Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor

Also in this genre: Moxie Marlinspike (yes, that[1] Moxie Marlinspike)'s documentary about anarchist yacht-squatting, "Hold Fast" (2007) https://vimeo.com/15351476

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie_Marlinspike

I was reminded of this book today when I read some comments here about the popularity of “sailing log” manuscripts.

This one is written by Paul Lutus, of Apple Writer fame.

https://arachnoid.com/administration/index.html

In my spare time I message people of means to fund a 100ft carbon maxi sailing campaign to break ocean records at the major offshore events around the globe.(www.msailing.org)

I call it my moonshot, something I spend a few hours on a month, and you'd be amazed how many people actually politely decline.

I wish more people knew the joy and the rawness of the ocean.

Reminds me of Tom Neale's "An Island to Oneself" - https://harpercollins.com.au/products/9781775492979

Oh boy, this reminded me of The Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone by Robin Lee Graham, which I randomly found and read in my school's library when I was 12 or 13. Still remember it 40+ yrs later.

Tania Aelbi wrote a good one of her trip.

I’m working towards a solo circumnavigation myself. Love reading about the stories of others.

There is something wonderfully old-internet about finding a complete 3,5year solo circumnavigation memoir sitting on a plain HTML site

A few years ago I was part of a national-level rescue chain, the chain that starts with a phonecall and snakes it way up through different first responders. The group I worked with were at pretty much the far end of the chain. I am all for people doing great things, but for every great-thing-doing long distance sailor there are a hundred rich idiots. 50ish, got rich, bought a boat and is out on the open ocean ... and something goes wrong.

Fall off your motorcycle and you need a ride to the hospital, maybe an ambulance. Fall off your horse or a cliff and you need some burly volunteers with good knees and strong backs to haul you to the nearest road. A little more extreme, say you are stuck up a big cliff, and you might get a 90-second ride in a small helicopter to the nearest road.

But when anything goes wrong out at sea, from a broken mast to a broken arm, you are in for the deluxe package. It starts with ships in the area diverting towards your position. Then a fixed-wing airplane the size of a small airliner launches to put eyes on you and coordinate the next bit: the granddaddy helicopter, the all-weather one with a winch, night vision, two pilots, two SAR techs, maybe three turbines and four or more blades the length of a bus. Think you are low-carbon because you are using a sail? Don't ask how many tons of fuel are spent keeping that helo in the air. (They often have to make multiple fuel stops during ocean rescues).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_MH-60_Jayhawk https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/helicopters/mili... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EADS_HC-144_Ocean_Sentry https://www.canada.ca/en/air-force/services/aircraft/cc-295....

My point: Don't romanticize the sea to the point that rich idiots start playing around out there. Always take it seriously and do not ever expect help. Always have backup plans for your backup plans.

Buy the EPIRB BEFORE you buy the boat. Buy the expensive one.

At least when Harrison Ford got rich he started buying and crashing light aircraft. He knew to crash on a golf course so the doctors didn't need to walk very far. (Not a joke. That happened.)

https://golf.com/travel/penmar-golf-course-venice-california...

There was, a few years ago, a nascent blog and a project by a lone sailor to make some sort of daring, record-breaking solo trek from, like, SF bay to Hawai‘i. This gentleman had christened his extraordinarily tiny craft “Chubby Girl” perhaps ironically, and also named his blog after it, “Chubby Girl Cruising”.

Now for some reason apart from my proclivities as a landlubber hetero guy, I was intrigued enough to follow the blog’s progress as he prepared Chubby Girl and set sail. Sadly, he was nearly immediately turned back, by weather, mechanical failure, or some such.

I was disappointed and, while he apparently took down his blog right away, I continued to poke around to find out if he’d try again soon.

But the terrible reality of the Internet and search engines being what they are, the search term "chubby girl cruising" never again turned up any results relating to sailing or the ocean, and trust me, you don’t want to try it, even with SafeSearch engaged…

Reminds me of Tom Neale's "An Island to Oneself" - https://harpercollins.com.au/products/9781775492979

Tania Aelbi wrote a good one of her trip.

I’m working towards a solo circumnavigation myself. Love reading about the stories of others.

There is something wonderfully old-internet about finding a complete 3,5year solo circumnavigation memoir sitting on a plain HTML site

Also in this genre: Moxie Marlinspike (yes, that[1] Moxie Marlinspike)'s documentary about anarchist yacht-squatting, "Hold Fast" (2007) https://vimeo.com/15351476

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie_Marlinspike

That was a nice video, huge balls on all four in doing this...

Seems unlikely for there to be two different Moxies Marlinspike in any case, but appreciate your confirmation. Indeed his Wikipedia page didn’t need a disambiguation section.

I was reminded of this book today when I read some comments here about the popularity of “sailing log” manuscripts.

This one is written by Paul Lutus, of Apple Writer fame.

https://arachnoid.com/administration/index.html

I've always wished the program was called Lutus Notes.

Paul has come up on HN a lot recently. I didn't recognize the domain and didn't immediately realize this was him.

