SHTransPac belt buckle

Jeanne's Bio

As posted on the Single Handed Transpac 2006 website

I’m not really a racer (although I have been known to get quite competitive!), having been cruising in Nereida since July 1997 when I flew out to the Najad yard in Sweden with my husband to take delivery of her and start her maiden voyage to the river Hamble, near Southampton, England, via Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. We’d both started windsurfing and dinghy-sailing in 1990, with no previous sailing background, and it wasn’t until ’94 that we got to ‘big boats’ when we did a RYA Competent Crew course in the Solent on a Sigma 33 - light on the helm, sunny skies, good wind, a good instructor, much more to it all than I’d realized – I was hooked!

We prepared Nereida for long-distance cruising and completed intensive RYA sail-training courses to make up for our lack of previous sailing experience. We sailed across the Atlantic to St Lucia in ’99, up to Cape Breton Island from New York & back down to Trinidad via the East coast & most of the Caribbean islands and then headed west to Venezuela. My husband was now suffering from cancer but we managed to keep him sailing until Xmas ’02. I was left to continue alone from March ’03 – and soon learned to value our many boat friends and the support they give to each other. The sailing is always enjoyable (Nereida sails beautifully and points high) – but dealing with the electrics and engine caused (& still cause!) regular steep learning curves.

SHTransPac Navigation Award

I’d planned to sail to Hawaii from SF on my way back to Alaska this summer. And when I realized I could do the TransPac race – what a great challenge – solid sailing, no switching on the ‘iron horse’, read the weather for routeing as best you can - & hope to keep well away from the dreaded centre of the Pacific high. I’ve reserved last place – but hope not to disgrace myself too badly!! Don’t want to miss too many parties, either!!

Navigation: Mix of paper charts & Nobeltec,1 fixed & 2 hand-held GPS, celestial (hoping to brush up my sights).
Self-steering: Windpilot wind-vane, Raymarine autopilot.
Food: I usually cook on passage after the first few days of pre-prepared meals. But I have plenty of tins as back-up: fish, meat, vegetables. Might even bake some bread.
Thanks: to Oakland Y.C. for being so welcoming & helpful for the second time & to the several SSS members who encouraged me & helped me to take part.