On 12/4/2015 10:27 PM, Thomas Buzzi wrote: Tom, I just checked his daily logs, and Mike put in several days in the Trade Winds doing 81 to 87 NM in 24 hours. Connie PS Corrections to my email: heavy should be "heave to"
Ah, to be 22 again like Mike on his Little Breeze. Apparently those little 15's are put together pretty well. Made me feel EVEN BETTER about my 17. If that's possible. 75 miles a day is pretty good on a 15' boat. Tom B
On Fri, Dec 4, 2015 at 8:16 PM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 12/4/2015 3:21 PM, jerry@jerrymontgomery.org wrote:
Hi Jerry,
Mike wrote a wonderful book.
The experienced sailors say we left XX heading for YY, 18 days enroute, had a small storm where we had to reef / heavy to, but arrived safely at our destination. This is the experienced sailor speaking.
Mike, on the other hand, decided to sail to Hawaii in an M-15.
He plans, equips his boat and then takes off.
What Mike explains in elegant detail is his reaction to being out on the Pacific Ocean alone.
- What the hell am I doing out here?
- Now what?
- How do I solve this problem?
....and gradually you experience with him the acceptance that day 14 has been completed, and day 15 is going to more of the same. ...and day 16 is more of the same, but I managed to do 75 nautical miles in 24 hours.
You get a feel for his growing into the passage; how he feels; how he reacts; what he misses; what he should take along the next time.
He keeps you on the edge of your seat as he gets closer to Hawaii. He screwed up his sextant adjustment. Where the hell am I.....?
Do I sail past Hawaii because I'm too far south....? Then what.....? Beat to windward to try and get back to Hawaii again?
Obviously he made it.
It's a great story for anyone leaving land behind for the first time. Water water everywhere.... now what? .... and it's a great feeling to see an island appear out of the sea in front of your bow; and you can home in on your destination harbor.
Congratulations Mike for giving us all such and elegantly written account of your journey and your feelings enroute.
Your book is a "Must Read" for a sailor.
Connie
Mike- I’m using the list to answer you for two reasons- first, my computor has put you on a list of addresses it doesn’t like and refuses to send messages to, along with my brother, Small Craft Advisor, and others. It appears to be either magic or God’s Will and nobodies’ fault, but a year and a new computor later, it’s still happening. The second reason is that people need to know that your book is out. It just came in, looks great, and I’ll read it this weekend. Thanks very much. maybe Dave Scobie will forward this to you; he seems to get everything I send out and is good about forwarding. I send my SCA columns to him and he forwards them to Josh!