July 14th

Happy Bastille Day!!

Embraer 175

My third flight today, the Portland, Oregon to DFW leg, was on an Alaskan Airlines Embraer 175 regional jet. It had great legroom; Drew & Lucas would fit very well in this plane.

Art vs. Science?

As I was flying from Toulouse, France to Frankfurt, Germany today, I noticed a distinct difference in how the countryside is laid out in France vs. Germany. The French farm fields seem to be laid out like a jigsaw puzzle and the German fields much more rectilinear.

Solo (reprise)

I covered the more technical aspects of solo sailing relating to sleep schedules a few days ago. However, when reflecting back on the "scariest" moments I had during my crossing, there were a few incidents where I fell sound asleep for a couple hours. These incidents felt at the time that I had blacked out - not just fallen asleep but completely lost about two hours of consciousness in its entirety. This was in spite of having alarms set to go off between every 15-30 minutes so I could 1) assure sail trim was proper and 2)  verify no boats or ships (or land) was in close proximity. Normally, in my 15-30 minute sleep cycles I would only be 90% asleep and many times awoke before the alarm went off.  That said, when I awoke I wasn't fully conscious either; typically just acting robot-like to check the sails, do a horizon scan, check the AIS display and nod back off. At times I had intended to add into this task list to connect my iPhone to the sat phone and poll to see if Sal had sent a text message (about another 30 seconds) as we tried to talk occasionally after she got home from work but this was the middle of the night for me due to my time zone.  This "extra effort" was well beyond my mental capacity much of the time, I think partly because I knew in advance that it would be successful less than 1 time in 10 as Sal has a busy and variable schedule. I suppose if I had deemed it "critical to the mission" I could have had better success. Typically this would have entailed another 30 seconds of activity with the last 10 seconds just waiting for the system to poll. That 10 seconds is super tough as there is nothing to do but to try to remain conscious. I certainly get a failing grade on that count. 

So back to the "black out" episodes...

Reflecting back on my transit from the BVI's to Florida (through the Turks & Caicos and Bahamas) I also had a similar blackout event. When this first happened I viewed it as an aberration and chastised myself for a moment of weakness. Every night when I started this sleep-cycle process around 11:30pm I would have a "fully conscious" discussion with myself (not out loud) on the discipline required for the night as my nighttime self had a separate voice to rationalize shortcutting steps, i.e. "I'll just check the sails this time, the AIS will alert if we're on a collision course and who would be way the "F" out here on this course in a boat without AIS (and not maintaining a watch)" 

So overall it was a pretty rational voice which takes a lot of discipline to counteract. (I had varying levels of success in dealing with my unruly, disrespectful, and disagreeable semi-conscious self)

On my crossing I had two instances where this battle between my conscious and semi-conscious self was temporarily silenced in its entirety. I awoke each time afterwards with a start; realizing each time that the boat had been underway without a captain. These moments of realization were truly scary for me. At all other times I felt mostly "in tune" with the boat and felt that I was mostly aware of a significant wind change or change in the boat's motion.   In reality I don't think the "blackout moments" were 100% true because I was super-paranoid about running the boat aground when near land so I was always extra-vigilant on a tack that could put us aground if I fell asleep for a few hours. Ditto if I anticipated a weather change. So somehow the brain has a self-preservation circuit that can't be switched off entirely even though my conscious self felt completely disconnected from it. 

I haven't read accounts of other single-handlers in modern times, just people like Slocum, Moitessier, and Knox-Johnston; but all of those were in a different age, although Sir Robin  (Knox-Johnston) participated in last year's Route de Rhumb, a solo transatlantic race at the age of 72?

I suspect many current solo sailers don't publicize their methods due to potential litigation issues if an accident were to occur. But maybe I just haven't looked closely enough. 

So this process, and my objective technical success, since I met my goal without any real mishaps while underway, I find internally quite rewarding even if an outside observer saw me as just a lucky firefly in a shooting gallery :-)

The U.S. of A.

It's been an eye-opening experience as I've gone from country to country how different the US is from most other countries. As we are flying towards Portland, there was an announcement on filling out the US immigration/customs form. Do NOT do an upstroke on the "1" and do not cross the "7". In Europe, a one tends to be written like an inverted "V". The opposite does not happen, when entering Europe (or other countries I've visited) they do not tell you how to write your characters with conformity. Overall, we seem much more restrictive, as I learned when trying to bring my boat into the US. We seem to hold a very unusual place in the world today. I'm curious if those that have traveled more extensively than I feel the same.

