Synthia
Petroka
Eyrie
Hawkfarm
#21
San Francisco, CA

I was first introduced to sailing
in high school when my father bought a 14’ Sunfish. His approach
was “learn by doing”; my impression watching him and my brother
capsizing was “nothing doing!” A few years later I got a summer
job and my boss happened to own a Columbia 24. “Learn by being taught”
was more effective, so upon returning to college I joined the sailing
team and began racing Lasers and Flying Juniors.
After graduation, my sailing was just the occasional San Francisco Bay
day sail and warm water vacation charters with friends. But during a two-week
charter in Belize, I had the premonition of the software bust and returned
seeking a career change. Sally Lindsey-Honey took me in and developed
my skills in sailmaking and my passion for sailboat racing. Sally would
later hire another young woman seeking a career change who would affect
my sailing future, Sylvia Seaberg.
Since then, I’ve raced around the buoys in San Francisco Bay, up
and down the coast of California, and to Hawaii. With the encouragement
of Antarctic sailor, Ornaith Murphy, I sailed my first singlehanded Farallones
race on Ornaith’s Cal 39 in 1998. A few months later I sailed my
first Pacific Cup aboard Grey Ghost, winning our division and placing
3rd overall. After several years of crewed racing, I later somehow cajoled
Sylvia into racing the 2003 OYRA Ocean Series doublehanded on Sylvia’s
Hawkfarm 28. After a dozen races, we had developed a successful racing
formula that won us the season and would further my secret plan to race
in the doublehanded Pacific Cup. Or was it Sylvia’s secret plan?
Our racing formula continued to work and we succeeded in winning the 2004
doublehanded race with the largest winning margin over our competitors
and to earn the honor of being the first doublehanded women’s team.
My ties to the Singlehanded Sailing Society began back around 1996 when
I raised my hand at a skipper’s meeting seeking a crew position
for the upcoming race. When not crewing I volunteered to help with the
race committee, and from 2000-2002 I served as Vice Commodore of the SSS.
Getting ready for my first SH Transpac has not been daunting as Eyrie
was so well prepared for the Pac Cup with the help and advice of so many
good friends and sailors. All I really needed to do was replace Sylvia
with a good autopilot! I might be singlehanded between the start and finish
line, but getting to the start and getting home after the finish is by
no means a singlehanded effort.
Self-Steering: “Leona Helms-a-lee” Raymarine ST6001+/S1G tiller
mounted
Communications: VHF, ICOM IC 706, Iridium Phone
Navigation: Two Garmin GPS, Barometer, Laptop with a chart plotter
Food: no refrigeration, so Sylvia’s expertise with dried and simple
Special Thanks: Sylvia, Tom, Rich & Skip for your help and advice;
my husband Terry for your encouragement; and Ornaith, wherever you may
be.
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