Captains log: The story

Date: July 19, 2022

Time: 17:04

Position: 24.20.336N / 145.46.039Wh day or two after he'd contemplated the severity of the voyage. Instead, the phone when completely silent. I thought I lost him. "hello, are you still there?", "yes, just a minute" after about 30 seconds of silence, Luke responded saying something like "yes, sounds amazing, I'm in!". My dad didn't want to get left out of this adventure, so he asked if he could join and the three of us were off. 

After about 22 days at sea, we had to make a critical path decision. Continue going east, then north to catch the winds to take us to California which would probably be another 20-30 days. Or we could drop south about 5 days, get into much warmer weather and enjoy the beaches of Hawaii. After 22 days of very rough seas, the choice was easy: Hawaii. Once we hit Hawaii they were done and flew back to California. I had full intention of restocking the boat then continuing on shortly. I even went to Costco and provisioned the boat. 

For various life reasons, I had a major detail and never completed the voyage. I also ended up selling my boat. Since then there's been a longing to complete that incredible voyage, a physical but also emotional, adventure, life-goal kind of void that just had to be filled. 

I met Nick Benavides around 2012 in Japan. We had a multitude of similar hobbies and interests, but sailing was a shared passion that kept us chatting, sharing cool videos and talking about the sport from the time we met. In 2020 as I started contemplating life goals, the Pacific Cup race came to my attention. The "fun" race from San Francisco to Kaneohe bay on Oahu. The fun race because of it's less competitive nature compared to the Trans Pac out of L.A. where the carbon fiber race boats and matching-clothed crew decorate the decks of these Ocean sleds. The toned down Pacific Cup just seemed like a cool thing to do. Nick swung by my house one night and we started chatting about it. It was 2 years out which would give us enough time to prepare. Its also one of those things in life where you can talk and talk and talk...someday, this or that...but when I put it on the calendar, make it solid, signed up for an event, it sets that goal, sets the timeframe and forces the hand of preparation and mind-set. Nick and I were incredibly excited and we signed up right away for the double-hand racing class. Like many things in life, you shoot for the stars but land on the moon. 

We had it in our heads we were going to buy an amazing race boat and go set records for the Pacific Cup. Life quickly got in the way of both of us. Families, kids, work, personal, you name it. But it was on the calendar so we were going to make it happen! The double-handed race crew of Nick and I on a Ferrari of race boats, quickly shifted to the vision of 4 guys getting in an RV for a slow road trip, eating gourmet meals and drinking port along the way. And thats what happened! My uncle Gene expressed interest in this kind of trip for many many years and he treated me to exciting boat trips when I was a kid, so he was my choice. As for Nicks choosing of Joe Binney, the reasons are clear. Very smart guy, organized, sailing experience, incredibly positive attitude and ready to take the helm, go on the deck or change a sail in the middle of the night with the wind blowing and waves splashing.

The vision of this trip is also something of interest. Accidental fortune telling or a future which was mentally programmed at a moment in time? Here's what I mean. In 2008 when I was in Hawaii on my boat, the Transpac race boats started arriving. Incredible 50, 60, 70 foot boats which would give Santa's sleigh a run for the money. For several days these exotic boats rolled in. I was in awe as well as everyone else in the harbor. I saw they had their big awards ceremony, celebrations and mai-tai parties. Some boats even started to depart and head back to California. After that no more boats came in. I thought all of the excitement was done, when about a week later this one single boat came slowly entering the harbor. It was a funky 34 or so foot boat, nothing special, as in even much less than normal, so maybe I should say nothing normal. There were 4 guys in cut offs, scruffy faces and drinking beer. They had a number on their boat so somehow these guys entered this boat into the Trans Pac. A class of their own. These guys were all smiles, having the time of their life, laughing and having a better time than any of the racers I saw come in. 

Internally I totally laughed and thought "now that's the way to do it. No-one had as much fun as these guys. If I ever did that, I would do it like those guys". I told this story to Nick a couple of times over the years and he always gave a big laugh and also agreed "yeah, that's the way to do it! hahaha!".

It was never a conscious thing, but on this trip I really got to thinking and wondering about how thoughts, intentions, vocalizations are things. In 2008 what I saw all those racers, emotionally connected with one of the 70 foot super boats and said "wow, one day I'Ll do that race on a boat like that". The interesting part is that I don't wish I was on one of those boats. None of us would be reading, hanging out or eating like kings. No drinking port and no fishing. So no, I really didn't want to do this trip on a race boat like that, everything is perfect as it is. 

Now lets diverge from deep thoughts and give a quick run down on whats going on here. We're starting to get hit by squalls. Sudden little weather patterns with whipping wind and torrential rain. We have to be careful and reef our sails early, otherwise they can really wreak havoc on the rig. From yesterday the wind is really kicking up and seas as well. Sometimes squalls hit and we have to put on foul weather gear and reef the sails. Last night about 3:30am we got hit. I was sleeping, Joe and Nick were on deck. I leaped out of bed and ran up to the cockpit just wearing my underwear, no time to put cloths on, I needed to see what was going on. Joe was at the helm like a hero, Nick was there to trim sails. Waves got quite big but Solis was handling them so well I could hardly believe it. Looking back I could see waves creeping up so that they looked higher than Joes head, but then the butt of the boat would solidly roll over the top, keeping course, staying very comfortable. The squall propelled us much faster than normal and with less sail, so it was quite exhilarating. They had things under control so I went back to bed. 

As for that statement a few days someone made about "I could stay out here another 25 days" or something like that, I think that my have been said during the port drinking. There's a new mantra around this town and it's "lets get to Hawaii as quickly as humanly possible at this point". We're still OK on water and food, but this trip is taking much longer than anticipated. This is due solely to the incredible lack of wind which we've also learned is highly unusual. As for the Pacific cup, I heard them saying the last time there was a no-wind race it was back in the year 2000. At this point if I say to the crew, "hey lets try a new sail configuration" everyone drops their book, phone, ipad, frying pan, whatever it is and gets on deck to see how we can squeeze another 0.5 knot of speed out of the boat. Now that we are solidly in the trade winds, we are just hurling towards Hawaii. Mentally it's a relief. All the flat seas and sails flopping have really started to ware on the crew and me. 

So, we will keep chasing squalls as they produce very high winds. We're trying to find them, sail in front of them, then escape out the side and catch continued high winds without getting rained on. It's a technique I was not familiar with, but a book I had on board revealed this method and we've been trying it. It worked well this morning. Oh, and before I go, I'm sure Joe would laugh about me putting this in the blog. Joes bed has a hatch right above it. He sleeps with it open for fresh air. This morning, after he had been up all night, we got hit by the squall and he had his hatch open. He said he started having a strange dream about getting wet but was truly startled when he awoke and actually was getting rained on. Fun times!

Oh, and we just had 3 or 4 large porpoise swimming next to the boat. Always fun to see them. 

See you in Hawaii!