The Taco Traveler

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It's Friday morning, October 26, 2007, and what a couple days it's been. I'm sitting on Chemistry in the South Beach Marina at the Embarcadero in San Francisco after having a shower and breakfast, and giving Chemistry a good bath, too. I apologize for not posting last night when I got in here safely, but things couldn't be better.

As I posted in a previous log, I left Eureka about 1pm on Wednesday, my friends Greg and Kevin on Passing Wind II to follow soon behind me after fueling and giving their rebuilt engine a good test spin. Since they started a couple hours behind and were in a slower boat I didn't expect to see them again until San Francisco. I tried radioing them a couple times on the VHF Wednesday afternoon and night, with no response, so I assumed I was just way too far ahead. I was shattered to hear on Thursday morning, as I was approaching Bodega Bay, a Pan-Pan call from the Humboldt Bay Coast Guard announcing that they were receiving an EPIRB signal from Passing Wind II located about 50 miles southwest of Cape Mendocino (almost to the latitude of Fort Bragg, which I'd passed Wednesday night about 11pm). As I can't help but create backstory when I only have a piece of information, I had to assume that since there was no radio distress call, and just the EPRIB was activated (which could happen automatically depending on the model if there was a catastrophic event), that they had been run down by a freighter - the worst of all possibilities, and something we'd been joking about only hours earlier.

So there I am around the latitude of Bodega Bay, feeling euphoric about my experience, feeling pride in my boat and the immense satisfaction when the sun came up yesterday morning and I'd survived the night of big winds and fairly big seas, and never felt out of control of any situation. And then I hear this Pan-Pan call and my heart is broken. I was already 90 miles away from their location, and it would have been a ridiculous 5 knot upwind bash (at least 18 hours) to get to that position, so all I could do was radio the Coast Guard and offer them any information I had: who was aboard, that they had a life raft with hydro-static release mounted on the cabintop, that they'd had engine trouble and had rebuilt the engine over the past few days in Eureka.... And wait.

Before hearing that news I'd been pretty tired, but decided that rather than cross the bar at Bodega Bay and transit the narrow channel, I'd rather get down to Drake's Bay and anchor out, and then head into San Francisco this morning. So I kept going, and listening to the continuous Pan-Pan reports every 30 minutes about Passing Wind II's EPIRB activation (as well as a couple others - it was a bad night to be in a small or less-than-storm-worthy vessel).

I went around Point Reyes yesterday about 1 or 2pm, took a brief peek into the bay that was much much larger than I'd expected, and blowing very hard from the northwest despite the fairly big hills protecting the bay, and decided that San Francisco was doable. By this time I'd had 2 or 3 catnaps of about 15 or 20 minutes each (any time I closed my eyes I set my phone alarm to go off in 30 minutes), so I was wide awake and felt like San Francisco was now a very attainable challenge. I went through Bonita Channel and the Golden Gate came into view, and felt elation for myself and sadness for my friends. And when I finally passed underneath, I said a little prayer for Greg and Kevin (though not a praying person, I believe in the power of positive thought; prayer is just the easiest way to say it, unless of course you follow up that word with a big parenthetical statement explaining why you're using that word - sheesh).

I arrived at the South Beach Marina at the Embarcadero (the marina right next to Pac Bell Park, where the Giants play) about 7pm. Pulled into the slip, hopped off and tied off perfectly (solo docking a 43-foot sailboat isn't easy, and always gets my adrenalin pumping), came down into the cabin and relaxed for a few minutes, then immediately started tracking down a number for the Humboldt Bay Coast Guard to try to find out what happened to my friends. Turns out they'd been pulled off the boat by helicopter yesterday afternoon. It was probably around 4 or 5pm, but I don't remember when I last heard the Pan-Pan call. The duty officer I talked to didn't have the full story, but he said basically they got beat up by the weather. So they abandoned Greg's boat 50 miles out, and cancelled their dream of sailing her for a year down south to Mexico and maybe farther, then over to Hawaii, then north to Alaska. I haven't talked to them (Greg's cell phone is probably at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with his boat, and Kevin doesn't have a cell phone). I wish them the best and maybe I'll still see them again - hopefully their experience wasn't so bad out there that they don't want to give it another try.

Update 10.27.2007
Just got this link from Dick Dato, another friend from Eureka, that recounts the events and the rescue: http://www.times-standard.com//ci_7285727

So what now? I'll be here in this marina for at least 7 days, working on "work" and working on the boat, seeing friends.... But I'm not sure. I'm planning a trip to see the boys probably from Tues Nov 6th to the 12th or 13th, and then there's Thanksgiving in Seattle.... If I stay more than 4 days and don't have time to get to San Diego by November 4th, then I may be here until after Thanksgiving, if I can find the slip space.

TT