Sailing Education Adventures

Sailing Education Adventures presents the first of our 2011 Workshops/Talks Series 

Sailing Solo - the Bay and Out the Gate at your Glove Tips

Max Crittenden of the Singlehanded Sailing Society will lead a conversation on 'Sailing Solo - the Bay and Out the Gate at your Glove Tips'

He has successfully completed a challenge of a lifetime -- The Singlehanded Transpac to Hawaii  -- we will have a chance to chat with this reluctant hero about the experience...

When: Monday, January 24 at 1900

Where: BVBC in San Francisco
Social 1/2 hr starting at 1830
Address in RSVP

Cost: Free Members, $5 Non-members

You may not feel ready for it yet but sailing solo is a terrific learning experience. Sail a Santana 525 or Catalina 16.5 on your own and you really sharpen your skills. Sail your 22' or 42' solo and you discover so much about yourself! Max Crittenden will talk about the singlehanding experience and what great opportunities lie ahead of you, whether it be a daysail, Three Bridge Fiasco or Farallon Islands - and, yes, Beyond!

Register here please.

About Max:

Max Crittenden
Solar Wind
Martin 32

I started sailing at age 11, when my dad got the bug and bought an 11-ft plywood dinghy. The whole family learned together, sailing on South Bay and various lakes and reservoirs. Bigger boats and sailing vacations followed, plus cruising with my father after he retired, mostly in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. After becoming a mechanical engineer and the distraction of many years of SCCA amateur auto racing, I bought my first sailboat in 1996.

I thought I'd mostly be a cruiser, but I soon tried racing and liked it. I also tried singlehanding and liked it. Since I already knew I liked long ocean passages, I guess it was only a matter of time before I drank the SSS Kool-Aid and signed up for the Singlehanded TransPac.

Solar Wind is my second boat, a Martin 32 built in 1980 in the Vancouver, BC area. It's a great sailing boat that (positive spin) affords many opportunities for creative maintenance ideas and detail design enhancements.

Navigation: Navman chartplotter, a couple of handheld GPS as backup.Solar Wind
Steering: Raymarine X5 tillerpilot, Monitor vane, Simrad TP30 backup pilot.
Communication: Icom SSB, NASA AIS receiver.
Food: I plan to try Heater Meals. Heavy reliance on Trader Joe's.

Photos of Max's Journey:

Max and his trusty companion, Hanno

The light air "Miami Vice" chute that rarely sees the light of day on the SF Bay

The cockpit

The whisker pole working its magic

I wonder what THAT noise was...

The heavy air chute

The heavy air chute after a squall

Solar Wind safely at anchor in Hanalei Bay, 4th boat to finish after 16 days and change.

Home again!

Back at the slip in South Beach

Award for first displacement monohull to finish!