It sounds like he's had a heck of an interesting life.

That connection makes it even more interesting

Loved the book as well!

In my spare time I message people of means to fund a 100ft carbon maxi sailing campaign to break ocean records at the major offshore events around the globe.(www.msailing.org)

I call it my moonshot, something I spend a few hours on a month, and you'd be amazed how many people actually politely decline.

I wish more people knew the joy and the rawness of the ocean.

I'll bite. How does Gitana 18 and the general continued technological progress in the Ultim class fall short? If you had something to contribute, couldn't you just get involved in one of these projects?

There are worse ways to spend a few hours a month than trying to talk rich people into funding an absurdly fast sailboat

I too loved this book, though my copy is titled _Dove_ - one of my all time favorites. My dad, who gave me the book, knew Robin during his own solo sailing days, and figured I could relate to a lot of what he wrote about. Sadly I never got a chance to meet him myself though.

My point: Don't romanticize the sea to the point that rich idiots start playing around out there. Always take it seriously and do not ever expect help. Always have backup plans for your backup plans.

Buy the EPIRB BEFORE you buy the boat. Buy the expensive one.

At least when Harrison Ford got rich he started buying and crashing light aircraft. He knew to crash on a golf course so the doctors didn't need to walk very far. (Not a joke. That happened.)

https://golf.com/travel/penmar-golf-course-venice-california...

Something I've read on HN once, and that nailed it for me: in the middle of the Pacific you are further away from any possible rescue than if you were on the ISS.

> He knew to crash on a golf course so the doctors didn't need to walk very far. (Not a joke. That happened.)

The link only mentions that he crashed on the golf course, not why he chose it. (Well, other than "can't make it to the airport, golf course is best alternative"). Personally, I suspect "it's got open stretches of flat land with no trees or buildings" was more of a consideration than "doctors are often found there". :-)

Seems like a good role for a drone rescue ship that targets the EPIRB location.

I was disappointed and, while he apparently took down his blog right away, I continued to poke around to find out if he’d try again soon.

Seems unlikely for there to be two different Moxies Marlinspike in any case, but appreciate your confirmation. Indeed his Wikipedia page didn’t need a disambiguation section.

I've always wished the program was called Lutus Notes.

Paul has come up on HN a lot recently. I didn't recognize the domain and didn't immediately realize this was him.

It sounds like he's had a heck of an interesting life.

Loved the book as well!

There are worse ways to spend a few hours a month than trying to talk rich people into funding an absurdly fast sailboat

That connection makes it even more interesting

That was a nice video, huge balls on all four in doing this...

Wil Spaul. He's in his mid 70s now and probably won't be trying again. AFAIK you can purchase chubby girl from him - it's still at the Berkeley marine center

Something I've read on HN once, and that nailed it for me: in the middle of the Pacific you are further away from any possible rescue than if you were on the ISS.

Wil Spaul. He's in his mid 70s now and probably won't be trying again. AFAIK you can purchase chubby girl from him - it's still at the Berkeley marine center

> He knew to crash on a golf course so the doctors didn't need to walk very far. (Not a joke. That happened.)

Seems like a good role for a drone rescue ship that targets the EPIRB location.

Unfortunately drone companies have a habit of pivoting into defence before realising their initial civil intentions.

And how fast is this drone ship? I bet slower than the helicopter. And how do you get people onboard? A drone with a robotic arm? Will it be like the claw game, but with wounded people being clawed up?

Unfortunately drone companies have a habit of pivoting into defence before realising their initial civil intentions.

> And how do you get people onboard? A drone with a robotic arm?

Nets. Nets are how you get people on board in basically all emergency scenarios.

Not that drone rescue ships seem like a particularly good idea, mind you.

Claw "game" (scam) machines have deliberately-weak grasps, designed to drop the item they've grabbed whenever the arm is jolted — and then it's jolted at least once, usually twice, in the process of bringing it to the output bin. They are designed to drop their packages, so that people will feed in more money.

I'm not saying a drone with a claw arm would be the right design. But if it turned out that that was the right design, it would be designed not to drop its "packages", as opposed to the claw machines where dropping the package is the intended result.

> And how do you get people onboard? A drone with a robotic arm?

Nets. Nets are how you get people on board in basically all emergency scenarios.

Not that drone rescue ships seem like a particularly good idea, mind you.

In 1988, I sailed away from the West coast of the United States in a 31-foot sailboat. This is my story — my account of a 3 1/2-year around the world solo sail.

Read about the pirates, storms, and wars I witnessed firsthand.
Read about the relationship between a solo sailor and the sea, his daily companion.
Read how I changed — from fearing to leave shore, to wanting never to touch land again.

If you have ever wondered what it feels like to sail free, alone on the sea, then
let me take you on my voyage, my adventure — read my book, sail with me!

"Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor"

Read this book online
Download this book in ZIP form for offline reading:
- confessions.zip (1.3 MB): zipped HTML pages and graphics

My book "Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor" is in the CareWare program. No money, now or ever — but not exactly free. Read about CareWare.

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Confessions of a Long-Distance Sailor

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