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The Return Trip

Racereports from AKUMU received AUG 2 0315z/ AUG 1 1915 PDT

Wednesday 7/30

More of the same. Wind is light 10 to 12. A bit of swell enough to push the boat around some, but also enough to get some surfs on.
Got a kite up this afternoon about 4 1/2 hours. Gave us a decent little boost and speed.
A decent amount of sunshine today and lots of driving batteries are back up to 50% .
Finished the last of the mandarins a couple days ago, working on my last bag of apples now, looks like I’ve got six of those left.
Thursday 7/31
0400 Wind shifted southwest so I poled out the 125
0800 wind is very light, 8 or less.
Fired up the outboard. Motoring 4.5 kt it runs two hours on a tank of gas.
The outermost end piece of my Dave’s killer bread was starting to turn. It became a sacrifice to the sea, and I still have a few slices left for a couple more lunches. The PB&J will probably hold out. Still have lots of bars and lots of Ramen. Plenty of freeze dried meals too.

So the near miss from the spilt boiling water was a little closer than I realized. I’ve got a pretty good blister under the strap for my knee pad. I cleaned it this morning and put some burn ointment on it covered it up with a good bandage, should be all right.

Off and on motoring and sailing today, mostly motoring. At one point as I was sailing, I was passed by a jellyfish, correction I passed by a jellyfish. Pretty neat to see in the open ocean.
Of course, my phone is never at hand when cool things like that happen.

Friday 8/1
Rrrrrrr….. that’s the song that keeps playing. It doesn’t have a beat and you can’t dance to it.
I increased speed to 4.5 knots. Have to fill the tank each hour and fifty minutes.
Not getting any lift from the breeze. Anything there is, is on the nose.
It only holds about one liter. I use a hose with a primer bulb to transfer from the 5 gallon jug. Has been working well.
Bailed out the port settee and put the cushion on deck to dry out.
Batteries are charging nicely today, 60% at 1800, no clouds. But that means it’s been pretty warm.
Got Pad Thai out for dinner, also have some breakfast skillet left over from this morning. We’ll see what goes.
 

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Made it back to Sausalito at 7:30 am yesterday. 19 days, 16 under sail and 3 under power.

The return voyage much harder than the race. I now understand why, "gentlemen don't sail upwind".

On, I think day 3, I fell in the cockpit. A stupid, self-inflicted fall caused by using both hands while standing to pull in a fouled lazy jib sheet The boat rolled to windward just as the sheet gave way and I fell backwards, landing very hard against the port cockpit bench. Staring up at the sky with a throbbing pain , I start going through the differential diagnosis of blunt trauma to the right flank: rupture spleen, lacerated kidney, liver contusion, fractured ribs, whilst contemplating that I am singlehanded, 350 miles from Kauai and out of helicopter range. Of course all I had were bruised ribs, but for a few minutes I thought I was completely fixed.

Later on, the wind suddenly picked up while under full sail. That's when the furler failed. Needing to drop the 120 Genoa quickly, I hoisted the staysail, hove to, then released the genoa halyard. The big sail came down neatly against the staysail and did not go into the drink. The furler failure was the result of the three screws that secure the drum to the foil working loose unnoticed then falling out. Again, self-inflicted - I should have checked them at Nawililwili before pushing off. Thanks to the advice and encouragement of my rigger, Jason Waco, I found a couple of appropriately threaded bolts, filed down the heads so they would fit and installed them in the furler. Secured with the last few drops of Loctite aboard and a bunch of electrical tape, I hard a working, if somewhat precarious, furler again.

Like Greg, I also crossed paths with Second Wind, another Sabre 426 skippered by Peter Barnes from RYC. Peter was concerning diesel at the time and consequently was going in circles. We chatted for a while, but I was under power chugging along NNW at 4.5 knots and kept going . I figured that with no wind, I might as well burn fuel now, as economically as possible, with the chance of running out later on and having to sit then, rather than the certainty of sitting now and having fuel available later on if needed.

It felt great to turn in an Easterly direction at 38N 147W on 7/26/2025, day 9, although further progress was still slow with variable winds and daily runs in an unimpressive 100 - 150 nm range.

I hit the compression zone off the California coast on the evening of 8/2/2026. For the next 30 or so hours White Rose beam reached though 8 feet waves with a 6 second period against her windward quarter, in winds of 25 - 28 knots gusting to 40. It was very noisy., and to be honest, a little scary. Worried about something breaking under the strain, I resorted to denial: I put in ear plugs and hoped for the best. That settled my nerves and allowed me to think clearly again. The good boat took good care of me though. With the staysail and 3 reefs in the main, the helm was balanced and the heel mostly in the 10 - 15 degree range. She pushed on East, North of the Farallons at between 7 and 8 knots and into less windy conditions around 12 nm from Point Bonita.

