SailBlog

Vessel Name: Inspired Insanity
Vessel Make/Model: Southern Cross 28
Hailing Port: Virgin Islands
Extra: First American Woman to Solo Sail Nonstop Around the World
Home Page: www.donnalange.com
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10 July 2016 | Bristol RI
15 June 2016 | 35 00'N:75 05'W, Another wild few days ahead... deja vu.
13 June 2016 | 30 00'N:79 35'W, in the Gulf Stream off Jacksonville Fl
01 June 2016 | 41 24'N:71 25'W, Just arriving in Lake Worth... leaving again tomorrow in my car back to RI
29 May 2016 | 41 24'N:71 25'W, Bristol RI: Herreshoff Museum Dock
26 May 2016 | 41 24'N:71 25'W, a day to tidy up...
25 May 2016 | 40 54'N:71 52'W, starry night sky, farewell dance for now...
25 May 2016 | 40 28'N:72 30'W, ?? Arrival to bay tomorrow afternoon: 2 days to events
25 May 2016 | 40 28'N:72 30'W, ?? Arrival to bay tomorrow afternoon: 2 days to events
24 May 2016 | 39 47'N:73 16'W, 4 days to arrival..incredible to imagine...
23 May 2016 | 39 11'N:74 00'W, 4 days to arrival..incredible to imagine...
22 May 2016 | 38 10'N:73 30-'W, 4 days to arrival..incredible to imagine...
21 May 2016 | 36 37'N:74 03'W, 5 days to arrive... made 157nm yesterday..only 300nm to go
21 May 2016 | 36 37'N:74 03'W, 5 days to arrive... made 157nm yesterday..only 300nm to go
20 May 2016 | 35 15'N:74 45'W, 6 days to arriving!!!
20 May 2016 | 34 27'N:75 19'W, 7 days to arriving!!!
18 May 2016 | 32 12'N:77 32'W, 8 days to my arrival... keep an eye on the tracker!!
17 May 2016 | 30 26'N:79 01'W, 9 days to my arrival... keep an eye on the tracker!!
16 May 2016 | 27 45'N:79 48'W, 11 days to my arrival... keep an eye on the tracker!!
16 May 2016 | 26 'N:79 48'W, 11 days to my arrival... keep an eye on the tracker!!
Recent Blog Posts
10 July 2016 | Bristol RI

Journeying On

The summer has barely begun in Rhode Island and the mornings already seem to be cool, almost a scent of autumn air… How is that possible? There is so much to do. Each day seems to begin and end with a sense of having been floating on air, my feet barely touching the ground. “What is it like now, [...]

15 June 2016 | 35 00'N:75 05'W, Another wild few days ahead... deja vu.

Passing Diamond Shoals off Cape Hatteras!!!

There was no warning�... the day touting varying winds from the SE to SW, the sails trimmed in and let back out over and over to keep us moving as fast as we could, the engine called upon when we weren�'t moving fast enough. I was making breakfast when Bob went up on deck responding to a sound�... next [...]

13 June 2016 | 30 00'N:79 35'W, in the Gulf Stream off Jacksonville Fl

Offshore once more: SV Calyspo is heading north!

It seems endless, the need to keep pressing, keep moving, from one point to another, the whole world of details needing to be dealt with upon returning after so long offshore, after having completely detached from the world system. Yet, there is a dream state that wants to believe I would not reattach�... [...]

01 June 2016 | 41 24'N:71 25'W, Just arriving in Lake Worth... leaving again tomorrow in my car back to RI

the MISSING BLOGS: are coming

Hang in there... I am enroute to Florida to get my car... a busy week. I am getting the 'missing blogs' going. I just realized that I didn't write any blog the days I was knocked down...though Bob did an incredible job of keeping you updated and with the details...He was totally accurate and you all [...]

29 May 2016 | 41 24'N:71 25'W, Bristol RI: Herreshoff Museum Dock

Magnificent Welcome Home

PHOTO: after knockdowns at Cape Horn and heading for Panama WATCH FOR NEW BLOGS : FROM FEB.14- MAR 28�... HANDWRITTEN UNDERWAY AFTER MY COMPUTER BROKE, TO BE TRANSCRIBED AND POSTED OVER THE NEXT SIX WEEKS�... STAY TUNED!!!

