Hal Roth

Hal Roth was a pretty famous American sailor and prolific writer. Most if his writings were about his sailing experiences. I've read a couple of his books and am currently reading about his first singlehanded BOC round the world race. I really enjoy his writing and wish I could have met him. Unfortunately he died on 2008.

I've mentioned before that I'm not interested in racing, but I do appreciate the challenge. I highly recommend his books, and can't wait to finish this one. He's racing, but as a singlehander, he's really competing against himself -- testing his limits. I think I'd enjoy that sort of race. I'm pretty much testing my limits every day, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Trip watch:

I plan to shove off early tomorrow morning, take the ICW to Morehead City, then out into the Atlantic. The forecast calls for good weather and mostly northerly winds through Tuesday, so I plan to do a multi-night trip and see how far I get.

I'm tentatively planning on going all the way to Jacksonville, Florida, but would be happy to make Charleston. The mild conditions should give me a chance to try a few things and get used to the boat. One of the things I want to play around with is a preventer, which keeps the boom from swinging across the cockpit during an uncontrolled gybe, and a better way to reef.

I also want to continue my experiments with my wind vane. I tried to use it the other day, but I was motor sailing in a narrow channel and wasn't able to adjust it properly. It's not designed for that, so I'm not surprised, but I still think I need to make a few more adjustments.

Zoe watch:

Oriental is a very dog friendly town, so Zoe has enjoyed herself immensely -- I think she'd like to stay here. I have to admit, I sorta like it too.

Another ham, Tom, K8TF, heard me check in to the Waterway net this morning, and came over to say hi. He ended up taking me to the grocery store to pickup provisions. What a nice surprise...