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Sampaguita had a couple Fin whales(I think) swimming with her for about a half an hour a few hundred miles west of Washington State. They clearly knew what they were doing and would get very close. In this instance I didn’t worry. No tails came up and they were clearly swimming WITH Sampaguita and fully aware of her. Unfortunately it was dusk, so no video. You’ll have to take my word for… Read More
I decided to climb the mast in the North Pacific Ocean. There were light seas and wind. I was under full sail. Here is some video and the lessons learned. It was harder than I expected. I’d done it in a rolly anchorage, but this was a whole other level of sway and swing. (It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, right?)
People ask what I eat on a Flicka 20 with no refrigeration. This is a Sampaguita classic. Thanks to ‘Lectronic Latitude for publishing this on June 17, 2024. Thanks Monica. Click here for the full article.
A reader is calling it 60 days. Really, 59 days and 13 hours and 15 minutes. Rounding up seems legit enough for me. Taha Uku Bay to Port Angeles? Maybe the longest Flicka passage ever? Here’s a Google Earth rendition of the trip created by a fellow Flicka 20 fan (and record keeper?). Port Angeles to Port Angeles closes the loop, though I will continue on to Port Townsend and close that… Read More
One of the first things people seem to ask, “Why don’t you have roller furling?” Really, it’s just another questionable decision I’ve made over the years. Here’s a fools thought process: With hank on sails it means I have to go forward whenever a headsail change is required, or even dousing a sail. The plus side is it’s not very far. I wrote a piece about working the foredeck of a Thunderbird… Read More
Here is another installment of A Flicka Sails Herself. This one shows the wind vane at work in the light air and the improvised bimini and weather cloths. And then nothing but the Big Blue. I saw a few cargo ships in the first days of the passage in the NE trades. Then it was weeks of seeing no other boats. Not even on the AIS. (When I was looking.) It wasn’t… Read More
Thanks for checking our position. Due to a technological universe far bigger than Sampaguita and Sailing With Josh, it takes a little effort on your part to locate us. Presently we are travelling to French Polynesia. Follow the yellow triangles One day we may figure out how to make this easier for you, but at the time, it is beyond out technical savvy. And the trying has not been any fun at… Read More
“Tack,Tack,Tack.” A friend, reader, and donor commented: “I just don’t know how you provision for so many days, on a 20 foot boat. I’ve never gone more then 7-10 days, that was a catamaran 45′, in the BVI where we moor every night, and island hop.” It sounds to me they have a pretty good start. I didn’t buy a boat yesterday. I started out small and short in my sailing trips… Read More
This was another M. Night Shyamalan moment. He had some great movies, however The Happening wasn’t one of them. The premise was great, the production was not. On the other hand, things like this always make me think of it. I don’t recall what I was doing, but I looked out Sampaguita‘s companionway and there was this flock of birds just soaring over this one particular spot of La Paz. There was… Read More




