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ribes the r2ak as aficionados call it we watched it and it went into my mental file for maybe someday someday turned out to be june 5 2023 not for me i ll get into that later but earlier this year at the everglades challenge vlad and i connected with old friend jeff williams and new friend chris forrest vlad and i got to know jeff as a fellow catamaran sailor in 2020 who gave us a literal helping hand when we had to get vlad s inflatable catamaran 007 to the starting line in a hurry a canadian jeff is unflappably cheerful i can t picture him without a smile on his face jeff williams chris and i spent a couple of nights on the beach at checkpoint 2 which sounds way more risqué than it was as we chatted we discovered that neither of us were fazed by sleeplessness barking dogs or marauding hordes of mosquitos a brit chris had several solo ecs under his belt already chris forrest chris also turned out to be a world class cyclist who completed a 700 mile race in under a week that complemented jeff s marathon experience including the boston marathon both of which are likely to come in handy when the wind dies as it inevitably will and they ll need to pedal their way north but i m getting ahead of myself long story short vlad chris and jeff decided to become team trimoron so named because they plan to sail vlad s corsair f 27 trimaran not coincidentally the same one that vlad and i escaped from new york on the f 27 trimaran at sunset near solomon s island the scheme came together over a couple of months and team trimoron hammered out the logistics first was the challenge of getting the f 27 from solomons maryland to port townsend washington that s 2 877 miles thank you google maps then there was getting her crew members from maryland canada and the uk to the us pacific northwest pnw then there was all the usual stuff food supplies safety gear checking the stove and heater making sure the compostable head was fully stocked with cedar chips checking the boat for all around seaworthiness that was the easy part the tricky part was figuring out some means of propulsion for the boat other than sails the r2ak rule is simple no motors when the wind is blowing a sailboat can sail but in a dead calm which happens frequently in the pnw there has to be some way to move forward oars can work but the f 27 is too big for them to be effective the clear solution is a pedal drive vlad bought two and mounted them on the f 27s s amas the arms that connect the outriggers to the hull pedal drive child model not included with that modification the f 27 is ready to make the trip or as ready as she ll ever be vlad and jeff leave for port townsend on sunday and if all goes well they arrive june 1 or 2 and chris will join them there my plan is to monitor the race from afar and keep everyone apprised of team trimoron s efforts stay tuned go team trimoron a note to readers if you re a regular reader of this blog and have gotten this far you re probably wondering a few things like maybe who is this vlad what is johna doing in maryland where are the kayaks and what s up with the sailboat i started a sort of answer back in 2021 before getting sidetracked by life i still plan to finish that story 11 comments posted in nature sailing tagged alaska r2ak trimaran trimoron sheltering at sea part 3 staten island to atlantic city posted on june 28 2021 by johna till johnson 8 comments moon over atlantic city sunday april 5 2000 hr 8 pm it s not too cold i m not wearing my wool cap and my nose and hands are warm i m in the stern cabin through the thick plexiglass port i can see a blurry moon we re starting our second night in great kills harbor in staten island we arrived midafternoon yesterday to vov s delight we were able to anchor in the same spot he d kept nemo the mooring field is empty ish there were a few boats moored but most haven t come out of their winter quarters yet we could see a few people in the spit of land surrounding the mooring field but they were distant and far off we used the time to catch our breath and do some basic housekeeping vov fished and caught five shad we boiled them and ate them with mayonnaise they were delicious despite the mouthful of bones fishing in staten island it was surreal watching vlad fish within the borders of new york city technically we didn t need to of course we had plenty of food but it was a sort of test drive for times to come as was our laundry routine today was sunny and we hadn t had the opportunity to wash clothes for a week before we launched so we washed laundry on the wings of the boat and hung the clothes up to dry to wash we used buckets filled with seawater and biodegradeable soap with our limited freshwater reserved for the final rinse vov also repaired the rudder on my kayak he d brought his tools and fiberglass repair kit along with not something i would have thought of meanwhile i curled in my tiny cabin and worked the aft cabin isn t large enough to stand up in although