Offshore Sailor Needs Advice

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by BlueWaterSail

......Not feeling very charitable.

I with you BWS

[David_Old_Jersey]

I think I have previously expressed my views on the Website "Begging Button" (note to self - must add one ).........but to be fair to Ronnie, he is talking about offering a copy of his Videos of the events in exchange for a donation - in my book it does not quite make him a Commercial Vendor, but at least 1 up from the usual lazy beggars (pun intended ).

Plus of course he has just lost all his worldly possessions and his home, been through a major event, and is stuck on a slow boat to China so I would forgive him for not having quite thought through his plans at the moment - and that some of them may look a bit "early draft", but IMO he is probably sensible to try and capture some benefit (in cash!) from his (probably brief) internet "fame"........just how is the question.....

[SelkirkWind]

The first place I encountered Ronnie is here:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...est-18838.html

For some of us, there is something to be learned here.
Chip

[silver911r]

Aloha,
I read all of your comments and I agree. I promised him that I would post what he sent and I will continue to do that. i don't know how he thinks this is going to work, or what he is going to do, but this is the email he sent to me and told me to post on cruisersforum.com. I guess he knows you guys are probably ripping him.

--Here's an email: If there is not a thread about me on cruiser forums, please make one.

To anyone who may read this,

If you are reading this, then you were probably one of the many that followed my week's worth of travels in the North Pacific. Thank you to all who sent me words of encouragement, words of advice, and words of caution. These words meant more to me than you will ever know. As you probably know by now, I had to abandon my sailboat in the middle of the ocean, over 800 miles from land in any direction yesterday. This was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do, but in my opinion, I had no other feasible option. While many will say "I told you so", (and I don't blame them), I do not feel that my lack of experience had anything to do with the situation or with my actions. I don't know what anyone else could have done in the same situation. I take personal solace in the fact that I only abandoned the boat as a very last resort. I spent several hours diagnosing what was wrong and trying to come up with a way to fix the problem, but I could not find any way to re-attach a solid metal post. Zip-ties and jury-rig didn't really seem applicable given the nature of the problem. How it ever broke, I don't know. How my wind vane ever broke, I don't know either. At first I thought maybe I hit something, but at 11 PM the night before, when my wind vane rudder broke, my boat's rudder still worked, as I steered into the wind and hove to, so I don't think this is the case. Sometime in the middle of the night it had to break. 2 broken rudder posts in one night. What are the odds. Given the situation that I had no steering whatsoever, nor a way to regain steering, while 800+ miles from shore in rough weather, beam to the seas, and getting knocked down to the spreader, I felt I had to abandon ship. With it, I abandoned my entire life. That boat was not just a weekend recreational vessel. It was my home. It was my future means of income. It was my livelihood. That boat, and all of its contents were everything that I had in the entire world. Other than a mountain bike and dirt bike in storage in Georgia, all that I now own is 1 backpack with a few video cameras, 1 pair of shorts, 1 t shirt, 1 fleece, 1 jacket, a wet suit and a passport. While I only lost material things, this entire experience is still hard to deal with. My current situation is that I set out to sail around the world and ran into problems very, very early on. I now find myself headed to China on a freight ship with nothing but a backpack, some cameras and a passport. I now have no boat, so sailing around the world is temporarily out of the question. I also have no home, no job, no commitments and no reason to return to the states. I feel that God has put me in this situation and that I am to continue traveling and filming my documentary. My mission and passion to travel are still alive. I am hoping to raise money to continue my journeys by whatever means possible. Maybe a sponsor will step in and i'll get a boat. Maybe no one will step in and i'll set out on foot. Either way, I hope to continue traveling and keep this dream alive. I fully intend to continue writing almost daily logs and taking pictures and plenty of video while traveling. I also plan on creating video blogs while i'm out there Why donate to me?. Maybe you enjoyed reading my blogs every day for the past week, and want to see them continue. Maybe you had a dream that never came to fruition, or maybe you are sympathetic to my situation. If you can justify dropping me a few dollars or whatever you can afford, to help me get back on my feet, it would mean more to me right now than you would ever know. I will continue regardless. I am going to have RJ set up a donation page, with all proceeds going to continue my travels. The level of funding I can generate will dictate whether I travel by sailboat, bicycle, motorcyle, foot, etc.

Thank you all for your love and support,

Ronald A. Simpson
Formerly of "La Cenicienta"

DISCLAIMER: This is not a charity. It's probably not even tax deductible. If you donate money to me, you are knowingly donating it as a gift to a private citizen, for me to use at my discretion to continue traveling, purchase equipment, etc.

end of letter

[highseas]

Ronnie why dont you crew on someone elses boat and gain some ocean sailing experience.Im sure you can still keep sailing if you really want to.Life is full of ups and downs,its how you deal with it that matters.Dont give up.

[GordMay]

Thanks for the update Silver.

Originally Posted by Ronnie

... 2 broken rudder posts in one night. What are the odds ...

On a 46 year old boat, as re-fitted by a 23 year old know-nothing newbie, in “heavier” weather - not entirely out of the question, I’d say.

[imagine2frolic]

If he had been reading here diligently. He would have found out how to steer his boat. How to keep the bow into the wind instead of on the beam ends. There were a number of options he didn't know about. I am not saying it would be easy, but it is doable. He thought he was out of options. He wasn't, he just didn't know they existed......EXPERIENCE can be a mighty big word!

I personally hope he continues to travel around the world. Hitchiking, mule & cart, buses, walking, boating on rivers, camels, or even sailing again. It would be great to see him accomplish his goal even if it isn't in the mode of transportation he started in!:cubalibre

[theonecalledtom]

Originally Posted by highseas

Ronnie why dont you crew on someone elses boat and gain some ocean sailing experience.Im sure you can still keep sailing if you really want to.Life is full of ups and downs,its how you deal with it that matters.Dont give up.

