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!!!

Another Huge Storm- diverting North, way north

04 January 2016 | 45 16'S:177 28'W, Getting out of Chatham Island's way
Donna: CPM 16 010516 0020UTC (giving up on local time)
Why is it so hard? Why would I feel the need to challenge myself to this extent to accomplish my goals...? I ask myself these questions today... Maybe I bit off more than I could chew trying to go south of the Taz and NZ Capes...it has created an elongated challenge of weather and conditions and I am tired...now this next storm is absurd to have to deal with...

I am pushing the boat hard to get north which means we are powered up and so when a squall comes along, we are way over powered, backing sails, ...but to feel the boat lull in between so dramatically is just too hard to endure, knowing that I am in a race with a huge storm center that is on its way...but not just the center...it is the huge frontal boundary that proceeds it. It is going to be a long haul of big wind and seas.

There is potential for some dangerous seastates in this storm I need to somehow get far enough away from... And the truth is that we will get far enough north and east to minimize it...but it is just going to be a long storm...4 days of 25-40kt winds.

And actually, it is this intensity to push the boat and me for the days preceding the storm that exhausts my energy, so by the time the storm arrives, I am already down 4 nights of sleep and all the mishaps, rain, and fricking cold to get there... on the deck constantly adjusting sails to keep us moving... There is actually a low to the south of me today so the winds are escalating back to 30kts of wind during today or tonight, into the morning...

Now with me passed the date line, the forecast timing is all off. I just look for when there are conditions like what I am in and look forward from there. Same old story... but now I am in the 15th front...and 5th major storm in the last 3 weeks... it is wearing on me to say the least.

Being wing on wing, when a gust comes up, it pulls the boat into the wind for the mainsail, which lays us on the side until finally the jib backs, the pole is really stressed when it does that and i am trying to get out of the cabin to get my hand on the steering to give it that last bit of edge it needs to get back downwind and reback the jib to right...then stand guard watching to see if the gust is going to be an escalation or a momentary change...which they have been today. But with that front below me... and increasing gusts, I have put the first reef back in the main for the third time...it is staying there this time, at least for a while. Oh, to have a wind instrument and steady winds.

I go below and look for my cup of tea that I had placed in a nook in my 'box' of staples where the port settee would be... and I can' t find it there... I look everywhere and then it shows itself...It is in my bed, the covers pulled back so it was literally in the bed...completely empty...a nearly brand new full cup ...the powdered milk that was not totally blended, saturating the surfaces of everything in the bed..right where my body would be... The forces during the heel over was enough to catapult the cup across the cabin...

One of those 'last straws' ... Now I have to sleep in a wet bed for as long as it takes my body heat to dry it out... or I have to swap my bedding around I guess, putting the wet areas elsewhere to mold and stay soggy...It is so disgusting. My head is already full every day, all day, from allergies to all the 'living entities' amidst my living quarters...I am getting that nasal drip sore throat to greet me each morning. I am less tolerant, as if you hadn't noticed, to it all at this moment.

I just want to get on with it and be warm instead of heading into a new nightmare ... again and again. And with land so close, it is almost a temptation to consider bailing out into the Bay of Islands, NZ, selling IS and just going home. Enough of this abasement in the name of spiritual enlightenment... enough ... enough.

I should be seeing the challenge and get some gumption to want to conquer the elements etc. la la la la la... But there is no real value, in many ways, to me of accomplishing some feat or making a record.... it is not important, it was just a way to get me to a place where I could focus on my spiritual and personal goals... once I let go the lines of the dock, I created the only way I know how to sequester myself to focus on the changes that I knew needed to happen.

The record and feat was a way to raise the funding and support I needed to get that chance, time in nature...and I guess, the real valuable reason to finish is to validate the faith and trust that all of you have had in me to stick it out and finish... For all your financial and emotional support, I owe you that... and I am not going to perish for continuing on... I am too ornery to not make it. And IS is too tough to not get me there.

i guess I can just stop pushing the boat...if I break the pole or the rigging trying to get out of harms way, I will be in way more harms way... If it weren't so bloody cold and drizzling rain, I could get dressed and be on deck to manage the conditions. If I were a 'man' I wouldn't even mind the cold and it would be a delight to stand out there in the wind and torrent of rain...just to prove how manly I am, what 'big kahunas' I really do have. But my ovaries are unfortunately not putting out enough hot flashes these days, well past the Menapausal furnace stages.

