Learning Curve
Have any of us given a thought to what lies ahead for Ken Barnes? My heart goes out to him. To have done what he has, to have been rescued, and to be able to return home, to Newport Beach, California. I grew up there, attened Harbor High, worked as a deck hand on charter boats and bait boats, and have sailed my whole life. He has to come home to that. Let me tell you all. Newport Beach has some very knowlegeable and capable sailors in it's community. Believe me, some very capable race sailors, some very knowledgeable solo and cruise sailors. He has that to face. Like I say, my heart goes out to him. He has to face himself for the rest of his life. He has to re-live all of those moments, all of those issues as he awaits falling asleep every night for the rest of his life. One things surely stands out about our Mr. Barnes, his family. They sure rallied to his support when he needed it. How many of us can count on that, when the circumstances are such? What ever he did out there on his boat, right or wrong, he surely did something very wonderful with his family. It would seem that his actions empowered his loved ones to stand up and identify with their love. Everything withstanding, he has that to return to. To their warmth, their love, and their understanding. To that point, I honor you Ken Barnes, and I admire your family's strength. The worst part of this whole adventure is the fact that he couldn't bring his boat into port. Repair it, and continue his dream. And learned from the repairing what all had gone wrong. Believe me, repairing your boat after an experience like that is the most amazing learning curve a person will ever undergo. Like I say, I've sailed my whole life, good or bad, I've sailed solo too, many times. I even gave a solo circumnavigation a try once. In a 44' Tayana. Unlike Ken though I had crewed, and sailed many Pacific and Atlantic crossings. Both as a crew member, and as the Captain/Owner of the boat. When I retired back in 92' I took off and started cruising for real. Then I, like Ken, came to the challenge of SOLO CIRCUMNAV. Off I went one early November day,back in 1999, from Portsmouth, NH. I had no time line just the drive, disire and dream of doing a 360 around the world. I had some very harrowing and frightful experiences. Luckly though, I was able to make all the correct decisions when the times were necessary. But on the north leg, coming up the South Atlantic, off the coast of Brazil, I was hit with 4 bad weather situations. One right after the other. In the end, I was demasted, my fuel was fouled, my batteries were dead. No, I did not "pop" my EPIRB. Never in hell. No way was I going to step down into my life boat either. I had always been trained, "Sailors don't step down into life boats. No one leaves a floating boat." Plus that boat meant a great deal to me. My boat was floating, and I wasn't done trying to jury-rig things. Long story short, after I had floated around for 7 days, a Portugese/Brazilian fishing trawler came across me. Between my poor Spanish, his none existant English, and his wonderful heart we managed to long-line-tow my boat into Racife. There for two and a half months I repaired my boat. It was durning that time that I learned some of the most telling lessons in my life. You'd be surprised at the knowledge and advise repairmen and technicians can see and offer as they work on your boat. Some very wonderful people and sailors looked into my boat and told me what happened and what they saw. Told me where I had made mistakes, made wrong decisions. 2 1/2 months later with my boat ready to sail again, I had my son join me for the last leg of my circumnavigation. Solo sailors are a unique breed. God created them, and until God changes his ways, He will continue his creations. We just have to accept that. Ken wanting to solo the world is not the sin. What is so very wrong though, as I see it, is he has brought all this home to roost to our SAILING COMMUNITY. We really don't need all of this pulling at us. Let us not fall victim to our own SOLO! And when it come time for us to share our sailing stories. Let us share how wonderful it is out there. How fantastic our good days are. How wonderful and embracing it is to find some of the anchorages that we find. How we enjoy the wonderful meals we share with other sailors. Let us not scare the world with all of our "HORROR" stories that seem to get worse everytime they are told. Like I say, Ken is missing out of the greatest learning curve of not being able to repair his boat and 'pick up his sticks and get going again." Fixing what you break, is one hell of a lesson. I know! I don't SOLO anymore. I did do the Atlantic once after that, delivering a boat for a fellow. But other than that, I sail with crew. It's amazing how fantastic it is to have another mind onboard to not only talk to, but to share intelligence with when the "you know what-hits the fan!" Not to mention just to have another person onboard. Unless things have changed, or unless Ken was able to find an insurance carrier that would insure his undertaking he was uninsured. I know when I went, my insurance company stopped my insurance. No way would they under-write a SOLO adventure. No matter how many years experience I had. That might have changed by now. One other thing, why would he buy this boat in GA, bring it all the way back to California and have the retro-fitting done in Long Beach? There are several very capable yards right in Newport for that. What ever happened to buy local? How would he have liked it when he was doing his pool businss, to look up and see a another guy doing a pool next door from Long Beach. Seems odd to me! Like I say, my heart goes out to him. Not because of how it ended, but because of what lies ahead for him. What a way to bring something like that to a close. What a heart ache! Better luck next time, be well Ken. Bruce S/V Aprendizaje
Ron, not to belabor the point but that storm on Mt Hood was not unexpected and they did not carry EPIRBs. I have climbed Mt Hood and the time to do it is in the spring, not December. IMHO.