Perhaps on something like this

[highseas]

He could pick one up over there for almost free .I grew up sailing a "modern" junk,and it was the best!,as long as you didnt need to beat upwind in large seas."Gentlemen never sail to windward".I almost went that route again but decided to go more conventional.Once you sail junk rig its hard to go back.

Nice to see Ronnie accepting constructive criticism. Were I in his shoes, I would likely continue on as well. Nothing better than an adventure around the world to put life in perspective. As much sympathy as I have have for his situation, and as much as I support his venture. I also have to agree that inexperience played a role. Something that time will teach. Experience would likely have prepared his boat for the situation. Experience would have provided more options for dealing with the situation, and experience would have better prepared him to better identify those options. That said, this whole experience likely taught him some valuable lessons. I would hope his next boat would have a transom hung rudder, or at least a self steering with an emergency rudder. I would hope his next boat would have a drogue, and or sea anchor. I would hope, from this experience, he would take some time to learn more about heavy weather sailing, and jury rigs.
I still contend that it was not irresponsible for him to try. I also maintain my opinion that, while he did not have the same knowledge of these things as a more experienced sailor, he was not foolish in his endeavor. At his age, I would likely have tried the same thing, and likely been equally unprepared. I might have thought to fabricate a steering oar from a whisker pole, and a cabinet door. Then again, I might not have. I might have thought to learn to steer with the sails, or I might not have.
Based on Ronnie's email, I would say the one opportunity is the understanding that experience was a factor. This should not deter him from trying, but it should be a lesson that he learns before his next attempt. A little humble pie goes a long way.

[highseas]

I think this thread needs to go to seamanship and boat handling.One thing I wonder did he have a liferaft?He chose to push the button instead of trying to save all his possessions.If I wasnt sinking,and wanted to preserve what little I had,wouldnt be so keen to bail.A 46 year old boat is getting on in terms of crossing oceans safely.

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by silver911r

My current situation is that I set out to sail around the world and ran into problems very, very early on. I now find myself headed to China on a freight ship with nothing but a backpack, some cameras and a passport. I now have no boat, so sailing around the world is temporarily out of the question. I also have no home, no job, no commitments and no reason to return to the states. I feel that God has put me in this situation and that I am to continue traveling and filming my documentary. My mission and passion to travel are still alive. I am hoping to raise money to continue my journeys by whatever means possible. Maybe a sponsor will step in and i'll get a boat. Maybe no one will step in and i'll set out on foot. Either way, I hope to continue traveling and keep this dream alive. I fully intend to continue writing almost daily logs and taking pictures and plenty of video while traveling. I also plan on creating video blogs while i'm out there Why donate to me?. Maybe you enjoyed reading my blogs every day for the past week, and want to see them continue. Maybe you had a dream that never came to fruition, or maybe you are sympathetic to my situation. If you can justify dropping me a few dollars or whatever you can afford, to help me get back on my feet, it would mean more to me right now than you would ever know. I will continue regardless. I am going to have RJ set up a donation page, with all proceeds going to continue my travels. The level of funding I can generate will dictate whether I travel by sailboat, bicycle, motorcyle, foot, etc.

Well, all the best to you.

Keep us updated on what Chinese immigration thinks of your plan.

I would almost pay to see a video of the expression on their faces when they hear all this.

God Bless the innocence of youth.

BWS

[Colorado Dreamer]

Originally Posted by LeeSailor

John – I was a little surprised by some of the comments, too; especially in the beginning. I started this thread to try to get him some direction to help him install his emergency tiller. I don’t think that mission ever had a chance.

As to the authenticity of the story, you can go to his website to see the newscast, or just Google Open Blue Horizon. It would have to be a pretty elaborate scheme to be fake (although I did consider that, too) http://www.openbluehorizon.com/frontend/index.php

Jim

John and Jim,

Sadly, I can attest that it is not a fake in any way. I have a boat that was right across from Ronnie's in Marina Cortez in San Diego.

All I can say is this:

I do consider Ronnie a friend, and I bet if you met him in person you (and most people) would too. He is the kind of guy that it is really hard not to take a liking to right away. He is a decent, straight shooter, and very hard working. Everyday I saw him he was working on his boat.

That being said, from personally meeting him and talking with him, along with my short experience in the US Coast Guard...had I been there the day he left, I would have pleaded with him not to go. In fact, I might have rammed his boat with mine in order to keep him from leaving. (Ok, probably not, but I would really have tried to talk him out of doing it alone. ****, I might have gone with him had he asked and then been able to show him some foul weather tactics.)

I know it might hurt Ronnie to read this, but I did not (nor did many others on the dock) feel that he was in anyway ready to leave. But, once his mind was made up, all one can do is step back and respect his right to make whatever decision he made...right or wrong. It is easy to second guess someone when you are not in their shoes. Ronnie did what he felt was right for him, and I know that HE FELT he was prepared...even if he was not, and now sees with hindsight that he was not. You have to admire that level of self confidence.

I at least admire him for trying, which is more than many will ever attempt.

- Michael

[LeeSailor]

No doubt it was a bonehead move, but at 52 years old, I bet my list of bonehead moves is longer than his. I’m sorry we couldn’t reach him with the information that MIGHT have made a difference. He sounds like a good guy who made a mistake and will persevere.

[Colorado Dreamer]

Originally Posted by LeeSailor

No doubt it was a bonehead move, but at 52 years old, I bet my list of bonehead moves is longer than his.

Indeed, as is my own list.

Originally Posted by LeeSailor

I’m sorry we couldn’t reach him with the information that MIGHT have made a difference. He sounds like a good guy who made a mistake and will persevere.

He is, and I am sure he will.