I've just returned from crewing on a 45 foot sloop across the Pacific from San Diego to Hawaii. The trip was mostly uneventful, with varied weather from sailing close hauled through cold cloudy weather to running through the trade winds closer to the end of the trip. There were some huge storms to the North of us, so we rode some impressive swells during part of the trip.
The boat was skippered by BJ Caldwell who, in 1995, had the record for the youngest person to sail around the world alone. He has since done deliveries and races all over the globe, including 23 deliveries between Hawaii and the mainland. Training with someone who has gone through much of what I am right now has been a great experience, and I have learned a lot.
I am still working away at securing the financing for the trip, and at the same time training hard for my round the world odyssey. It has been interesting to follow Michael Perham who is two stops into his proposed nonstop voyage around the world aboard his Open 50, Totallymoney.com. It was unfortunate for him to have to stop, which was due to problems with his Autopilot. An Open 50 is designed exclusively for speed over safety, and they are known to be difficult to sail, so it wouldn't be my first choice of vessel for the youngest record.
There is a short article in Cruising World magazine featuring Zac Sunderland and myself about our voyages which can be found at cruisingworld.com. Thats all for now.
Mahalo,
Ryan