Seeking Silverdale and Central Kitsap

My editor David Nelson commented today about an LA Times story he read over the weekend detailing the adventures of a California teenager as he circumvents the world on his 36-foot sailboat…alone. His goal is to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone.

Since I’ve become the unofficial sailing/boating reporter, and because I love sailing, I had to pass along the young man’s blog and his Web site for those of you who might find this interesting.

When David first told me about this, I assumed the 16-year-old (who turns 17 later this month) was on his own boat, and his father or mother were on a second boat, sailing with him in case any emergencies arise. That’s when David said, no, this kid’s on this boat by himself, sailing around the world. My next reaction was, what parent in their right mind would allow their child to sail around the world without an adult?!

There are so many things that could happen — to name a few of the unexpected emergencies experienced by the 78-foot sloop Cheeky as she made her way to her new home in the Bremerton Marina, there’s engine failure, ripped sails, the fear of pirates who have no regard for your life, the concern that whales could crash into the hull of the boat and sink it, serious injuries, illness…the list goes on.

I’m currently reading the book “Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea”. That book alone is why I question letting a teenager circumvent the world without an adult. The author of the book, Steven Callahan, details how he survived after his sailboat sunk shortly after he left the Canary Islands. Through the course of reading his story there have been multiple times where I’ve thought what would I do if that happened to me? And usually the answer has been, I probably would have died. Because of Callahan’s knowledge of survival techniques, his general nautical knowledge and his will to live, he made it.

My curiosity brought me to 16-year-old Zac’s blog that details his trip around the world. From there I visited the Web site he set up to tell people why he’s sailing around the world — and why his parents “allowed” him to do it. After reading about his experience with sailboats, his knowledge and his parents’ confidence in his ability to make the journey, I pulled a 180 and said: “Heck yeah! Let this kid sail around the world!”

And my next thought was, wow, I wish I were as lucky as Zac. Seeing him do this, makes me want to do the same. I don’t see myself (or my husband) sailing around the world, but I can definitely see us in the Caribbean or South Pacific some day. I’d like to think we’d be able to do it “while we’re still young” but I am guessing if it ever does happen it will happen when we’re older, and when we have a boat capable of off-shore sailing.

I was also excited to see that Zac’s boat is an Islander 36. The boat I grew up sailing on is an Islander 30. I love our boat and hope to some day resume my family’s summer tradition of sailing the boat to the San Juans and Gulf Islands, but I’m thinking if we went out in the ocean I’d prefer to be on a 36 or 40 footer. One reason is for stability, but more important for sanity — my husband and me crammed on a 30 foot boat as liveaboards would only last for so long before one of us threw the other one overboard.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.