Wet Dreams...

On a blustery weekend in mid September, I was on the boat alone, not alone, the German Shepherd was along for the ride. Cakes was flying somewhere, San Francisco I think.. We spent Friday night on the boat, On Saturday morning I left our mooring on the Salem side of Marblehead, I sailed east into the Atlantic. I left at dawn. The compass read 90 degrees, I stayed on that course for 12 hours. At 6 pm straight up, I turned around, set a course for 270 degrees and sailed back

Air Time is a quick boat, a Ron Holland design 9.2 meters (29 feet, 10 inches) she's beamy and at 7,000 lbs is relatively light. With her modified keel and rig she can carry a lot of sail. Air Time is a race boat, not a cruiser or a floating Clorox bottle like some boats. She has a nice tidy, practical interior, a galley and a head. 9.2Rs (the R stands for race) have been sailed in s few long distance races, most notable the Transpac, from California to Hawaii, just over 2500 miles. Air Time has won her class in the Marblehead to Halifax race and placed 2nd twice. I've toyed with doing the Newport Bermuda double-handed race in her. But I need more experience off shore and that's what this little excursion is about.

Together we averaged 5.8 knots over the 24 hours in winds ranging from 12 to 25 miles an hour. We covered 139 miles in 24 hours. The waves were 4-6 feet and well spaced. We had high scudding clouds overhead during the day, it cleared Saturday night.

The dog slept below most of the time, he'd spend some time in the cockpit with me with his nose in the wind, then head back to his spot in the cabin. He doesn't like to do his business on the boat, but he finally peed near the scuppers and I rinsed it off with a bucket of seawater. We were both hungry and had an early dinner. He had a bowl of dog food, I ate a can of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. It's funny, I don't like canned fruit and seldom eat it, but on the boat I always crave fruit cocktail. I had a can for desert. The dog got a cookie.

I listened to some Dylan, then some classical music on the CD player. The boat is steered (better than I can) by a Raynarine Tillerpilot. I read  George V. Higgins until the light failed just after 7. We're heading back now and we get a sunset on the ocean, rare where we live on the East Coast. The wind picks up a little from 12 to 15, I play with the strings. The boat speed jumps a 1/2 knot, the wind has shifted a bit so were on a beam reach. I listen to the weather on the VHF, it's supposed to stay like this through tomorrow. I'd like more wind.

 I'm not tired, but I should try to sleep. I need to be wide awake when we get closer to home, a north-south shipping lane runs about 12 miles off the coast, there not a lot of traffic, but it's there. We're sailing in the Stellwagen Bank, a Marine sanctuary, once we cross the bank fishing boats show up

I've got a radar reflector and I set the VHF on the hailing channel, took a look around, propped a cushion against the bulkhead and stretched out. I dozed off and on for and hour or so. I feel pretty good. I peed over the stern rail. Every time I do, I remember a Coastie saying, "most of the time when we fetch an offshore drowning victim's body, it's usually a guy with his fly open".

Check the GPS, everything is fine, on course. I adjust the sails, go below and get a jacket, it's cooling off. Back in the cockpit, I rub my dog's ears and smoke a cigar. At midnight, I made a pot of coffee in our French press, pour a cup and put the rest in the heavy duty construction worker style, stainless steel thermos jug. We even have a holder for the thermos in the companionway.

The sky is incredible out here at night, we're still far off shore, there's no light pollution. The gaps in the light cloud cover reveal a night sky most of us never see.

We sail on. With three hours to go, I'm getting sleepy, I pour another mug of coffee, I should make some fresh. I put the Rolling Stones' "Stripped" on the CD player and crank it up. I wash my face in the sink and go back to the cockpit.

I run numbers in my head, at this speed in this boat, we could sail to the Azores in 12 days, add another 10 days to that and we could be in Gibraltar and into the Med. Believe me I've thought about it.

I've been thinking about long distance sailing since I was 11 years old and read "Sailing Around the World, Alone" by Joshua Slocum for the first time. I've read all the solo sailing stories, Cichester, the first to do it with one stop, Webb Chiles, Robin Knox Johnson and more. I've had a discussion with Phil Weld of Manchester, the single handed Ostar race winner from England to New York City. Weld told me, "you need to learn to sail in all kinds of weather, when other boats don't go out, you go out." I read once that if you want to sail around Cape Horn you need to be comfortable sailing in 50 knots of wind for days".

When I was getting Air Time ready for this season, I met Dame Ellen MacArthur. At one time she held the non-stop around the world record of 71 days sailing an Open 50. How did I met her? I loaned her support crew a hose and my extension cords at the Alden Yard in Rhode Island. Her crew gave me a ride on the race boat, wow! Ellen MacArthur is maybe 5 foot 3 in heels.

I think about sailing around the world all the time.I don't talk about it, because when you do, people think you're nuts, even other sailors think you're nuts.

I can see the Marblehead Light, about 90 minutes to go.

At 6:20 Air Time is on her mooring. I crawled in the 1/4 berth and slept until 9, I cleaned the boat up, called the launch. The dog did his business in the parking lot, he was very relieved. After breakfast at Dunkin Donuts on Route 1A in Swampscott, we picked Cakes up at Logan at noon. I asked, "How was your trip?" "Bumpy all the way back from the west coast. How was your sail?" I smiled and told her, "It couldn't have been better."

Cakes was tired from her flight, I was tired from sailing for 24 homes, we home and took a long nap. I think we went out to dinner and a movie that night.

(A few years later I did get my chance to sail in 50 knot winds, but that's another story.)

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