i can sit up straight with crossed legs in the middle on the cushion that covers the entire floor most of the time i brace myself with my back against one wall and my feet against the far wall balancing the laptop against my knees it s more comfortable than it sounds and mully often likes to crouch in the cave under my knees today mully explored the boat a bit more he also ate and by all appearances greatly enjoyed the shad now he s with me in bed alternately sitting on me walking over me and perched in very unlikely positions on the slanting walls vov is asleep already in the main cabin we haven t really talked about where we re headed next other than that the next sheltered anchorage is atlantic city a 90 to 100 mile straight shot down the coast vov thinks it shouldn t be too difficult to do all in one go with the right wind which should arrive very early tomorrow morning between one am and three am that sounds grueling but he s up for it and not so long ago during the everglades challenge we were both sailing through the night as a matter of course so he s gone to be bed early to catch a few hours of sleep we both have a strong strong sense of urgency to get down south staten island to atlantic city partly it s the weather which can be variable this time of year supposedly we re getting snow again in the northeast and high winds are on the way partly is that we we won t be into a really comfortable harbor until we re in the chesapeake bay and partly it s the same uncanny premonition that s driven both of us since before we met the feeling that something bad was going to happen and we needed to be prepared what exactly that preparedness entailed we were still discovering but heading south seems to be part of it mully is restless i need to let him out a bit more but not just yet it s quiet except for the sound of tires someone is driving on the spit of land close by and the whir of the air vent that sounds like crickets the boat rocks in someone s wake it s the last thing i feel before falling asleep staten island sunset tuesday april 7 2138 hr 9 38 pm sound of tiller scraping across hull lines slapping gently against mast beautiful full moon rising over the water wind blowing in background yesterday was difficult we sailed 95 miles from staten island to atlantic city it was sunny and clear ish but cold with chop vov woke up and and launched at 0230 hr i couldn t sleep much after we launched so i got up and tried to work that didn t go so well i felt seasick staring at the screen so i abandoned the attempt and clambered into the cockpit to keep vov company we arrived in atlantic city around 1730 and moored it had been an exciting ride we d averaged between 6 and 7 knots due south but gone faster over the water when you factored in the jibing jibing is like tacking except you do it downwind not into the wind when the trimaran heels only two of its hulls are in the water the other one slices through the air above the waves and i would later learn jibing is the most dangerous type of sailing so all in all it was exciting today we rested i worked depleted all the batteries while v napped showered and strategized about the trip for dinner tonight we had sardines and rice salad garlic onion corn dill rice and mayo i m calm not yet sleepy i work until midnight until my laptop runs out of juice atlantic city sunrise weds april 8 0900 hr 9 00 am cool overcast light wind preparing to take shower out on the wings there s enough privacy where we are anchored to shower we will heat water on the stove and pump it through the 1 gallon manual pressure sprayer this morning when i woke up there was a feeling of sunshine in the world beyond even though it was gray and cold outside it felt like the sun was rising somewhere i felt mully warm and solid against my stomach a warm weight between my ribs and hipbone he sleeps inside the sleeping bag in the mornings we plan to sail to cape may today then anchor for a few days to wait out the winds a strong storm front is coming 50 knot winds are predicted it will be my first storm at sea on a sailboat at least mully and sky 8 comments posted in kayaking life nature new york city sailing travel tagged atlantic city fishing new york city sailing sheltering at sea staten island sheltering at sea part 2 escape from new york posted on june 14 2021 by johna till johnson 6 comments christina rose lower left with sail passing manhattan photo by a a we wake early so far so good christina rose had handled fine during the 7 mile hudson crossing to croton point we d travelled at a speed of 8 10 knots with a gusty 20 kt wind it was bouncy but manageable mully hadn t enjoyed the trip he spent the crossing in his hull tunnel a tunnel that ran about 10 feet from the stern cabin under one of the shelves in the main cabin we couldn t reach him there but we could hear him he would occasionally emit a quiet miaow in response to our frantic calling he must have been cold and terrified but after we anchored he crawled out and snuggled in