Going Solo

I don’t feel I am alone in life, but I am definitely alone on my boat, planning and working for long distance sailing.

For many people and culture facing challenges alone is regarded as a horror story experience, the Robinson Crusoe’s tale of isolation from his fellows. American individualist heroes like Emerson and Thoreau, whose experience with solitude and self-reliance inspired generations, were still fully engaged in public life and very hardly removed from society. Going alone in daring endeavors is exclusive business for heroes and fools. Heroes usually face solitude for necessity, while fools choose it as a free individual choice.

Following this narratives, it is not surprising that my parents are concerned about my wellbeing and my friends struggle to understand why on Earth I would want to spend days at sea by myself (even without Internet!). Despite the ever growing tendency toward individualism, almost every society regards the common good and community life as morally superior to people doing things on their own. Many of the problems in society are attributed to the collapse of family and community life, health problems, school failures, depression among those (check out Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam)

Ask Italian people that are forced not to interact during this lockdown, or the Chinese who experienced it in Wuhan how they like being isolated. All my friends and family in Italy are struggling to cope with this forced removal from others. However there is a big difference between choosing to be alone and be forced to do so. In this sense I am totally free in making this decision, it is something that I really look forward to.

After all at the present moment my solitude is relative. My friend Bill is my next boat neighbor and accomplished solo sailor. He also lives alone on his boat. We visited in Rome while he was spending the winter time with his girlfriend who lives there. We speak Italian and English while we talk boats, politics and other interesting topics as we tinker around our floating homes. So does Andy, another neighbor on a Wharram catamaran who sponsors the Monday Pizza Night where we share the love for pizza making and sharing meals with fellow boaters in the yard.

In Brunswick, not far from here, there are good friends and former neighbors I get to visit now and then. James and Mei who I had the privilege to work with, Susan who was my roommate while I was living on land with Kate and all the people of my former neighborhood, Chip who is a living institution as dockmaster at the Frederica Yacht Club (where Tranquility spent considerable time) Anne and Elliott friends and fellow boaters. The list is very long. The network of relationship that spread from the cabin of an old boat dry docked in rural coastal Georgia is very impressive. It is the web of Life I am grateful for everyday.

Going Places

After months in Hong Kong working mostly on motor yachts and sailing around coastal waters, the desire to sail in blue waters far from land finally creeped up. Tranquility sat for long time in the yard, growing mold and becoming a condominium for insects, slowing rotting away. It would be a shame to waste such a fine vessel.

The desire for sailing and pity for an aging vessel was not enough to break the momentum. After all in Hong Kong I was making money and having an interesting life in a very special place, and I was still messing around with boats. It was when suddenly a destination emerged that things started to roll very quickly. Isla de Tenerife is now where I am going to point Tranquility’s bow. Technically I cannot sail directly there, I will have to draw a wide arch, but you get the point.

There is a very special person waiting for me there I will be happy to reunite with and enjoy time together. The highest island of the Atlantic (mount Teide’s peak is 3718m/12,198ft high) itself has a series of attractions that make it a worthwhile landing spot for some time. A diverse set of environments and microclimates,  relative vicinity with my family in Italy (4h30min flight), presence of sailing yachts and constant wind, also the scary and exciting perspective that the next downwind destination would be the American coast again (Brazil?), all concur to make Tenerife a very interesting place to be.

En route to Tenerife obligatory stops will be the Azores and Madeira. Those Portuguese islands are a fascinating mixture of nature and culture, that I really look forward to experience, and that has been on my chart since the first moment on Tranquility in Fairhaven, MA. In that region of New England  many families immigrated from those Portuguese islands, bringing with them their traditions and food.

Getting there

For the first time in my sailing life I gave myself a precise deadline for departure. I chose it trying to accomodate a good weather window with the time necessary for preparation of the boat and her skipper. The best time to leave for an Eastbound Atlantic crossing is mid April to mid May. During this time of the year the cold fronts and the associated northerlies become less frequent, and S – SW winds are predominant. Also the likelihood of hurricanes is still very low, even though early tropical storm are still possible.

May 2nd is a reasonable date in my opinion. It is challenging because I have a lot to do to prepare, but it is not unreasonable. For sure if I have too much left undone approaching the date I should seriously reconsider my plan. However if just few important things will be still needed, it allows me a cushion of few days to stretch the departure.

What’s missing

Tranquility’s passage from Panama to Georgia proved that the vessel itself is ready for a long journey in open waters. However during that passage I found few problems that require modifications and tune ups, and also upgrades that would make the boat more fun to sail and easier on the crew.

One problem to address are minor leaks that damaged some equipment. Some of them came from the deck grab rails, others from deck hardware. I will take the opportunity of the much needed re-painting of the deck nonskid surface to re-bed all deck hardware. The teak grab rails are already a distant memory while I wait to install new stainless steel ones.

I am going to purchase and install a brand new roller furler, retiring the continuous -line furler that served me well but that is showing signs of age and malfunctioning. With that I am replacing head stay and backstay, that came under high stress during the mishaps I experienced with the furling system during a squall in the Atlantic Ocean.

I also now have the opportunity to keep shaping this boat, fulfilling the dream of making her a badass bluewater boat. I am planning to build a hard dodger out of fiberglass and foam composite as previously envisioned after building the nesting dinghy in Panama.

Showing the Work

The list is long and goes in great details. I will try to keep this blog as much up to date as possible on the constant projects happening on Tranquility. This is probably a way to overcome isolation and bridge communication gaps. If I want other people to understand what moves me and what does it mean to take a boat alone across the Atlantic the only chance is to show how this is made. I am trying to spread this effort through diverse media. For example, If you want to have a quicker view of what’s going on check out my Instagram @sailwithfabio where I post pictures of my work on a daily basis.

I overcame my writer’s block and got to write this blog post thanks to the support of fellow writer and friends in Hong Kong. There I used to attend the weekly meeting of this group where people gathers to write and then read their work. Despite 12hours and 13,913kms difference between us I decided to synchronize with their meeting and spend two hours writing. Thanks Bernard, Holly, Kathrina and Toni to be awesome writers and great people!

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The title and some of the ideas on this post are from an interesting book I am reading:

GOING SOLO, The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, by Eric Klinenberg, The Penguin Press, 2012