Work, Work, Work

Hey everyone!
Yesterday we pulled Wild Eyes' mast. It all went pretty well and we have Allen Blunt, a very skilled rigger, working on it right now. We were hoping to get her out of the water today, but you know boat yards, its always just one more hour or day, and in our case its a few days. We won't get her out til Monday now, but it all works out in the end because we can't do any fiberglass work right now with all this rain. And seeing as The Boat Yard is pulling her out and letting us stay there for free, we're happy to wait a day or two.

Wild Eyes looks pretty sad sitting there with no mast and a bit torn apart inside, but once she gets put back together it's going to be great! The engine was pulled today for a complete service and over haul. Mike Smith is busy rewiring her electrical systems. Still to do is to install the solar panels, wind generators and water maker. Dad fixed the diesel cabin heater today which I am looking forward to using! UK Halsey is making a brand new set of Kevlar super-light, heavy duty sails.

I have been trying out a lot of different long life foods and am surprised at how good they are. They even make freeze dried ice cream. Next week we'll be packaging up my food bags and getting ready to stow them. I have been spending all day every day on board Wild Eyes getting to know where the key areas are, helping Mike and Dad. I'll be spending time with the rigger and mechanic as they do their work, observing and learning the particular ins and outs of all WIld Eyes' systems and equipment.

I'd like to make a quick apology for any problems with my website... My sponsor thought that the old website might be difficult for some people to figure out and has been managing the new one. We were getting too busy with the boat and other things and didn't keep close enough attention to what was being put up, but we are clearing things up now and we should have it all working pretty soon.

Thanks for your patience!--

~♥A♥~

Update from Marina del Rey

Its been great having Wild Eyes here. Today we had the rigger come out and the electrician. We'll hopefully be pulling the boat out of the water on Thursday. We're waiting for her custom cradle to be delivered from Mexico.

Its been pretty busy around here but I've got a bit of time now so I thought I would address some of your concerns. A lot of the criticism I have received is understandable and somewhat due to a lack of information. First, I will be doing a shakedown trip before I leave. The weather around our local Channel Islands is some of the worst you can get around here.

Second, Cape Horn is not for sure. I am keeping open the option of going through Panama as Mike Perham did depending on weather and timing. Also, the non-stop part of my trip is an attempt, and I acknowledge that it is a very difficult thing to achieve.

Sailing this type of boat is not at all something new for me. I have sailed around 1,500 miles on Wild Eyes. I know the boat back and forth and, I assure, you the weather was not perfect through all of that. While I was not completely alone on Wild Eyes single-handing is definitely not as new of an experience as many if you seem to think. Before I leave I will have spent plenty of time sailing her alone.

I appreciate your concerns. Even if it means waiting another whole year, I will not go until the boat and I are ready. We are going for this year and if all goes well I should be able to get out in time, but if i do have to wait, whats the big deal? I've already got an amazing boat and parents willing to help me, it will just give me more time to prepare.

I really hope that this has helped to ease some of your concerns

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~♥A♥~

Wild Eyes Back in Marina del Rey!

Sorry to leave you all!

I had planned to write a quick blog before leaving for Ensenada on Thursday, but while I was up in Whittier with my sponsor, Leedy Ying from Shoe City, I got a call from my dad saying that our friend Peter was going to be sailing to Ensenada in his sail boat, Lady K.

Though a bit inconvenient in timing, I made it home in time to pack my bags and head down to the marina. Peter and I had a nice trip down, spending the night at sea on Wednesday. We motor sailed most of the way and got there late Thursday night. I had hardly slept that night so he dropped me off at the hotel with my dad and Zac who had driven down on Thursday afternoon. It was a pretty nice place but I didn't get a whole lot of sleep there.

I had been hoping that Wild Eyes would have already been put in the water so I could spend the night on her, but the ship wasn't even in when we got there. The next morning we got up at 6:00, had some breakfast and headed down to the docks to see if we could see Wild Eys on the ship that had come in late the other night.

