And So It Begins…

Wednesday, August 30th 

We slipped lines yesterday (Wednesday, August 30) at 1630 from the Richmond Yacht Club. An admittedly odd time to set sail. But we were finally ready, or, well, mostly ready. Randall had been working non-stop on MŌLI for the past eight weeks. Sandblasting the deck and repainting with non-skid, mostly new lines throughout, de and re-masting the boat, new plexiglass windows, bottom paint, and a number of electrical and communications upgrades including Starlink. The staff at KKMI Richmond treats Randall like a rockstar, no task is too big or too small and all are happy to offer a hand an opinion, a tool or a crane. Randall still does most of the work himself and it is a pleasure to watch him go over every inch of MŌLI with the fine eye of a jewler or bio-chemist.

Setting sail yesterday was admittedly anti-climatic. No marching band, no announcer, we had said goodbye to our wives and pets earlier in the day (for me) and the previous day (for Randall). No one would have seen us off except that I ran into Jackie Philpott (singlehanded sailor extraordinaire) as I made my last trash run. She gave us a box of Kind Bars for good luck and snapped a photo or two as we slipped. The high point for me was passing by my wife Jorun who had stationed herself at Fort Point by the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. As the boat approached, we both waved goodbye, blew our kisses as Randall turned MŌLI into the wind and out the gate. And so it begins.

Randall was not certain that he wanted to leave that afternoon. Hoping for a last good night of sleep, he would have been content to leave at first light the next day. Having already looked at the forecast, Jackie asked, “Are you really heading out to the red?“ (25+ knots at 25 miles out)? “Sure, why not?” I answered. Better to catch the wind before it tailed off I thought. 

Mistake # 1 had just been made.