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Singlehanded Sailing Society

2006 Singlehanded TransPac

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Paul Woodward

Hesperus

Modified Kirby 24

#62

Bath, NC


Profession: philosophy teacher, East Carolina University
Age - 49


Paul learned to sail in Seattle as a youngster on boat his Dad bought. While in college in Bellingham, he worked for a company that had an old Dragon. They'd apparently bought it for a former employee instead of giving him a raise. The guy was gone, the boat was still there, so Paul sailed it quite a bit.He first started racing in the late '80s on a local Thunderbird. After awhile, he did bigger races on bigger boats, including several Swiftsures and the '94 Vic-Maui on the Peterson 43 Carissa.


Woodward's career as a teacher eventually took him to his present 'homeport' of Bath, North Carolina - which is one of the oldest cities in America but is mainly remembered for the fact that Blackbeard once called the place home. Paul joined an outfit called the Pamlico Sailing Club and if anything, did even more sailing - up to four nights a week and on weekends.


Feeling they don't take sailing as seriously in North Carolina as they do out here, he maintained an interest in doing a shorthanded Hawaii race. That's the main reason he added a small scoop to the back of his Kirby 23 - since the smallest boat the Pacific Cup allows is 24 feet. But the Pac Cup dreams never came to fruition, mainly because "I couldn't think of anyone I'd want to spend two weeks with cramped up on a small boat." Eventually, he came around to the Singlehanded Sailing Society and focused on the Singlehanded TransPac.


Paul tried to do the 2004 race, but got out here late and wasn't able to complete a qualifier by the early-June deadline. This year, the boat is ready (well, readier) and he planned to take off in late May to complete the necessary 400-mile sail (200 out, 200 back) out of his homeport. If all goes as planned, little Hesperus will then be loaded on a trailer and driven cross country to join the other competitors in the '06 Solo TransPac.


In addition to being this year's smallest and
longest-distance entry, another unique aspect of Paul's effort is that he made about half of his sails himself - from Sailrite kits. "They have a designer there who has been very helpful," he notes. (The sails come as cut panels, and you sew them together on a Sailrite sewing machine.) He's stitched up his own storm sails, a spinnaker, a #2 jib and some special downwind sails that he hopes can be set up to steer the boat independent of his autopilot.