Pete Thomas, Shashi, and Al Scheib, all from the LA Times waited around down on the docks with us as the estimated time for Wild Eyes' launch got put back farther and farther. Eventually, when they did start to move her, we, the three from the LA Times, Lisa Gizara, the photographer and Eric, her boyfriend, Zac and myself all piled into a panga which carried us over to the ship where we could watch Wild Eyes being put in the water.

Once she was lowered off of the ship and in the water, we all piled aboard. We got a few lines and things situated and then gave the engine a try, the first few times it didn't turn over, but we eventually got her going and I moved her over to the dock to wait for my dad who had been enjoying himself for four hours in the customs office.

Things were pretty much ready to go once he got there. Zac was going with Peter in his boat and Pete, Shashi, and Al were coming along with my dad and I. We hoped to be in San Diego around midnight - a bit of a trip, but they all (Pete, Shashi, and Al) seemed up for it, so off we went!

It was quite a nice little trip with a bit of wind so we were able to sail pretty well for awhile. It eventually died off which was quite disappointing. I watched the speed fall, but there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. When it took a bit longer than we had hoped... all of our passengers headed down below one by one to get out of the cold wind and try to sleep. I don't know how much success they had - remember Wild Eyes is designed for sing;e-handing! My dad and I spent the night up keeping an eye out for pots and kelp.

We got to San Diego about six in the morning. The customs clearance didn't take long to finish up so we fueled up and after our LA Times crew disembarked, headed back out. We were able to sail pretty much the whole way. The one down part was that the auto pilot was down and so I spent another night up hand steerng most of the way.

We got into Marina del Rey at about 7:00 am pretty exhausted and ready to go to sleep immediately. Once in her slip I cleaned her up as best I could. She's a bit of a mess at the moment and is in desperate need of a good wash down. I'm good and ready by now to go take a nap, just wanted to update every one real quick first!

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~♥A♥~

Update from San Diego

Mom here:

Abby had such a busy week that she was unable to update her blog before heading south to Ensenada. Good friend and avid sailor, Peter Kokelar, sailed south on his sailboat, Lady K, with Abby to meet Laurence, Zac and the LA Times crew in Ensenada on Thursday evening. Pete offered to come to allow some of the LA Times crew and photographer, Lisa Gizara, opportunity to get those 'at sea' shots. After a good night sleep they were able to receive Wild Eyes and head north on Friday late morning.

I spoke to Abby from San Diego this morning briefly while they were waiting to clear customs. It was a long night with little wind and motorsailing close hauled the whole night. She didn't get any sleep but seemed cheerful and upbeat which is good. After clearing customs, the LA Times crew hopped off Wild Eyes to head home. Peter and Zac will continue on board Lady K. Laurence and Abby will continue on Wild Eyes and all should be back sometime early Sunday.

Abby will write when she gets back to fill you in on all of the details. Sorry for the troubles with the web site. We are working things out and all content should be up by the end of next week.

Cheers,

Marianne AKA Abby's mom

Foul Weather Gear, Food and Friday

We went to meet with the dietitian, Kristy Morrell, who is advising me on my food for the trip. She is in charge of monitoring and advising on the diets of all the sports teams at USC. It was good to finally meet her as she has so much knowledge. She's been working on the different menus for each of my approximately 30 weeks on the boat. Mountain House Foods will sponsor some of the long-life foods that I will be bringing. It is super important to have the right foods to keep you going out there. We're talking about all kinds of stresses and how to anticipate them and deal with them.

The ship that Wild Eyes is on has been delayed so she is now arriving in Ensenada on Friday. I can't wait to get on her again! Zac and I picked up our new passports today. I finally qualify for a 10 year passport instead of the 5 year kid ones. I am so anxious to get to work on her.

There is so much to do back here that its been good to have a little time at home to get details organized like all the various foul weather gear I will be needing for the trip. There are layers, hats, gloves, dry suits, survival suits and boots to be tried on and purchased. I spent an hour in the dental chair today getting a few things sorted out. Don't want a toothache out there! And then, of course, there is Sid Wing, my trainer, who comes by faithfully to torture me with weights and running exercises.

I was hoping to take the boat from Ensenada by myself, but there are so many issues with traveling to Mexico and clearing customs that it is better to have my dad along. But as for the sailing part of it, he's just along for the ride!