A lone seal companion

26 December 2015 | 49 44'S:161 08'E, Back to winter conditions and more fronts...so close but so far to 170* past NZ
Donna: CPM 11 122615 2324UTC 12-27 local 1425
Boxing day is just waning for you, all nestling down to sleep. My day is well underway. It was a galing night...I just accepted the course I was on as it was the only one I could sail with such high winds and seas so close to the beam. I am nervous that I have made too much southing, but it seems that I did do equally southing to easting...course of 135*T but I was going so slow that it didn't take me too far anywhere. Overall, I had a good day yesterday because I was making good progress until the winds escalated in the late afternoon. By the time I reduced sail, it was not a horrible night below...cold though. The warmth of the last few days is gone and it is drizzling rain.

I had my morning breakfast and despite the forecast from Bob McD, the winds seemed to be lulling already and it is still early in the morning...it is not due for a few more hours. As I was downloading emails, I could see in my compass below, that in the lull of the winds, the winds were shifting. I took the time to get my emails and an update on the weather from Bob McD... The whole scenerio is evolving... the picture is changing... today is going to see a total shift of winds all the way to the SE...that is not fun... then there is a front associated with the Low in the Tasman that is to develop...I should see the frontal shift of N to SW winds over the next three days, Mon-Wed... and the Sydney Hobart Race was afronted by a huge wind shift to South in the first night, ending the race for 2 of the Maxi's. Wild Oats one of them. 11 boats are already out of the race..so I guess this weather is significant.

I was going to get up to adjust sail when I realized in the present, that this shift was to be a quick change...I would relax below a bit longer and let the shift settle in. I am a little anxious as I hear the rain... I need to catch rain... and in these lighter downwind winds, the opportunity may present itself to get the boat flat, clean the deck, and I can put up the mainsail to catch water there. But I could see the shift was still occuring...I paused a bit longer.

Finally, I was on a due north course now meaning the winds had shifted through to the SW so I can tack the sails over at this point and see what I can do to gather some water. The seas are a mess of confusion and we are rolling full rail to rail wallow. I get the mainsail flying first. I am just not sure how much wind there actually is and the forecast is still for some stronger 20-25kt winds despite this lull. So I tack over the rig so the sails are on the port side.

Immediately, a gust comes up and the port rail is deluge with water...we were just tossed off a wave...it had nothing to do with the winds. Just moving around the cockpit is pulling my shoulders harshly as I have to catch all my weight over and over. The water is not running down the boom to the mast...the way the sail furled, there is a large area of sail folded once and hanging off the distal end of the boom at the stern..It is not going to work to get water this way. I have to either find a way to hang a bucket of the boom... flailing in the wind and with the rolling of the boat... there is little prospect of catching much. I would have to bring the boom way in, hang the bucket but then stand there and keep the bucket in the right place to capture the water... I'd be hanging off the rail practically. I gave up at this point.

So...with the winds still lulling and we are downwind, I decide to haul out one more reef and see if I can use the first reef line to hitch the boom end higher enough to direct the water to the mast. I got out there and let out the third reef...the reef lines all coming undone. I do my best to tie them up and hang them on the cleats on the mast. Seeing as there are sections of reefing..so there are sections of each reef line tied in its bundle. I finally get things tidied up and even before I finish, I can see that I was not going to be successful at diverting the water to the mast...

I head back to the cockpit and just watch the most beautiful fresh cool water pouring off the sails on the boom. I am willing to give up hope that I will get water from the deck...the seas are just too confused but I still have my heart set on a tall glass of fresh water. Just about the same time, a gust of wind comes and tosses us hard onto the port side, and like a kayak in a stretch of huge white water, the entire port side submerged over the portholes, water rushing to the stern flooding the cockpit...There are the winds again...