the sleeping bag with me now he s sound asleep and complains a little in his sleep when i try to pet him the boat is creaking with water sloshing around me and the wind is alternately howling and huffing the sky is gray and lowering the water has ominous gray and white ripples but the barometer on my watch says the weather will soon improve vov is doing something in the main cabin i can hear him moving carefully so as not to disturb mully i open one of the door panels and peer out ah vov s dicing onions at the tiny sink breakfast will be potatoes with onions bacon and eggs the plan for today is to sail down the hudson to staten island vov had an anchorage there in great kills harbor it was where he d kept his sailboat nemo for many years it was about 50 miles a straight shot down the hudson and new york harbor the route today s in yellow then again there was no guarantee we d make it that far was christina rose even seaworthy she d survived several nights in the water and the 7 mile crossing but this would be her first real test and was it even legal to sail in new york given the shutdown would we get stopped by the police a few days before the coast guard had issued a notification saying effectively that it would not be imposing any controls on boating traffic due to the pandemic but new york city was as promised shutting down everything including marinas and so far as we knew waterways if we made it then what we hadn t really decided the plan was to get out of the northeast but we hadn t had much time to put more thought into it we had friends in maryland virginia and north carolina and there was always florida but for now the goal was to get past new york after breakfast around 7 30 we set off it was gray raw and overcast we huddled in the cockpit sipping the coffee v had made manhattan ho it was strange sailing down the route i d paddled so often under the tappan zee the george washington in the distance even for a spring morning the traffic was unnervingly absent the radio was silent only the occasional crackle of life when would i paddle this route again as we approached the george washington bridge a thought occurred to me my friend a a lived in hoboken a few blocks from the river on impulse i called her she was repairing her air conditioner but dropped everything when she heard we were headed downriver we wouldn t be able to stop and visit but at least she would see us as we passed manhattan and as it so happened document the event see top photo we were almost too far apart to recognize each other but we waved frantically and shouted the goodbyes we later agreed felt strange and solemn and scary we d sailed from croton point to the george washington bridge but after the bridge we put on the motor the goal was to get out of new york waterways as quickly as possible before the police stopped us fortunately that didn t happen although it was impossible to miss us we were the only boat on the water which was uncharacteristically calm with a glassy ripple i d never seen the river so empty even in the dead of winter the familiar landmarks slipped by then an unfamiliar white box shape caught my eye it was the hospital ship the usns comfort docked at pier 90 just a few blocks from one of my paddling home ports hospital ship on the hudson it was an eerie science fictional feeling to glide past a military hospital ship docked in manhattan we had no idea how bad the pandemic would turn out to be but if the authorities believed we needed a hospital ship that wasn t good we continued down the hudson past the battery past governor s island true to my watch s barometric predictions the weather had cleared and it was a warm slightly gusty spring day once we were fully in new york harbor we cut the motor and returned to sailing although we hadn t arrived in staten island yet we were past the most sensitive area if the police were going to stop us anywhere it would have been in the hudson near manhattan that they didn t was a good omen one that we hoped would last for the rest of the trip we made it under sail once more 6 comments posted in kayaking life nature new york city sailing society travel tagged covid 19 f 27 corsair new york city pandemic saliing trimaran older posts copyright wind against current by vladimir brezina and johna till johnson is licensed under a creative commons attribution noncommercial noderivs 3 0 unported license search search for authors vladimir brezina rip kayaked the waters around new york for more than 15 years in his red feathercraft folding kayak he was originally from the former czechoslovakia and lived in the u k and california before settling down in new york he was a neuroscientist at the mount sinai school of medicine in new york city he died in 2016 johna till johnson is a kayaker and technology researcher at nemertes research she s an erstwhile engineer particle physicist and science fiction writer she was born in california and has lived in italy norway h...
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