~♥A♥~

Preperations

Things have been pretty busy back here. With the departure coming up we've begun to sort out a lot of things like food, clothes, and foul weather gear. Its been a little weird being back home after spending so much time on Wild Eyes and I can't wait till she gets here!

Thanks to Brian, back in Fort Lauderdale, we have a computer and navigation software. He was a great help, and it is thanks to people like him that my trip is possible. Also Shoe City has been great throughout all of our preparations and they are the reason that we were able to buy Wild Eyes in the first place.

Mountain House dehydrated food has come on board recently and they are working with Kristy Morrell, the sports nutritionist that is helping plan for my nutritional needs en route. I'm working on getting some foul weather gear too. One of my sailing heros, Dawn Riley, gave us some advice as to what to do to keep warm in the Southern Ocean. I'll have one lighter set and then a heavy duty set for down in the Southern Ocean.

My ditch bag is just about packed and my medical kit is coming together with the help and guidance of Dr David Lowenberg.

Something I hadn't been doing much about up till now is getting together things to do while I'm out there. There are so many other things to do it really seemed unimportant in comparison, but I'm starting to work on getting together some books (can anyone recommend the Kindle?), getting some new music on my ipod, and getting my school books together.

Zac and I were on Good Morning Australia on Monday which was good fun. I have been doing a bit of interviewing and I have to say that it is actually getting a little easier!

~♥A♥~

Back Home

We left Fort Peirce with promises of lighter wind in the afternoon and a plan to hug the coast. It didnt turn out that way. We probably should have waited till the afternoon and checked to see for ourselves whether or not it really was dying down, but it was getting late, and we were begining to worry that we might not be able to make the ship in time. We got towed out by Vessel Assist because the current and waves were too much for Wild Eyes' little engine. We tried to sail but with the conditions being wind on the nose and the Gulf Stream against us we weren't making enough headway. We decided our best bet was to give tacking a shot, but it didnt work out quite as nicley as we had hoped.

Now tacking isn't a bad thing and often works fine but we were hardly able to make any head way. we were tacking every 15 to 20 minutes and were going at top 7 knots. We began to realize that we wouldn't be getting much sleep that night. I can safely say that was one of the hardest parts of the entire trip.

The night dragged on forever, but eventually it did start to get light out. We were all exhausted and had come only 40 miles. We decided to pull into West Palm Beach. In order to run the auto pilot we had to use the engine for charging. But that had broken down during the night. It turned out we had gone over a lobster pot. The marker on it was a little stick which would have been hard enough to see during the day let alone at night! It had wrapped itself around the strut and shaft and actually broke the strut. We couldn't do anything about it where we were so we would just have to be towed back out when the weather changed. It was great getting to sleep, though I don't remember falling asleep... just waking up at 6 the next morning with Vessel Assist there to tow us out.

That day was amazing and a great way to end the trip! We had about 10 knots of wind and were making about 8 knots boat speed. We went just as far as we had the entire day before in only a few hours. The auto pilot had broken, but it was such a nice day out everyone was happy to hand steer. We pulled into Fort Lauderdale Thursday afternoon, still a little tired but pretty happy with how the whole trip had gone. We had been under a lot of pressure to get Wild Eyes to Fort Lauderdale in time to be loaded on the Marie Rickmers for shipment to Ensenada. If we had missed the ship, my trip would have to be postponed.

Zac left us that afternoon not too long after we got in. We all (my dad, Mike Smith and I) spent the night in a small hotel room that night, and I was luckily allowed to sleep on the boat for the rest of our stay there. We got a lot of much needed work done. We replaced the solar panels, fixed the strut, got every thing ready so that when she gets dropped off in Ensenada I can hop on and take her right up to Marina del Rey.

The whole trip was an experience, we had some great weather, we went through some hell, plenty of things broke down, and we had some fun; just what you want in a shake down trip. All in all it was a great trip. We put the boat through a lot, and all of us learned so much about handling her. I am more confident then ever that WIld Eyes and I are up to the challenge of sailing around the world. -- ~♥A♥~