German security

I had to go through airport security again in Frankfurt. These Germans don't mess around. My crazy backpack that looks like a black blob under the x-ray wasn't going to get through like in France. They pulled everything out one by one for examination. In the meantime they called over two policemen with rifles and bulletproof vests to oversee the operation and to quiz me on specifics of some of the items. They also ran a swab test and told me I had some type of chemical residue that caused concern. In the end I passed muster and they gave me my 4 trays of stuff for me to repackage.
I'm now planning my next adventure. I'm thinking about doing the opposite trip of what I just finished: high latitude (arctic) instead of tropical, high speed (near the speed of sound) instead of 8 knots, and with several hundred people instead of just a few (or one). Here's my planned route:

Moitessier quote

There are two terrible things for a man: not to have fulfilled his dream, and to have fulfilled it.

Bernard Moitessier, The Long Way

I guess that means I need to find a new one to chase...

Credit card

FYI: as a reminder to myself, the next time I travel to Europe, I need to remember to get a credit card that uses a PIN instead of requiring a signature. After finally locating a gas station yesterday, it had no attendant and would only take a credit card that uses a PIN (apparently). I even tried my VISA debit card but it wouldn't take that either. Lesson learned (if I remember it).




-Greg

Homeward bound

I was woken up by my alarm at 5:30am from a really deep sleep. I had gone to sleep around midnight; this was my longest uninterrupted sleep in a month. Man that felt great! What a luxury. Best sleep ever!
I rifled through my luggage for awhile and jettisoned all non-essentials as I had researched the cost of overweight baggage ($250each). Since I had weighed by bags the prior day I knew I had to shed weight in one bag and I was still carrying a 5th bag that I knew I needed to lose since checking a 3rd bag would be $300 and I already knew my 2nd checked bag was going to cost $100. I continued to put anything small and heavy in my backpack which was already pregnant and overdue:-)
Next I had to shuttle my baggage downstairs as it was impossible to carry everything at once without breaking into an immediate sweat. Fortunately no one lugged a bag off while I was getting the remainder.
I almost left the hotel without formally checking out as I sometimes do in the US, but fortunately I took the time to stop at the front desk. Apparently that's the custom as they needed my credit card to complete the checkout process.
I got lost driving to the airport as the map I was following for the area near the airport was from prior to the airport reconstruction. I could see the control tower but couldn't find the rental car return. I even found the offsite lot where they process the rental cars but it was not for returns. Try as I might, I could not find a sign that said "rental car return" just a whole lotta signs in some foreign language. Someone was not thinking of me when they designed this place. Eventually I drove by a parking ramp and recognized the logo of the rental car company, EuropCar. Voilà! Merci beaucoup!!
I checked in my little Fiat and relieved it of its heavy burden. Fortunately there was a trolley cart nearby so I could exercise my balancing act once again.
I eventually found the correct terminal for Lufthansa and a super-helpful gate agent. We weighed my bags. 23Kg for one (the limit) and 23.5 for the other. She said it was good. Wow! I had been prepared to go through another quick weight-loss process right there on the airport floor so fortunately I was spared that exercise. Then she did a double take on my first flight and said there was insufficient room for a second carry-on. She would have to take one of my carry-ons and check it. No charge!
Things are looking up as this bag definitely wouldn't fit in any carry-on sizing gadget so I was going to have to hope along the way that no one gave me a hard time about it. Of course, my backpack won't fit in one of those either but I've never had gate personnel stop me for a backpack before.
So that just left me and my backpack to go through security. Of course there are lots of people in this serpentine line where icons show to put certain types of items the ubiquitous plastic trays. Of course almost everything in my backpack qualifies for removal. I took out my two laptops, a camera and a few other items to put up a good show of effort but the security lady that was placing the items into the scanner just frowned disapprovingly mumbled something in French then because she didn't know what else to do, out my bag through. I walked through and watched the agent review the X-ray of my bag. It was just a big blob of black. But off to the side (in a side pocket actually) was something dark and identifiable. The CO2 cartridge for my life vest. She circled it and sent my bag down an alternate conveyor for "bad bags". It did the roll of shame to the French TSA-equivalent agent where she informed me that that was "prohibited! You understand?" I put up a small argument in my defense that it was for a life jacket, it was properly marked, and that I had flown to France with it previously. Apparently my argument was falling on deaf ears as she didn't speak English. She repeated her "prohibited!" declaration so I signed her form and moved on.
On to my gate with two hours to spare.