The wind died between the Lightship and the Bar. We motored into the Bay at dawn on the flood tide greeted by sunrise over the Golden Gate Bridge and flights of pelicans and cormorants. It was good to be home.

Many, many thanks to Dave, Cynthia, Bryan and the rest of the SS RC , as well as my fellow competitors, for making the 2025 SHTP such an incredible adventure. Completing both the race and the voyage home feel like worthy accomplishments. I'm a much better sailor for the experience, and maybe a better person too.

Safe voyaging to those still out there.

Tim

White Rose
 

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What a beautiful and efficient description of your return trip, Tim. Thank you for taking the time to write it and share with us.
 
I got back from the Delta last night. I plan to take Surprise! out to greet Akumu tomorrow (Wednesday) evening afternoon, leaving Richmond YC at 1800 (if Greg's ETA doesn't change). Would anyone like to come along?

Edit: His ETA advanced a lot with the last tracker update - now 1300-1400. I'll check again in the morning but we may need to leave at 1115 or so.
 
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Most definitely. I was planning to go on Dura Mater, but you probably have leftover food from the Delta. Lemon bread?

Best will be to help him put his boat away back on E dock.
 
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No leftovers, sorry. Bring your own dinner lunch (if desired), PFD, etc.
 
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much as I would love to gome along, Greg is only ~30nm out at this point, so I will be at work...
Here is what is likely will be his last at-sea report...

Racereports from AKUMU received AUG 6 0300z/ AUG 5 1900 PDT
Monday 8/4

Had a spinnaker up from 1100 to 2000
Saw about a million Vela Velas, must have been a Vela Vela dance party.
Closing in on the last two hundred miles.
Presently at 126° 42 minutes.

Tuesday 8/5
0530 the breeze has faded, got the outboard back on.
The temperature has dropped and the ocean is turning green. Getting closer.
Getting things tidied up and put away, ready for the big reach back.
Breeze is picking up. Swapped down the #2 for the #3 and set a reef in the main.
Not overpowered and still fast.
Still hitting 8 and occasionally 9.
Trying to get some naps in, mostly just resting. Going to be closing in on the coast in the wee hours.
Excited to be back!
 

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Here is a better photo of the Vela Velas.
Of course after I put the phone back on the charger the number of Velas more than doubled.
Amazing
 

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The last night was down right cold!
Thermals, jacket, pants, sock and boots. Hadn't had socks or shoes on for three weeks!
With the #3 and two reefs we were keeping good speed and not overpowered, but the steep waves on the quarter shoved us around quite a bit making the autopilot work hard.

Closing on the Farallones in the dark and fog I hailed a crossing freighter with a cpa of 0.3nm. Three tenths of a mile! That's close enough to reach out and bang on the hull! That's how it feels after not seeing anything closer than 20 miles for a week.

The sun rose and the fog started to burn off and as I approached the lightship the breeze fizzled out.
Back to motoring.
Friends from RYC were waiting at Point Bonita and the Golden Gate to greet me and escort me in.
Thank you Dura Mater and Surprise! Take Five More joined in around Angel Island.
What a wonderful homecoming!!

I almost went out for the Wednesday night beer can race, but after a nice hot shower I ran out of steam and took a nap.
My wife arrived 2000 and we stayed nearby and did some cleanup Thursday morning.

Thank You!, Thank You!, Thank You!
David, Synthia, and Bryan SHTP race committee for all their hard work and long hours.
Jackie, Bob, Jonathan, Grant for taking the time to come out to greet me.
Tom, David and everyone at RYC who came by to welcome me back.
My wife.
 
It was my pleasure to greet s/v Akumu and Greg Ashby back into the Bay on Wednesday. Got excited early on, ran down to my boat cuz I didn't want to miss him! Got out the gate and realized that he wouldn't be in for awhile so I anchored in Bonita Cove.

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It is so pretty there, and on Wednesday it was calm. There was blue sky on my side, and then the fog rolled in and I couldn't see the Bridge or even Mile Rock. I love that fog. The foghorns on the bridge were loud and it was wonderfully eery.

I hadn't eaten breakfast so I made some oatmeal, a pot of coffee and settled in to wait for Greg on Akumu.

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There he was! My crazy friend who sailed to Hanalei Bay and back in his 2000# dinghy. I am so impressed. It was great to see him.

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And then there was Surprise! with Bob Johnston and Jonathan Gutoff with his splendid photography skills. Have you seen the one posted in an earlier post here? Wow.

Yellow bluff caught me offguard. It always catches me offguard. I think, "Okay, that's it for that gust" and I relax. That's when DM and I get blasted sideways. "Ha Ha! Gotcha!" says the wind.

When we got into Raccoon Strait we met up with Grant Kiba on his Olson 30 s Take Five Too, and here's our welcoming flotilla letting Greg know how much we respect his sailing acumen.

Welcome home, Greg. We're glad you are home safe.
 
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