Patrick's Wisdom

It's a long story.....

We had the chance to sail with Patrick, the man from whom we bought Traveler. We had an uneventful two-day trip from San Francisco to Santa Cruz with an overnight at anchor in Half Moon Bay.

I met him at the bus station in the Bay Area and we walked back to the harbor where Traveler was waiting.

Over six years in the 90’s, Patrick went through the long process of building a boat. Researching designs, finding a welder/boat builder to weld up the hull, and then (on his own) he did all of the finish work to create the interior and make it a space where people could actually live and sail. Finally, he rigged the boat with a mast, sails, winches, anchors, etc.

As someone who grew up in California, he had always wanted to sail to Hawaii. In his adulthood, he had a 26’ sailboat on which he did numerous trips up and down the coast, sometimes to Mexico. But he had never done a bluewater passage, away from shore. He wanted a sturdy boat that could handle a longer trip. He looked around at the available boats but couldn’t quite find one that met his vision so he decided to build one from the bottom up. The process was thorough and he came up with a boat which is, in fact, sturdy and dependable. I feel lucky to have connected with Patrick at the right time, when he was getting ready to move on from the boat that he put so much time and energy into. I feel like we got very lucky and ended up with a really good boat for our trip.

Buying this boat from Patrick was as much about getting to know him and hearing his stories about sailing on this boat and taking it (or it taking him?) around the world. He has zillions of stories from far-flung corners of the oceans which he is happy to share, and through them we continued to gain a deep appreciation of the thoughtfulness that went into the planning and finishing of the boat and why each detail is the way it is. I don’t think any design feature happened just because it was easier. So many features onboard were done intentionally, and with good reason. This is a really good sailing vessel.

So Patrick finished the boat in 1999 and did a few test runs up and down the California coast before embarking on his dream trip, to go to Hawaii where he figured that he would sell the boat after accomplishing his goal. However (it’s a long story) after arriving in Hawaii, he thought to himself that the Marquesas aren’t that much farther and he could explore the south Pacific en route to New Zealand, and then sell the boat, having crossed the Pacific.

From spending time with Patrick, and listening to many of his stories, it sounds like the South Pacific is one of his favorite places. Many of his tales start out with something associated with whatever you happen to be talking about until he interjects “It’s a long story,…” and launches into another anecdote of his travels. And they’re all fascinating and inspiring and give me the sense that a person who grew up in fairly humble beginnings can, with some inspiration, determination and commitment, pursue his dreams and follow them. I’m not saying that it’s easy by any means, but as a friend of mine said to me last night, “any journey starts with the first step.” And they won’t all come to fruition, but as Tim and I were discussing last night, if you don’t start a project or a dream or a goal, you certainly won’t finish it.

Obviously, Patrick completed his circumnavigation. It took him about five years and he had a lot of memorable experiences along the way. I’m very happy to have spent a few days with him on his boat, to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to him and the experiences that it afforded him. It gives me inspiration.

Thank you, Patrick