I made haste to get back to the cockpit to douse a reef of main. Once again tidying the lines, I head forward, let the main sail out and furled the jib again... I had to get her balanced without submerging the rails with the gusts. Despite all the hard harsh refits to that rail...over and over, more caulk and fiberglass... still water manages to get in and flush the salon floor...just a quart or two... maybe a gallon over a storm..but it is so annoying to see it roll across the floor. I am determined to keep us balanced to prevent that...even if we have to slow down to a less than full-on speed.

The gales here, in this frustrating area surrounding Australia and NZ, have nasty North winds at the forefront of their storm systems, not NW, so it puts me on the beam and with gusts we are pulled in harder. It makes them much harder to manage, and I am getting tired. It seems there is no end to the ' one more ' gale syndrome... yet, I have to also say that these storms do not pack huge mountainous seas where I have been taking them...so it is a trade off of sorts...less height, shorter periods, and steeper seas...

As I am standing on the rail as another gust comes, and I see the boat submerge, I am reminded of my days kayaking and canoeing big white water in upstate NY. An 18' canoe on the Hudson River at near spring flood stage ...is a good comparison. In fact it is one of the skills that has allowed me to even start to consider sailing the kinds of seastates IS and I have to manage. But there is an interesting twist to me, in the story.

My ex husband is a brilliant outoors man, skilled wood craftsmen as well as wooden and fiberglass small boat builder, and an accomplished Olympic level canoe racer both in flatwater and slolam racing. We met when I was 16 and I got involved in canoe racing being quite successful my self. But when my husband and my children all made a shift from downriver paddling to slolam paddling in closed canoes and kayaks...I found I was not able to make the shift. Between back and neck injuries, I found I could not master rolling a closed boat. It required arching your back and shifting your center of gravity in a way I just couldn't make happen though I would spend days and days at the lake trying.

We had all gone up to 'The Gorge', a huge stretch of class 5 wildwater that is regulated by a dam, allowing predictable amounts of water in the river. This allows the tourist business for rafting and paddling to prosper there. Though I was nervous, I wasn't going to be the only family member to not go... the kids were all 7-11 years old at the time and accomplished paddlers. The last stretch was the 'Devils' Backbone', where there is the largest drops in elevation, huge water, a famous 'pillow rock' where hydraulics can capture a boat and boater requiring good technique to get safely passed... I made sure that my husband went ahead so he could 'rescue' me if I rolled and had to bale out of the boat...

I took off and made the first two chutes perfect, but I was out of alignment to get the 'pillow' and ended up rolling as I plunged into the pool, had to bale out of the boat, the water icy cold; I got flushed out of the pool and down the river to the end, keeping my feet up and avoiding what I could..even as I am typing it...I am shaking... and it was a shake up that didn't go away. AFter that day, I tried to join trips but found that I would have panic attacks at the top of the big run and would drag my heavy plastic kayak up a steep river slope as I just couldn't get myself to try again.

It was a big deal for me to no longer be able to do these trips. I took to enjyoing them on the shore, with my Irish whistle playing tunes and my guitar...There was a fundemental shift in my world that day...

So it is very very intersting to me that I am doing what I do today, sailing the huge mountains of oceans that I do...I grew up roughing it, loving the outdoors, and the water, temperate northern summers and bitter cold winters, and being an enthusiastic sports woman...It was my whole identity at that time...It is what has made me able to make the shift to sailing these harsh oceans.

Somehow, when I started my solo journeys, I progressively managed the seas successfully and even having rolled Inspired INsanity in my first circ, I keep doing what I do..but it is a massive internal exhileration when I stand on the cockpit seats and watch IS take on the ocean. When I climb below and close the hatch, I leave her to it...it is IS that I trust to manage the conditions, of course with me balancing the sails etc. In the over 10m sea states I did in my first circumvigation, I was on the companionway from beginning to end of such times. This trip, it seems that the reality of our vulnerability is higher...maybe it is the length of the journey. We still have four more months of tortuous conditions for IS to handle...it seems necessary to give her a break and make the passages more reasonable a demand.

