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Leaving Is The Hardest Part
January 6th, 2012Here is a little unedited piece I recently wrote about my friend and fellow solo sailor Linda Pasquariello. Go Yemaya Go!
LEAVING IS THE HARDEST PART
Anchored in Vava’u Tonga, having already sailed over 5,000 solo blue water miles to date and currently preparing for another 1,800 miles to her home country of Australia, to escape the encroaching cyclone season; to say Linda Pasquerello has had a busy year would be an understatement. After finding her Pearson 33 “Yemaya” in the April 2011 issue of Latitude 38; she refit the boat in a little under 3 months time and set out on the first leg of her solo circumnavigation. But surprisingly, the hardest part for Linda hasn’t been the tiring hours in the boat yard getting the boat prepared, the lonely sleepless nights off the California coast, battling 35 knots for days in the ITCZ, or dodging seamounts on her approach into Tonga; as many a solo sailor would agree, the hardest part of any adventure is simply leaving. Pushing off the dock or weighing anchor, trading the known for the unknown, waving goodbye to helpful family and friends, has been difficult but worth it. In a global sailing community filled with a fair amount of know it alls and dockside experts, Linda is refreshingly humble about what she knows and outwardly excited about the learning and new experiences that solo sailing continues to provide.
Growing up in landlocked central Australia, it was only within the past four years the ocean and sailing have become a part of Linda’s life. Her original plan was to simply “crew hop” around the world, picking up a crew position here and there with the goal to eventually work her way around the world. However, a chance meeting with her current partner and sailing mentor Brian Caldwell in a Caribbean airport would change the course of her plans for the next few years. Not having any idea who Brian was at the time, Linda recalls boasting how she just completed an Atlantic crossing aboard a catamaran participating in the ARC rally and planned on more sailing in the future. Excited about her recent accomplishment, Brian mentioned he was a professional delivery skipper and had also racked up a few ocean miles himself over the years and was always looking for good solid crew; so if Linda had any free time in the future he would love to have her come along on a delivery. They exchanged contact information and went their separate ways.
Needless to say, Linda did contact Brian about crewing on his next delivery from Hawaii to California; and the marathon of ocean crossing experiences began. For the next few years she helped Brian deliver yachts all over the North and South Pacific; all the while stoking her new passion for sailing and bagging an impressive tally of blue water miles, on some very interesting boats, ranging in size from a Santa Cruz 70 to a Mini Transat. After a rather long delivery of a Spencer 68 “Ragtime” from New Zealand to Long Beach; Linda felt like it was time to start searching out for her own boat and getting on with her solo pursuits.
She didn’t have to search long before finding her Yemaya here in the Bay Area. As she said, “I was looking for a boat that balanced seaworthiness, comfort, and in a size range that I could physically handle in any condition.” Yemaya turned out to be a perfect fit and Linda soon found herself engaged in a flurry of boat work and preparation. “It was great having Brian with me at the start of my refit, he really helped me focus on the essentials for a safe solo blue water passage and not get hung up on things I really didn’t need. As he once said, it’s really quite simple, find the boat, fix the boat, sail the boat, GO!” So with a brief shake down sail to Monterey with Brian, Linda set off on July 10 2011 bound for Hawaii; the first step in her larger scale goal of a circumnavigation.
At the time of this writing, Linda has just made landfall in Bundaberg, Australia and plans on working up the cruising kitty in hopes of leaving in the spring bound for South Africa. When asked about some of the highlights of her trip to date, she notes“ the wonderfully generous people you meet along the way, peaceful starry nights, delightfully crisp blue skies; but the highlight of highlights has to be swimming with Humpback whales here in Vava’u. It was a life changing and very emotional experience. To be in the water with mammals of this size was surreal, but to actually witness their emotional intelligence and personality moved me to tears. Picking up and leaving each place doesn’t get any easier; but to never leave and never open myself up to the possibilities out there is unimaginable.”
For more info on the Voyage Of Yemaya check out: http://lindapasquariello.com/
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Cruisin’
November 9th, 2011
“There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon…there are things that drift away like our endless numbered days…there are things we can’t recall, blind as night that finds us all. “ –Iron & Wine
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Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
July 30th, 2011
Evening View
Morning View
Morning Hike
Afternoon Sail
Domino Under Construction
February 28th, 2011
Domino Under Construction
Currently under construction…Hoping to have new standing rigging by the end of the week…and then repaint the decks when it gets warmer and stops RAINING!