-Greg

Solo

Well now that I've successfully made it ashore I'll spill the beans a bit on why I was closed-mouthed about single-handing the crossing. As with most litigious Americans, or should I say litigation-fearing Americans?, I was fearful that in my sleep-deprived state I would hit another small craft in the night. Obviously if I hit one of the many cargo ships or tankers, they would be none the wiser. But a small craft, say something less than 100 feet long without a steel hull, I could have caused some serious damage - and the result could have been especially dire when 50+ miles offshore. The international rules on boats/ships at sea is that an "active watch" must be maintained at all times. But I don't believe "active watch" has been tightly defined by international maritime courts. However, I do believe it's been defined to be a person, not an "electronic watch".  I relied on 1) me, in a conscious state 2) me in a semi-conscious state and 3) electronic (AIS) alarms that would alert me to boats in my proximity. 

#3 is problematic as not all boats have AIS. All commercial shipping has AIS now, as do most recreational bluewater boats. But it's not mandated for recreational boating. It's also not mandated for some fishing vessels and there are a lot of tiny fishing boats still in active use (news to me). 

Also, as I realized in the Mediterranean recently, the idea that a commercial boat would always avoid me, while generally true, is faulty. What about the commercial boats that are drifting (not underway)? There are MANY of these in the Med. Of course the danger (to them) is only if they're small. But I definitely saw a good number of these. They would be of the assumption that the boat bearing down on them was going to change course prior to impact and they might be challenged to move at the last minute depending on what they were doing. 

Now on the flip side, the likelihood of two boats colliding is probably about that same as trying to shoot a firefly with a BB gun at 30 paces. Not very likely. But... devastating results if it actually happens. 

Fortunately the law of averages was on my side, but it did make for some stressful times when I was super tired in the wee hours. Especially when in high-traffic areas. 

Avoiding a ship-to-ship collision is like driving a car through a busy intersection without a stoplight but in super-super slow motion. You typically know with 20+ minutes advanced warning that you are on a (near) collision course. There's lots of time to react, call the other ship on the radio, etc. so that's all good. On the other hand, since I was so much slower than most of the commercial traffic (7 knots vs 16-20), I was way better off letting them maneuver around me than vice-versa. This resulted in many, many times, waiting for them to make a course change while I desperately trying to stay awake. All the wile knowing they would squash me like a bug if they didn't take action, so don't nod off!  A pretty strange circumstance in today's fast-paced world. By the way, there are still a lot of people out there single-handing.  There are even quite a few sanctioned single-handed ocean races even though it's fairly well known that they aren't fully complying with regulations. 

Anyway, all is well. Nobody died )that I'm aware of). 

Tilley hat

A big thanks to Wes Patterson who replaced my Tilley hat after I lost my prior one on a BVI trip we were on. I was pretty crushed when we couldn't find it after circling for awhile because it had a lot of "experience", aka character. He surprised me with a brand new one a few weeks after our trip of which I was very grateful but it lacked that lived-in look. Well, I can now report that the new one has gotten a lot of experience this year. It has fallen in the drink (& been rescued) 8 times so far. Hopefully this one is a lifer!
On a related note, Antoine lost his hat overboard near Barbados. I promptly turned the boat around to rescue it even though he said not to bother because he wasn't enamored with the hat. I told him, "you don't understand, it's a matter of principle" :-)

Excess baggage

This is me and my 170 pounds of baggage making the freight elevator earn its keep.

Packed up

Well I've packed my stuff and I'm heading out to find a rental car so I can drive to Toulouse to catch my flight tomorrow morning. The boat looks much nicer after a thorough cleaning.

Tied up

I made it in with no drama. Currently tied up to the fuel dock.

Canet-en-Roussillon

Approaching Canet before dawn, 5am local time. Venus is welcoming me after a long journey.

D day -2

Today was a bit of a Celebration Day (sorry for the trademark infringement Led Zepp) as the tough sailing is now solidly behind me assuming the weather person can do a two day forecast with some precision. I sent a summary email to Pascal, the boat owner, of myriad of damages I've inflicted on his boat over the last year as well the general wear and tear issues that need to be addressed. He now has a crunch to get the boat ready for the next charter which departs August 1st. I'm returning the boat one week early which hopefully gives him a little extra time to make it better than ever for the next customer. Overall, I'm relatively impressed with myself that all the issues are pretty minor; but of course my ego took a serious hit with each problem. After several years of studying (and a fair amount of life experience on the water) my expectations were perfection which is probably a bit unrealistic. But after 10,000 miles I'd say I'd give myself a passing grade for a first-time
bluewater captain. I started seriously packing today; tomorrow will be dedicated to cleaning. I should arrive in Canet-en-Roussillon on the 6th. Then a scramble to get to the airport in Toulouse. After that it's in the hands of the pilots to cross back over the ocean in a half-day that it took me a month to cross.

