Ocean Speed

Four hundred nautical miles remained on Captain Bob's singlehanded passage from Mauritius to South Africa when maritime duty called making those the most difficult sea miles ever sailed over the prior twenty-six years. He delayed the pleasures of a safe harbor and risked his yacht and life to save a fellow mariner from peril at sea.

This autobiographic nautical adventure recounts the foundation for the events of those days south of Madagascar by reviewing sailing skills gained and confidence acquired while sailing to the Channel Islands off the California coast, yacht club racing earning boat of the year honors, Great Lakes Singlehanded Society competition, redesigning a custom steel sloop, attending a demanding maritime school to earn a coveted international professional mariners license, skippering charter boats, and instructing sailing classes in St. Petersburg, Florida.

He presents ocean cruising preparation by making upgrades to steering, navigation, safety, refrigeration, watermaking, radio communications, and the addition of wind and solar power to ensure reliable performance under demanding sailing conditions far out at sea. Other takeaways for those considering singlehanded ocean sailing are watchkeeping procedures while sleeping, daily life under sail, the requirements to legally enter nation-states, and respecting rules, regulations, and customs of societies far different from the homeland.

Side stories illuminate those who attempt to leverage power over others and single women wandering the planet crewing, some wanting to be entertained by a single skipper aboard a substantial sailing yacht. Feel the knockdowns, the recoveries, the losses, and redemptions, and live the event that led him to reluctantly allow the long-lived sailing adventure to slip into memory.