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Wainui · 22-03-2011, 12:13

This is a sad story!
The old man is a doctor whose wife died and her kids did not want to have anything to do with him. He is partly deaf, cranky and very smelly. He has a dream to sail to Tahiti so brought a yacht in Seattle and set off down the coast. He was found washed up on a beach half buried in the sand after one night. He made his way down to Ventura and brought a 21' yacht. He spent a month living on it and never took it out sailing, or even hoisted the sails. He set off in January 17 and headed south when there was no wind. The Coast guard responded to a VHF call just past Catalina Island where he had run out off fuel and was disoriented not noing where he was or where he was headed. They towed him into San Diego. He should not have been alowed to leave but how do you stop him? This is a photo of him leaving Ventura to go straight down to Tahiti.

zeehag · 22-03-2011, 12:25

let him sail to tahiti-- depression looks good on no one. give him more salt and water and foods and send him out to sail his dream. who is gonna stop you in yours?

Wainui · 22-03-2011, 12:33

Did anybody ask the Dog if he was up for it?

zeehag · 22-03-2011, 12:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wainui

Did anybody ask the Dog if he was up for it?

dog is bonded to the man. he was gonna go with his human. they have trust and faith in their humans just as do cats. wanna deny the old man or the dog his only and best friend in life??

LauderBoy · 22-03-2011, 13:21

I think what's really sad is that the guy wasn't able to or didn't think to pick up some crew, especially on his old 38ft boat. A young kid to man the helm, get a free ride to someplace exotic and learn from an old salt along the way should've been the way to go.

Having been out on the water alone, tired and sick as a dog at age 40, I couldn't imagine handling that in my late 70's even further away from land.

RTB · 22-03-2011, 13:48

Didn't they take him back to SD? Maybe you could take on the Dr. and Sparky for crew, Zee?

kenny chaos · 22-03-2011, 16:45

At least his boat exterior looked cleaner.

s/v 'Faith' · 22-03-2011, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I could nickle and dime that situation like any arm chair admiral, but who knows what state he was in and like someone else said, exhaustion (especially if combined or caused by hand steering in a blow) can wreck your mental state of affairs.

I mean really, who isn't a great sailor sitting behind a laptop commenting on what others are doing?

There's a grog waiting for you, on me whenever we meet.

So many "arm chair admirals" never leave sight of land or comfort of their keyboard.... in their living rooms.

**boatman61** · 22-03-2011, 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

If he had had to hand-steer for 24 hours, he may have lost some of his judgement. When I was with a crew of four delivering well offshore in the Atlantic in similar conditions, and we lost both our wind vane AND the autopilot, I know I was half-done in after a mere three hours of hand-steering down wave fronts in a bigger boat.

I suspect someone misjudged a weather window if this storm was well-forecast.

The seas looked still pretty rough...the arc of the mast was a tip-off. Kudos to the pilot and CG crew.

ROFL.... wot a bunch of pussys... try hand steering solo Bermuda to Azores...
Then you can complain...

Viking Sailor · 22-03-2011, 18:50

A couple of years ago a Westsail 32 pulled into the berth next to me crewed by an 82 year old singlehander. He had a lot of visitors and we never got to chat much. However, I do believe that he said this was his second time around. The next time I heard of him he was in North Carolina with family and still sailing.

I agree with Zee that this sailor be allowed to do it his way.

S/V Alchemy · 22-03-2011, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

ROFL.... wot a bunch of pussys... try hand steering solo Bermuda to Azores...
Then you can complain...

Did I mean it was blowing 40 knots off the backside of Hurricane Ida?

Actually, while I can admire it as a feat of endurance, was there any particular reason to hand steer that distance, and what did you do when asleep, making food, scratching both sides at once, and catching up on Russian novels?

A bit of shock cord on the tiller does wonders, you know.

**boatman61** · 22-03-2011, 20:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

Did I mean it was blowing 40 knots off the backside of Hurricane Ida?

Actually, while I can admire it as a feat of endurance, was there any particular reason to hand steer that distance, and what did you do when asleep,
Snored... mainly... hove to... thats why it took me 40 days from Beaufort to Faial...
making food, scratching both sides at once, and catching up on Russian novels?

A bit of shock cord on the tiller does wonders, you know.

Bit difficult on a Hunter 37 with wheel steering....

And yes... a very particular reason...
My Brand new replacement of my Brand new Simrad Wheel Pilot failed in exactly the same place as on my first crossing attempt in that boat...
but this time I was buga'd if I was gonna sail back to Beaufort/Oriental again for an exchange unit

senormechanico · 22-03-2011, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by nv5l

In this particular case, I think mayday was appropriate. I hope he gets the boat back, but also hope he won't go out again. I'm pretty sure he lost his last boat 7-8 months ago: Pat and Jerry: Gloria Jean in the headlines

It's a pretty sad story all around.

Armchair sailor alert!
Boat looked decently set up for offshore, but the Monitor oar is nicely stowed in the storage position.
Hmmm. I can't help but wonder if he even knows how to use it.