The "other" Rock

Can anyone from the first crew name the town this rock towers over? Seeing this rock for the first time will be etched in my memory for a long time. We were trying to seek shelter from a storm. It had been a stormy day with lots of wind and rain and sizable waves that we were beating into. It was a punishing way to start out and after darkness fell everyone wanted a break for the night. We had been navigating from inside to stay out of the nasty weather as we approached land around 11pm. As we got close we put our foulies on and went outside. Towering over us about 200 meters away was this 1000+ ft tall rock. I was awestruck.
Answer: Calpe, Spain

HFoJ

Happy 4th of July everyone! Except any of you British that might be reading this, well, I've got separate sentiments for all of you :-)
By random chance, Ray Charles' America the Beautiful was the 2nd song that played this morning, how appropriate. I still remember his awesome performance that Sal & I went to at the Meadowbrook Outdoor Music Theater in Rochester, Michigan. I'm glad we took the opportunity to see one of the greats. What a performer!
As I sail (well, motor-sail actually) along the south Spanish coast at daybreak on this beautiful blue-sky morning, I'm so grateful for all the Freedoms we have. So many people paid the ultimate price for us to be where we are today, it's worth taking a (very) long moment to reflect on that sacrifice. And also a great day to renew our commitment to do our part to continue to make it better. Voting in every election should be every US citizen's minimum commitment. While I've voted in almost all presidential elections, I myself have represented very poorly in state & local elections so I should be holding my tongue on my disappointment in our elected officials. Every candidate that didn't get elected is potentially a rational voice missing from discussions. I renew my commitment today.
I hope everyone has a great celebration today; I suspect mine will be somewhat subdued over here as I anticipate their fireworks displays will be underwhelming:-) and I hope I don't upset someone when I shoot off all my aerial flares as part of my own celebration.
Happy 4th!!

Cabo de Palos

After tacking upwind today I finally made it past Cabo de Palos at 7pm local time.

Not a gentleman

There's an old phrase, "a gentleman doesn't sail to windward"; well apparently I'm not a gentleman because that's all I've done since I've been in the Med it seems. Just pounding one wave after the next and they are short period waves so quite choppy as opposed to long swells like many ocean waves. Currently passing Cartagena, Spain where I kept the boat for awhile last fall. Next up are the Balaeric islands, Ibiza, Mallorca, and Menorca.

Pan pan, pan pan, pan pan

There have been many calls from the Spanish authorities on the VHF radio today to notify mariners of a bunch of people (~60) in a black rubber raft that departed from Morocco and headed towards Spain. There are three types of emergency signals on the radio, all of which are always broadcast three times in succession. In order of severity, securitè ( informational) , pan pan(significant health threat), and mayday (immediate danger of loss of life).
I'm not sure of the policy of why they don't just go and immediately rescue them. It may be that they can't take action until they are in Spanish waters. But I can't imagine rolling the dice of being and choosing to be in a raft with all the ship traffic in this area. Wherever they're coming from must be pretty bleak. I'll have to read up on this as I also heard many of these calls last fall when I was coming through the Med in the opposite direction.

Hasta la vista Spain

The wind remains right on my nose tonight so I'm going to tack off toward Algeria for about 60 miles then northward after that if all goes to plan.

Awards

"And the award for best scenery from a gas station goes to..."
La La Land!
Oops, wrong envelope
Alcaidesa Puerto Deportivo!

traffic jam

Wow! The amount of ship traffic here in the Mediterranean is incredible. And of course the wind is on my nose again (as it was when I was coming through this same area last fall in the opposite direction); which means I'll need to tack throughout the night while dodging ships. Good times!
Today I committed to scheduling my return flight on the morning of July 7th. Now that I have purchased my ticket I'm extra motivated as anyone that is aware of my frugal ways will testify :-) If all goes to plan I should be able to arrive in Canet-en-Roussillon by noon on the 6th. Then I need to find transportation to Toulouse. I've already started packing a few things but will accelerate that as I get closer to the boat's home port. Hopefully I can get most of the interior cleaning done before I get back so once I get into port I'll just need to refuel, scrub the salt off the outside, and do a walk through with Pascal.