of complications. We also set of an hourly schedule checking our position and the condition of the patient. This helped me in keeping him awake until we could get him to medical assistance. We discussed med-evac options, but decided if he didn't take a turn for the worse, we would continue to SF on our own, monitoring his all the time. If we had to med-evac him, we would have to throw him in the water before the helo could pick him up. Not a good idea with all that blood and sharks in the water.

We got Larry to the hospital by 4:00pm and he took 15 staples in his head to close the wound. He's doing fine today, but has a great scar to show off to the ladies. Too bad he can't remember how he got it.

Lynndee was gracious enough to drive all the way up to SF (took her 12 hours does to 8 accidents and lots of freeway construction) to help us drive Larry back to SoCal. He couldn't fly with that wound (so the doctor said).

Lessons Learned:
1. Always interview previous crew if you are not familiar with the boat or owner. This should give you insight to how the boat is set up and something about the owner's priorities.
2. It's OK to walk away from the boat before you leave the dock if you feel it's not safe.
3. Check out the safety equipment and general condition of the boat before leaving the dock.
4. Check out the creature comforts of the vessel before agreeing to leave.

Well, That was fun! Lett's see what we do next.

Regards,
Scott
SONRISA

P.S. It sure felt good to be back aboard a comfortable boat.

Well, it wasn't aboard SONRISA, but I was on the water. That was good! I crewed aboard a friend's boat, INQUISITOR. It's a 37' Bob Perry design. Larry likes to race it as much as he can, even though he claims he's a "cruiser" and not a racer. We left Newport at 1120 hrs on Friday for the start of the long slow race to Ensenada with 4 of us aboard.

By nightfall we were doing very well and could see point Loma in the distance. But, once night fell, the wind shut down and we drifted just off Point Loma for hours. It wasn't until early morning that we captured some gentle breezes coming off the land to help us move the boat south. By mid morning we were sailing again. Sometimes with the spinnaker up, sometimes just the large genoa. We must have changed out head sails just to keep us awake. It certainly wasn't to make the boat move any faster!

By later afternoon, we were entering Ensenada Bay and we could almost see the finish line. All the boats passing us during this part of the trip were faster boats that started the race after we did, but must have been becalmed all night. We didn't see any of the boats from our class all morning as we made our way to the finish line. This could mean we were first to cross in in our class, or we were way behind everybody else, as they may have used their engines during the night (engine usage is allowed in our class but you get a penalty for doing so). As we got closer to the finish line, the wind stated dying again. We were down to one knot of boat speed and most of that was from the following swell, not the wind. We decided that once 2000 hours rolled around and we had more than a few miles to go to the finish line, we would take the penalty and start the engine to finish the race.

As it turned out, when our time was turned into the race office, all the other boats in our class were already there and heavily engaged in the merriment. They could not believe it when the results were posted and we were posted as 1st in our class! Guess those who used their engines more than we did will rethink their strategies.

All in all, it was a great race and we all had a great time. The only damper on the festivities was the loss of the vessel AGEAN and her crew of four. During the wee hours of Saturday morning, AGEAN was destroyed by some kind of mishap which left the boat in pieces and four souls lost. Investigation is underway but some scenarios include being run down by a large ship, or sailing the boat into the north end of Coronado Island. I'll keep my opinions to myself on what I think happened.

The week just prior to the race I helped sail a 44' vessel from Cabo San Lucas back up to Long Beach. That trip was a very pleasant run and I had a great time. Caught the largest yellow-tail I've ever seen. Lots of whales and other wildlife out there.

Next trip will be to San Diego then hopefully, back to Ensenada for a week or so. However, my time available during the summer is limited as I now work for West Marine. So, October may be the next real trip somewhere.

Hope you all are doing well,
Kind regards,
Scott
s/v SONRISA

Well, this is a little different than sailing along the coast. This time we flew down the coast to Costa Rica. Spent a total of 12 days there and it was wonderful. We stayed in a very small village called Santa Teresa on the southern tip of the peninsula Nicoya on the Pacific coast. We rented a Suzuki Jimmy and put it through its paces! We were on dirt roads almost the entire time. We traveled daily through jungles, across streams and along pristine beaches. We swam in the 81 degree ocean, went zip lining in the jungle canopy, snorkeled off the shore of Isla Tortuga, spent time with a wild boar, surfed, and hiked all over.

We will definitely go back sometime. We want to visit the volcano and Caribbean side of the country.

The "hotel" we stayed at consisted of individual "cabinas". They were nestled in the jungle and there was even a pool. Each night and morning we listened to the howler monkeys in the jungle, and we even saw a family of howlers moving along the tree tops from the beach back into the jungle.

As they say in Costa Rica...."PURA VIDA"!

Next travel will be to Mexico during the Newport to Ensenada race at the end of April.

Hasta Luego, Manchego!

WOW, what a ride!

Since I came back to California, I am now engaged to a wonderful, sweet, kind, considerate, and GORGEOUS woman named Lynndee Ichikawa. And, we have purchased a small 2 bedroom house in Seal Beach. Ever since then we have been fixing it up to be inhabitable. Should be done by this saturday, 12 November. Just in time for me to head back to Mexico. I'm both sad and excited. Sad to have to leave Lynndee, but excited to me back on the boat in Mexico.

I plan to sail the boat back north this winter to Long Beach where we will keep her until Lynndee can retire. Then, it's off to another adventure. This time, we may sail north to Canada for the summer, then back south to the tropics. Will see.

More later.....
Aaron.....Captain of Sonrisa

Well, I finally got back to California to visit family and friends. I traveled up to Long Beach to meet a new friend of a friend. Hugh and Barb,old friends now living in La Cruz introduced me to one of their long time friends. WOW, what a woman! Super nice, very caring and a kind hearted woman. This woman is a very special person who deserves the best in life. I hope I'm the one to help her get that. More about her later.....

While I am here, I bought a surfboard to ride the local waves. Only problem is the surf is SUPER COLD!!! Especially when compared to La Cruz. Oh, and I also bought a small truck to use while I'm here. Beats paying rental car fees. And, I'll have it here when I come in the future to visit.

I'm somewhat anxious to get back down to La Cruz to to take care of the boat. We've already had two hurricanes in the area and it's only June! I bought some 1" line to use as dock lines so I'll feel better about leaving it there. Think I'll head back down to La Cruz in about a week or so to prepare the boat for the summer...better than it is now.

But, I'm torn between leaving Lynndee and taking care of the boat.....Better make my mind up soon or the summer hurricanes will make my mind up for me!!!

Melinda and Dusty left today after a great week of explorig and surfing. Unfortunately, we all got sick for the last day here so didn't do the tour we had scheduled to snorkel Los Arcos and spend the day at Las Animas/Quimixto. Oh, well! Next time.

Her favoriate place was Sayulita, as small mexican-style surf town on the coast north of Banderas Bay. We rented a couple surf boards and crashed, banged, and rode the waves until the surf shop closed. We all ended up with cut feet and some bruises. Great!

ANother day of surfing was spent at Punta Mita, when the waves were very nice.

We all stayed in a 2B/2B condo right on the beach in La Cruz. We swam in the ocean (water temp was 81/82), and the pool to keep cool. Drank margaritas until "mi corazon es contento", ate tacos on the street, and played with Blondie and Spot (two dogs across the street from the condo).

I hope I get the chance to enjoy their company again soon. Thanks kids!