I suppose every wife in any generation wants their husbands to be safe, but each generation has a different approach to risk and adventure. I know my wife would be resolutely opposed to any voyage like this (says the man with a dream of sailing a Hobie Cat across the Great Lakes...perhaps when my son is grown).
This page also includes a 100x136 pixel high-resolution color digital photo of the boat, and the year: 2002.
There's also an update page with a GIF animation of the weather accompanied by the text "WARNING!!! file size: 1.5 MBytes"
From the article:
> The batteries were charged for about 1 hour daily using a Honda EU 1000 gasoline generator coupled with a 3-stage battery charger. The generator burned 1-1/2 gallons of gas in 24 days. ... There was no backup power source for charging the batteries.
24 hours of runtime and 1.5 gallons of gas equate to 0.625 gallon usage per hour. From the spec sheet, an EU1000 generator has a 0.55 gallon tank and can run for 6.8 hours at 225W output, that's 0.081 gallons per hour, so I estimate that the generator was operating at about 174 watts, given it ran for an hour that's 174 watthours per day.
23 years later, anyone would assume that your default source of 174 watthours per day would be a solar panel. A single 2x3 foot rigid panel would do ~100W peak and see the equivalent of 4-6 peak hours per day, easily beating that requirement. Any serious sailboat (even a little trailerable 19' coastal boat like this one) would have a whole array powering lighting and sensors and radar/radios and telemetry and would budget much more than that.
If you're interested in learning more about solo sailing voyages, the new non-fiction book "Sailing Alone: A Surprising History of Isolation and Survival at Sea" by Richard King is fascinating.
Did the same voyage in a similarly sized boat, solo. Departed Berkeley then out under the bridge to half moon bay, then off the deep end for Honolulu. Took a bit longer than expected and was nearly hit by a passing vessel, but smooth sailing otherwise!
"Generally I relied on canned goods to supply the bulk of my meals. Each can was protected in double Ziplock bags to prevent rusting. Pinhole leaks in cans caused by rust and corrosion can be lethal to the unsuspecting mariner."
Is a pinhole leak on a can really that dangerous on a 24 day trip. I get ocean air...but wow. That is something I would have underestimated for sure.
wondering if someone in the know can weigh in? is this over cautious or like yeah, good idea?
A while back I stumbled upon a youtube channel[1] dedicated to just solo sailing trips. I'm not sure how much is him/his video composition vs. just the subject matter of filming one's seemingly minuscule progress across the vast reaches of ocean, but I became entranced by just the calm plodding-ness of his days. Did a great job of breaking down trips and prep in some of his videos.
Can't speak to his latest stuff, so YMMV, but for a while it worked for me as incredible background. I imagine there's more and more content like this on YT, what with more powerful technology becoming more ubiquitous.
I've done solo trips in a 16' 4" Pinetree Ojibway 32" beam canoe in Lake Superior and a number of river systems. Didn't sleep in the boat and didn't take cans. Pasta, sauce and soup in packets. Didn't have to worry about fresh water supply.
>> 3. I had no backup power source other than the Honda generator. If the generator got swamped with salt water during a knockdown or malfunctioned for mechanical reasons, I would have been condemned to endless hours at the tiller.
This worried me reading it, wouldnt redundancy be sensible, or at least solar panels as redundancy via alternate means?
It also makes me think about fiction and how the same problems are even worse. For example, I always wondered on Star Wars -- how many redundant parts do they keep onboard a ship, just in case?
Another sailor you might find interesting is Evi Nemeth, Author of the excellent UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (more of a bible than a handbook, I recommend getting it to everyone); "Since her retirement, Nemeth has traded mountains for oceans and has sailed from Florida to the Caribbean via the Mediterranean, West Africa, and Brazil on her 40-foot sailboat named Wonderland. She is now in Trinidad in the West Indies and expects to transit the Panama Canal to the Pacific next year. Her son, Laszlo, lives in Boulder."
Inspiring story! It's amazing what a small, well-designed boat can handle. The resourcefulness and courage displayed throughout the journey are impressive. A testament to the power of human ingenuity, determination, and the call of adventure, even in the face of adversity. Thanks for sharing this remarkable tale.