Another day, another day, another day. ... And its miserable out... and the gale isn't even any where near here..this is the normal fare. And even if I ever do find a warm latitude in this part of the world, I have to descend once more into the abyss of icey cold...at the Horn. if I ever manage to get across this ocean versus going up and down. 36* to 50* to 40*... enough is enough... ugh. What was I thinking? I was not thinking...I was knowing that I would endure it, no matter how unpleasant it is... and I will.

I am just letting you all know how unhappy I am in the midst of it today... and I probably will be tomorrow and the next week or more...as this storm won't be gone and the winds drop to less than 25kts until sometime mid next week or the next as there is a progression of lows coming... there are a progression of lows here...I had one yesterday, I am in one today...and a big frontal boundary precedes the actual "storm". Actually, I may have a moment on the 6th or at least for a part of a day...so maybe that reprieve will be enough to rejuvenate my circulation to my toes if it means warm temps and sun... an unknown.

Another near, backing of the jib... rescue needed. And the worst part is that I am now on a course to avoid the Chatham Islands... and I need to go 60*T and this course is making the jib more vulnerable to backing...I can't just steer 45* off the stern ... I need to steer 50* or such which compromises the jib more easily. Sailing is a really obnoxious way to actually try to travel under pressure...There are very few courses that 'can' sail actually. Of the 360* of the sailing circle, I can only sail half of them with any stability and with some seastates, half of that. So, there is a trick to all the tacking and maneuvering...it does take skills, skills that i have avoided needing as an offshore bluewater sailor who tends to have the whole ocean to work with, not close quarters. Right now, the Chatham Islands is actually making me feel like I am in 'close quarters', like Bounty.

Sailing as a lifestyle or for pleasure is fine if there are no time schedules, and you can choose your weather windows..all you fantasticly prudent folks who are retired and living your dream living on your sailboats, traveling the world.. Good for you!!! That is the only way to sail as a lifestyle. Good for you. or those bahemian enough to make it all work out vagabonding about...some who sail part year, raising their kitty the other part of their year... Hats off to all of you. Well, I am babbling on now...I actually feel better having spewed my anger out there into the atmosphere...sorry to have it land your way...but this blog is not about candy coating how hard it is to be here. It is so amazing to be so so so close to amazing civilization and not be able to stop and just take a break and rest...but that is the challenge of solo sailing nonstop around the world. it is making it the length of time, passing by the world, and dealing with the grueling daily hardships, having no way to escape storms or just 'get warm'. Whatever I left with , I am stuck with. Not one more nut, piece of dried fruit, kernel of popcorn, packet of Stevia, can of chicken, spoonfull of powdered milk or hot cocoa, piece of chocolate...once they are gone...they are gone. I actually dream of coming across a boat that tosses me 'goodies' of real food and treats...

The lighters, the headlamp, the water, the propane, the one roll left of papertowels (I only brought 2), the bags and bags of dried mushrooms I brought ( and I discovered right away that they give me gas...flatulence should I say), so they will all make it home again.

The wind is backing...shoot.. I am going to have trouble making my course to go south of Chatham Islands as the winds build again to 25+kts...now. Oh well, when I get closer I will have to just make it work sailng closer to the winds on the SW winds. 60*T on SW winds isn't 90*T like I have been doing. I have a whole ocean and I managed to put these islands in my way .... Good on ya, Donna.

So I am going to magically open my Divine Beauty volume and see if I can rouste up an uplifting bit of positive energy...

I found the section on 'The Beauty of the Flaw'... it may have something... Here we go... "Tragically, it does seem possible for a person's inner sense of beauty to be utterly destroyed. (paraphrase) ...How is it that when hurt is inflicted, then departs, we continue to inflict that same hurt on ourselves, over and over...It is a slow and painful task to break free from the wounded and wounding circle of ones own anxitety. As always in the world of the mind, recognition is a huge transfromative force... We are brought through such times by grace alone... This is the heart of the mystical. It is not about building protectionist armour of prayer and religion; it is rather, the courage for absolute divestment. In the sheer vulnerability of Nothingness, everything becomes possible in a new way, but there is an immense temptation to flee back to the shelter of old complacency. Now could be the most important moment in life to steel our courage and enter the risk of change. Meister Eckhart says: 'Stand still and do not waiver from your emptiness (and cold feet); for at this time you can turn away, never to turn back again.'"

Keepin On Sailin On Caring... You are all my blessing today. If it were not for the intention to write my blog, and this therapy, I would have stayed at the doorstep of fleeing back to complaceny... and how awful would that be...(it is looking pretty good right now...not that I can avoid this front no matter). Onward Ho... to steel courage and risk of change!

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.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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