Ocean sailing records are getting harder to come by. The Figure 8 is over halfway to completion. The Atlantic was just crossed by a Frenchman in a barrel. 67 year old Fyodor Konyukhov is about to reach the Drake Passage after rowing his 27 footer from New Zealand enroute to a circumnavigation.
It's rare Santa Cruz is involved in many sailing records. I do know several locals who have been on crews that set the Los Angeles to Hawaii "Transpac Record." After all, this is the birthplace of ultralight sailboats.
But few can recall what 7 giant redwood logs from Santa Cruz, the Guam National Museum, and a small kitten have to do with a Guinness Book of World Records singlehanded sailing exploit.
On Aug.31, 2002, a strange looking craft was towed into Santa Cruz Harbor. It's sole crew claimed rudder problems . There was a small kitten aboard who appeared to be uncertain about its involuntary participation. The skipper was vague and dreamy, saying he had set off from Half Moon Bay 3 days before on his homebuilt raft NORD VI headed westward to some uncertain destination "as far as I can sail." Which apparently was Santa Cruz Harbor, as the skipper said it was the end of his voyage, only 55 miles from the start.
NORD, 39 feet beam and 49 feet LOA, had been built at Big Creek Lumber near Davenport with 24' diameter, 2 ton redwood logs donated by local Santa Cruz lumberman Bud McCrary. McCrary had also donated the homeless kitten.
In talking with the skipper, I learned the raft was lashed together with manila and sisal rope, and that he had constructed his craft "adhering to strict environmental principles." He claimed he'd use solar power and two large cotton-and-linen sails for propulsion. Drinking water would come from rain collection, waste would be burned, and his simple diet of bread, potatoes and canned foods would be complemented by food from the ocean - "at least 25 percent of my total food."
"The ocean is one of the last frontiers of freedom," he said. "I'm from Russia and freedom is an area that is shrinking and shrinking."
His claim that Santa Cruz was the end of his voyage to nowhere was apparently a ruse to disarm a potential threat from the Coast Guard designating his raft as "Manifestly Unsafe," and the voyage should not proceed. Two mornings later he, the kitten, and the raft were gone, towed 20 miles to sea by VESSEL ASSIST and released.
I never did hear what happened after that until recently when I came across a Guinness World's record for "the First Known Raft to have crossed the North Pacific Ocean." Say what? It went on to say, "The Raft NORD Transpacific Expedition, captained by Andrew Urbanczyk (USA), sailed from Half Moon Bay, California, USA, to the US-owned Pacific island of Guam, a straight-line distance of 5,110 nautical miles (9,463 km or 5,880 miles), in 136 days from 26 August 2002 to 28 January 2003."
That works out to 38 miles/day at 1.6 knots. Record holder NORD is apparently on display at Guam's National Museum. I just hope the kitten found a good home.