If you find this story interesting, definitely recommend reading about Robin Lee Graham. In 1965 at the age of 16 he started a solo sail around the world.
He ended up writing a book and they made a movie. Highly recommend.
Life is WAY more comfortable on a 36' boat, and once you add all the costs of making the passage, it's not _that_ much more expensive. Turns out, being able to stand up below decks is a HUGE advantage.
A great story about making big passages in a small boat is "Red Dot on the Ocean":
There is a documentary video, linked on the site above.
The (very) small boat thing has appeal to some people, but persoanlly, I'd rather have a little more comfort, and not have to fight a yeast infection in my crotch like Matt Rutherford did during his first ever solo non-stop sail around the entire American continent, in a 27 foot boat.
I did cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 37' boat (as crew), and it was still a WHOLE lot of fun and adventure!
Sailing from Berkeley to Hawaii in a 19ft Sailboat
(potter-yachters.org)135 points by protonbob 2 April 2025 | 80 comments
Comments
http://josephoster.com/billsvoyage/index.html
I suppose every wife in any generation wants their husbands to be safe, but each generation has a different approach to risk and adventure. I know my wife would be resolutely opposed to any voyage like this (says the man with a dream of sailing a Hobie Cat across the Great Lakes...perhaps when my son is grown).
This page also includes a 100x136 pixel high-resolution color digital photo of the boat, and the year: 2002.
http://josephoster.com/billsvoyage/potter.html
There's also an update page with a GIF animation of the weather accompanied by the text "WARNING!!! file size: 1.5 MBytes"
From the article:
> The batteries were charged for about 1 hour daily using a Honda EU 1000 gasoline generator coupled with a 3-stage battery charger. The generator burned 1-1/2 gallons of gas in 24 days. ... There was no backup power source for charging the batteries.
24 hours of runtime and 1.5 gallons of gas equate to 0.625 gallon usage per hour. From the spec sheet, an EU1000 generator has a 0.55 gallon tank and can run for 6.8 hours at 225W output, that's 0.081 gallons per hour, so I estimate that the generator was operating at about 174 watts, given it ran for an hour that's 174 watthours per day.
23 years later, anyone would assume that your default source of 174 watthours per day would be a solar panel. A single 2x3 foot rigid panel would do ~100W peak and see the equivalent of 4-6 peak hours per day, easily beating that requirement. Any serious sailboat (even a little trailerable 19' coastal boat like this one) would have a whole array powering lighting and sensors and radar/radios and telemetry and would budget much more than that.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64645764-sailing-alone
If you're interested in doing something like this, you could join the Vic Maui race: https://www.vicmaui.org/
wow
Is a pinhole leak on a can really that dangerous on a 24 day trip. I get ocean air...but wow. That is something I would have underestimated for sure.
wondering if someone in the know can weigh in? is this over cautious or like yeah, good idea?
Can't speak to his latest stuff, so YMMV, but for a while it worked for me as incredible background. I imagine there's more and more content like this on YT, what with more powerful technology becoming more ubiquitous.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/@samholmessailing/videos
This worried me reading it, wouldnt redundancy be sensible, or at least solar panels as redundancy via alternate means?
It also makes me think about fiction and how the same problems are even worse. For example, I always wondered on Star Wars -- how many redundant parts do they keep onboard a ship, just in case?
If you find this story interesting, definitely recommend reading about Robin Lee Graham. In 1965 at the age of 16 he started a solo sail around the world.
He ended up writing a book and they made a movie. Highly recommend.
Life is WAY more comfortable on a 36' boat, and once you add all the costs of making the passage, it's not _that_ much more expensive. Turns out, being able to stand up below decks is a HUGE advantage.
A great story about making big passages in a small boat is "Red Dot on the Ocean":
https://reddotontheocean.com/
There is a documentary video, linked on the site above.
The (very) small boat thing has appeal to some people, but persoanlly, I'd rather have a little more comfort, and not have to fight a yeast infection in my crotch like Matt Rutherford did during his first ever solo non-stop sail around the entire American continent, in a 27 foot boat.
I did cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 37' boat (as crew), and it was still a WHOLE lot of fun and adventure!