Nereida
Najad 361
#93
Hamble, UK

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.
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.
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