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6 Months 4 Boats And Finally Some Standing Headroom
February 14th, 2011
Roughly 6 months ago…I flew back here to the Bay Area from Hawaii after selling Blue Moon to a gentleman in Oahu; and began searching for not only my NEW boat but my NEW home. I had some ideas of certain qualities I wanted for my NEW boat, some of those being: 1) It had to sail well. 2) A defined nav station preferably forward facing. 3) A defined galley area. 4) An Inboard Diesel engine. 5) A boat in the 27-30 foot range that had a bit more waterline than the International Folkboat’s 19.5 feet. 6) A bit more living area down below and standing headroom would be a plus.
Well 6 months and 4 boats later I have finally found a boat that has all six qualities including STANDING HEADROOM! The list goes like this: Santa Cruz 27 to a Pearson Triton to another International Folkboat (I had a stint of IF withdrawl but am officially cured now) and finally a 1985 Wilderness 30 named DOMINO. I am still doing some research on my new boat…but Domino is hull #2 of I think 15 total boats built in Santa Cruz, CA during the ULDB revolution of the late 70′s and early 80′s. More info on the boat and its current refit for the SHTP 2012 to come….
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Treasure Island For The Weekend
October 11th, 2010This has been my first time anchoring over at Treasure Island since they cleared out the former decaying boat population that was occupying all the good spots of the anchorage; not anymore! Pictures below:
TI Oct 2010
More to come…
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What worked and what didn’t work…
September 19th, 2010What did and didn’t work aboard s/v Blue Moon International Folkboat:
What did work
*Twin headsails made by Lee Sails. Once we got to the “almost trades”…these Twins worked beautifully. And once I got used to the set up…I ended up taking the “Roper approach” and flying the twins with Main…with the windward twin on a pole and the leward twin trimmed to a close reach…
*My second hand drifter for the light air conditions. Being very much waterline challenged in the light stuff (19 feet for the Folkboat)…the drifter helped push us along. I will definitely have a drifter made for the next race.
*UK Halsey Mainsail w/ three reefs worked great. Well built…very solid construction…and it seemed to really put the turbo in the Turboed folkboat
*Forespar single burner gimbaled stove worked very well in a variety of sea conditions…Only used two green propane canisters for the trip over..very efficient.
*NASA Marine stand alone AIS unit: worth its weight in GOLD. I had this running 24/7 for the first week of the race…draws very little energy and really allows you to sleep a bit better 
*GPS NavX setup on my 12″ G4 Laptop worked well…but due to how wet everything became down below…I really ended up using my little handheld Garmin GPS 60 & chart for the majority of the race.
*Iridium Sat Phone worked very well…Long battery life….Never had an issue with reception…dropping calls..ect.
What didn’t work or What I wished I had
*A good solid Autopilot–For this race I now believe it is a must. I brought along an old AH800 tiller pilot that worked in some situations but with any bumpy sea state…it did not like it! So I would install the nicest Autopilot I can afford for the next time.
*Not foreseeing just how wet things would get on my little Folkboat…next time around I would do a better job of having everything I don’t want to get wet in Plastic bags…dry bags…etc. After the first 3-4 days of the race…my entire boat from forepeak to quarter berths was soaking wet…and once we started getting into warmer climates…everything had been wet for soo long that things started to GROW on my books, charts, clothes, etc. Keeping things dry is KEY!
*Extra pairs of Foul Weather Gear (perhaps even three sets!) My gear got soaking wet early and it would have been nice to have a fresh set waiting while my other set dried…And remember to always put your jacket over the bibs…in one of my exhausted states early on in the race…I mistakenly had my bibs over my Jacket…and water finds its way into your BIBS real easy with this scenario
*Wind Instruments would have been nice for all the downwind work of this trip…Going DDW…it would be nice to only have to look forward as opposed to up all the time
All in all..I was very pleased with Blue Moon’s preparation…we didn’t have anything major break…and the boat actually looked good once we reach Hanalei…Oh Hanalei
More to come…
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