Charles J. Doane - The Sea Is Not Full: Ocean Sailing Revelations & Misadventures

I CANNOT PRETEND that all the text you find in this book has never before been published. Various bits, sometimes in very different forms, have appeared in various magazines over the years, including primarily SAIL , but also Ocean Navigator , Blue Water Sailing , and the now sadly defunct regional monthly New England Offshore . Some bits have come from a previous unpublished book manuscript and others first appeared in my online blog WaveTrain (wavetrain.net). All these components have been torn apart and stitched back together, along with a great deal of new material, in such a complex quilt that it would be tedious and perhaps even impossible to detail exactly which parts came from where. Though I do feel the eggs have been so thoroughly scrambled that this can count as a fresh omelette, I still must thank the editorial staffs of the abovementioned magazines for whatever prose-polishing theyve done on my behalf over the years.

I must also thank Lin Pardey, Tim Murphy, Jenny Marshall, and Clare OBrien, who all read an early version of the manuscript and provided much useful guidance.

As far as production of the book goes, I am indebted to Spencer Smith, as light-footed a publisher as one could hope for; Jane Crosen, for her deft copy-editing; Claire MacMaster, for this volumes elegant design; my old friend Kim Downing from SAIL , for his incisive boat profiles and technical illustrations; and my new friend Scott Kennedy, for his evocative watercolors.

All these people have helped make this book as wonderful as it is. Only I am responsible for whatever is less than wonderful.

Everybody loves a good sailing yarn, and when it comes to yarning about his many experiences afloat, veteran sailor, author and journalist Charles J. Doane is one of the best. Boats, storms and the peculiarities of the acute singularity that is every sailora land animal, as Doane puts it, that presumes to exist upon the worlds oceansabound. Whether youre a veteran mariner or a fair-weather sailor who voyages from the comfort of an armchair, The Sea is Not Full will not disappoint.

Adam Cort, Executive Editor, SAIL Magazine

Charles J. Doane understands the emotions that drive people to go voyaging in small boats. His prose sings, especially when he lets us feel we are seeing under the skin of some of the most interesting voyagers of our era and when he philosophizes about all of mankinds connection to the sea...

Lin Pardey, author with Larry Pardey of Taleisins Tales , latest in a long line of best-selling books about cruising under sail

I always think of Charlie Doane as a maverick writer. He has the inside track on outsiders, both people and events. He captures brilliantly the lure of the sea. His salty writing is quirky, evocative and, above all, enthralling. Sign on as a stowaway to share his adventures in The Sea Is Not Full and youll never regret it.

Paul Gelder, Editor-in-Chief, Yachting Monthly (retired)

Its rare these days to find a sea writer who has learned his trade in the school of hard knocks rather than aboard a white boat in flat water. Charlie Doane tells us of life with a capital L. In doing so, he opens our eyes to a stream of truths about the sea which others never recognise, let alone pass on with such a light touch. This is a book that sails topsls high above the crowd.

Tom Cunliffe, author, BBC television host, contributor to Yachting World and Yachting Monthly

Charles Doanes journey as a bluewater sailor and accomplished nautical writer has been eventful and exacting. In The Sea is Not Full , were swept up and handed the tiller for what is truly a wild run before a staunch breeze.

Herb McCormick, Executive Editor, Cruising World Magazine

Charles J. Doane is Cruising Editor of SAIL , the largest sailing magazine in the United States. He is author of The Modern Cruising Sailboat (2010) and his articles have appeared in numerous yachting magazines as well as the New York Times . He has completed six transatlantic voyages (and counting), as well as numerous other ocean passages, including singlehanded passages between New England and the Caribbean.

Ocean Sailing Revelations & Misadventures

All rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full;
unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again.

Ecclesiastes, 1:7

The Sea Is Not Full

Ocean Sailing Revelations & Misadventures
Copyright 2017 by Charles J. Doane
All rights are reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from Seapoint Books + Media LLC, PO Box 21, Brooklin, ME 04616
www.seapointbooks.com

Design by Claire MacMaster, barefoot art graphic design

Cover illustration by JT Morrow, represented by DEBORAH WOLFE LTD
Watercolor illustrations by Scott Kennedy
Technical illustrations by Kim Downing

Printed in China

First Edition

ISBN 13: 978-0-9973920-3-6

ISBN 10: 0-9973920-3-7

As always, this is for

Clare and the Lunacy sisters,

but also for

Gunther Rodatz, a calm and stalwart shipmate,

and for

Doris Rodatz, a brave woman indeed,

and for those who came to us:

Lt. David Birky USCG

Lt. John Poley USCG

AST2 John Knight USCG

AMT2 Brian Light USCG

U.S. East Coast
January 2014

THE FIRST HINT I HAVE that this voyage will be more troublesome than most comes not long before it begins, when Gregor, who I consider a friend, calls to tell me he is nervous about my going. He is the man who runs the new company that has designed and constructed this boat we are about to deliver southa brand-new 42-foot fiberglass catamaran. It is the very first boat he has built, the culmination of a lifelong ambition. He has always been passionate about catamarans, has written a respected reference book on the subject, has long been a dealer for several top European brands in the United States, and has always wanted to create boats himself.

This dream-burdened vessel, named Be Good Too by its new owners, who of course have also packed it full of their own aspirations, was completed seven months late, which in itself is not surprising. Even for well-established builders, it is not unusual to be late delivering hull number one of a new design. Gunther and Doris had planned to move aboard last June and then spend the summer shaking down their new boat while cruising the New England coast. Now they are getting her in January, fresh out of the box with no chance to test her, and want only to sail out of this awful winter and down to the Caribbean as quickly as possible.

Gregors anxiety about me signing on as crew on Be Good s maiden voyage is also not surprising. As a sailing journalist I am bound ultimately to write a review of this boat, the first new yacht of any size built on Long Island in many decades, and he has confessed to me she is not as perfect as he had hoped.

The next hint comes not long after we cast off our lines at the Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. Passing beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge on our way down New York Harbor we unroll our jib and keep both our engines running so as to move south into warmer water as quickly as possible. There is a moderate west wind blowing flat on our beam, so we should be fast. But the boat seems a little sluggish, sailing about a knot slower than I would normally expect, as though she is shy of her first encounter with the ocean ahead of us.