So regardless of how it slows us down, I can't sail with the rails submerging even though the reason is the sea state. The water leaking across the floor is the 'pain' I see...IS is bleeding in a sort of way in my mind and we need to settle us down. This is a shift as during my last trip, I just kept mopping up the water. But it means more time at sea.

Finally, the winds completed most of the shift and filled in with a steady'ish wind. I couldn't bare to watch the fresh water drip any longer. It was still raining enough... I hauled the mainsail in so that I could reach the distal end, got a sail tie and tied it around the boom allowing the bucket to hang just at the bottom of the sail with a nice even flow of steady water dripping, while I held the bucket at the 'just right' place to capture it all... It was cold, my hands freezing, but I managed to stand there long enough to gather a couple of gallons of water...enough for a good long drink of cold fresh water and a couple of days of provision. I would allow myself to enjoy it...I had earned it.

Once back below, I had to deal with my wet clothes...the wrists of my shirts always get wet. I had put plastic bags over my socks in my 'waders' which works well...they are the only way to keep water from coming over the top of boots. And when I was standing on the port rail... the water was up to my knees when we took a wave.

I made an extra portion of oatmeal to warm me up, as I have a bit of dried fruit still and I get new provisions in a few days... Yes. it will be January.!!! A cup of hot cocoa...

But the afternoon has deteriorated emotionally... I am cold. I revisited the forecast from Bob McD and new Grib file... just a mess of fronts and ridges, shifts and no winds... I can't seem to get past here... it is still raining and I am too wet and cold now to get myself to go back out there for the hours it will take, if I can get the boat at an angle where I can keep the salt off the decks...to try again to catch water. I am just at the end of my capacity...to sit and type...my hands are frozen again. My clothes wet. the bed is wet..everything is disgusting gross with food and wet... I had such lovely days over Christmas...I can't say it is unfair...I have had better than so much worst I have sailed and dealt with...yet. I am done to day...

So... I am going to take my soggy cold wet clothed body and climb into my cold wet bed and try to pretend I am somewhere warm, with you all, friends, enjoying life... it seems you are. I am still so uncertain about my return...and in moments when I am discouraged, it seems those doubts surface...soo I will get warm, present and clear my doubts and trust for a renewed energy and view...

I almost forgot...and how could I forget...as Wise Mother Ocean did send me an incredible messenger today... a Seal... a lone seal... He/she was playing all around the boat..Seals aren't like any other of the mammels... She doesn't swim ahead like fish or dolphin...moving forward all the time...she just plays in the same place, swimming and popping her head up...She came within 10 feet of the boat and just watched me as I watched her...it's nose twitching, long whiskers and eyelashes batting, those big round black eyes... so very content it seemed but curious. I didn't dare take my eyes off it to get a camera...it would have left.. I saw a single seal before, a few days, maybe a week ago... out of my porthole... It jumped up right in front of my face. And by the time I got on deck, it had gone off... maybe it is the same one... I really don't spend time on deck when it is like this so... who knows how often he/she may come and look for me. So...I leave you with that today.. It has cheered me up, such beauty and happy energy...

Keepin On Sailin On Caring... I am so over 'salling' as you can all imagine. So... but I do need to be outside even if it is so cold and wet. Staying below is getting clostrophobic, as you can also imagine. I am so ready to share my existence in person with you all... Enjoy another big moon and the wonderful companionship of your loved ones... I am doing so in heart; going to tuck into bed and touch base inwardly as I get warm...

Fairest of Winds and the Love of the Ocean Only Gratitude Donna

�"Sent from my RedPort Aurora Satellite Terminal http://www.globalmarinenet.com/product/redport-aurora/ www.globalmarinenet.com www.ushuaialogistics.com www.xaxero.com www.hydrotechusa.com www.transmarinepro.co.nz http://www.mwxc.com Chris Parker weather services www.jamestowndistributors.com www.bellplantation.om (PB2) www.caphorn.com www.marinemotion.com http://sayitright.com www.yoloadventure.com www.islandplanetsails.com www.baconsails.com
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