Where I’ve been and where I am
On a shakedown cruise to test systems before the Crossing.
April 24, 2024
Thousands of miles of ocean in any direction from land is where I write from today. It is just before sunrise and I am on a southwest heading closing in on 100 miles to the equator.
On February 29, 2024 I subleased my slip for my floating home to begin the voyage of sailing my 45’ sailboat across the Pacific Ocean to the islands of French Polynesia. A month was spent living on Catalina island to shakedown the boat and complete the last outfittings for an ocean crossing all while awaiting the return of my passport with a long stay visa for my destination.
It’s been years of preparation from the weekend sails with friends and family during university, to acquiring a United States Coast Guard Captain’s License with a sailing endorsement after graduate school, to chartering 3 hour tours on the 45’ Oceanis 440 Beneteau. In 2021, after completing my Master’s in Nanoengineering, I moved onto the boat “live-aboard” style in Oceanside harbor allowing me to learn the boat’s systems more intimately as a full time vessel. In the past few years I have taken apart every floorboard, fixed plumbing and added a water maker, tied in new state of the art electronic navigation equipment, practiced manual and paper charting tools, serviced my own diesel engine, installed almost a thousand watts of solar panels tuned by the best charge controllers, and fixed all the minute details required to understand the interworkings on the boat. I’ve learned to know her sounds underway and at anchor, how to trim sails effectively yet safely for speed and control, how to make a proper meal heeled over while propagating in windy and bumpy sea states. It’s as if both engineering and surfing are key pieces of my foundation for sailing.
But even with the years of preparation, there is no substitute for the dream of sailing to a distant land other than actually doing it. The experience thus far has opened my eyes to more challenges of troubleshooting, unpredictability and endurance. How to use the tools you have on board and within to fix a problem you are having when there is no other convenient help at hand. Handling the helm in low pressure systems and squalls with winds in the high 30s of knots (40 mph). This adventure is in a state of even more vulnerability than I had imagined.
It all makes every sunrise so special, to make it through another night’s watch. The feeling of the wind carrying us towards our landfall destination. The satisfaction from discovering a problem and figuring out a solution. Making the periodic rounds of monitoring vital components that keep the boat moving and afloat. Catching fish for food and making drinking water from the ocean. Charging batteries with solar energy that power navigation equipment and tools I use.
I also genuinely enjoy writing. On this journey it began with updates for my dad and letters to my mom. Both encouraged me to share outwardly the experience for the benefit of others and reflection for myself. My hope is that it could be used as inspiration; whether to pursue a dream, complete a project, push inner limits, practice sustainability, to strive toward living in harmony with nature. That sharing my thoughts give hope, guidance and upliftment.
If you are interested in following this journey, I have started a website with updates, a global tracker, newsletter. In the blog I have included some of the features I have been published in via magazine, newspaper, podcast, and series leading up to this point. You can check my location in the middle of the ocean on a map here. Subscribe to the newsletter for updates here. Or just access information about the voyage and the specifications of the boat if you wish.
