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Thread: Voyage of Commander "Faith" Chicago to California

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    MIDDLEBURY VT
    Posts
    90

    Web Download

    Thanks
    Sailor Liz

    Ill just be patient
    Iceman

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Pensacola, FL
    Posts
    725

    San Pedro, Belize

    [size=3]If any have not been following, the fearless crew of the Commander 'Faith' have made San Pedro, Belize. The log is a good read. Here is an excerpt drawn from the days '40-47'.[/size]
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    [size=3]"For the first time nothing broke. There wasn't a crisis. We began to feel that we were healing, and I include Faith in that. The columniation arrived as we – as a functional team – sailed up to the south end of Chinchurro Banks Reef on the evening of Sunday the 15th. The reef is one of the only atolls in the Caribbean, just off the Mexican/Belize boarder. It is also completely invisible at the surface of the water. Wrecks litter the east side of the reef, marked on our chart as little half-sunken boat-shapes. Slowly, carefully, we approached the color change delineating the shallows from the deep. We watched over the side as the bottom came up to meet us, a touch we very much desired to avoid. At last, just yards from a coral forest whose branches came inches shy of breaching the surface, we let the anchor fall gently to the bottom.
    We unpacked the flippers, masks and snorkels. Our breath came fast as we prepared for the plunge and – the world under the sea welcomed us! We swam about the boat like children, for everything was new. Each fish was brightly swatched in yellows, blues, greens….wait, that brown one is invisible under that coral overhang! There's a conch shell! Wow, look at the size of that round thing! I don't even know what that is!! Later, drying in the last rays of the day's allotted sun, we grinned like fools. Tired in the most relaxed sort of way, we all drowsed and finally slept. Very, very well.
    I woke first, checked the time (10:30 pm) and roused the others. We whispered to each other not because it was necessary but as an instinctual reverence for the solitude. The mainsail was raised as the anchor line was retrieved, our about face away from the reef was accomplished with only the ruffle of the sail. We wouldn't try the engine and break the silence here. In gratitude the wavelets whispered in the coral behind us.
    Perhaps coral reefs talk to each other. We sailed the night through, arriving off the town of San Pedro, Belize, about 10:00 the next morning."
    [/size]
    [size=3][/size]
    [size=3]Get the most current update, and leave a comment in their visitors log at; [/size]
    [size=3][/size]
    http://www.geocities.com/sjfaul/Sailing.html


    s/v 'Faith'

    1964 Ariel #226
    Link to our travels on Sailfar.net

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Northern MN
    Posts
    1,100
    SAN PEDRO!!!

    I just got back from there the 8th. I wish I had known

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Asst. Vice Commodore, NorthEast Fleet, Commander Division (Ret.) Brightwaters, N.Y.
    Posts
    1,823
    Our intrepid voyagers have reached the Pacific. Wish them well

    More log updates coming soon
    Attached Images  

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    36

    Question Panama Transit....

    I'd be VERY interested to hear what the charges were for their canal transit and if they had any of the alleged problems with the Panamanian management of the canal.

    Best,

    J.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Pensacola, FL
    Posts
    725

    Talking How it began

    Ok, if anyone has not been following here is how it began. Drawn from day 53;

    [size=3]"It was in the fall of 2003 that I began to consider graduate schools for a PhD in dinosaur paleontology. I'd been living, landlocked, in Montana for five years and would be completing my Masters before long. My main stipulations were that the school be further west and near the ocean (and of good name, of course). Berkeley suggested itself immediately – in no small part because I'd grown sick of frigid winters and the utter lack of waters broader than one could step over – and I started planning. "I should live on a boat," I figured, wanting to get as much as possible out of returning to a near-shore environment. (The fact that it would be a sailboat was a foregone conclusion.) My father had placed Faith up for sale by then (which always rankled something deep inside me) and retired to Florida. Not that I believe for an instant that he really wanted to sell her – he could have dumped her off fairly easily with minimal effort. But he could no longer afford the energy of her upkeep. I called him one day and we got around to talking about my future plans: "I think I'm going to go live on a boat when I get to California," I said. "Have you found one out there?" he queried in return. "Not yet but I haven't really looked very hard. I doubt it'll be real complicated, it's the ocean and there are plenty of older boats that wouldn't be too much to get and fix up…”
    "Why don't you take the Faith?"
    A thunderbolt. The thought had dimly occurred to me before, a pipe-dream or an impossible wish, but here it was: the actual possibility that a resurrection, if you'll pardon the metaphor, could occur.
    "You're kidding!" I spouted, "Dad, if you're serious, I'll take Faith! I'll take her down the rivers and through the Canal!"
    "Call your brother," he responded, "he's been talking about that for 20 years."
    As soon as our conversation ended I dialed my brother in LA. Brian is 15 years my senior and a professional Hollywood production scion. This means he has summers off. He's also an avid sailor.
    "Brian!" I said, "Dad just gave me the Faith!"
    "Wow," Brian returned, "that's great!"
    Then I tossed him the hook: "I'm taking her to San Francisco – through the Panama Canal. You in?"
    "Uhmm, I'll have to think about it," three second pause, "Of course."
    [/size]


    How could you not root for these guys?


    s/v 'Faith'

    1964 Ariel #226
    Link to our travels on Sailfar.net

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Asst. Vice Commodore, NorthEast Fleet, Commander Division (Ret.) Brightwaters, N.Y.
    Posts
    1,823
    More log updates now posted up till June 10th, covering the passage through the Canal, rudder repair and further adventures

    http://www.geocities.com/sjfaul/log.html

    They've since been to Nicaragua, El Salvador and are departing today for Mexico

    Small boat, big cojones

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