Trimble Bruce - Sailing with impunity: adventure in the South Pacific

Copyright 2015 by Mary E. Trimble

ISBN: 9781311913722

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Sailing With Impunity: Adventure in the South Pacificis a memoir.

Printed in the United States of America

Cover design by Bruce Trimble

Front cover oceanimage iofoto/Shutterstock.com

Chart imagery: derivative works based onOpenSeaMaps OpenStreetMap contributors

www.opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl

Other images by Bruce Trimble

Published by ShelterGraphics

Camano Island, WA USA

Twenty years from now you will be moredisappointed by the things you didnt do than by the ones you diddo. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Route of 13,000 milejourney of Impunity , from Seattle

through the South Pacific and back home.

The boat hummed with built-up pressure. Wewere going too fast. I hated to wake Bruce, so I waited until thechange of watch to call him. Finally, at ten in the morning, Igently shook him awake. Hed only slept for an hour, but that wasenough to hold him until two that afternoon when Id again take thewatch and he could sleep a bit more.

Bruces eyes flew open and he was immediatelyawake. I doubted if he ever truly slept while we were at sea.

We were both exhausted. This 3,000-mile legof the journey from Samoa to Hawaii would be the most difficult ofour entire journey. Wed beat against the wind during the wholepassage, making the boat climb each wave and then pound the oceanssurface coming down. During the past three days, we had passed justwest of a tropical depression, and the stormy weather tried ourpatience and made our lives even more difficult.

We need to shorten sail. Were pushing theboat too hard.

Bruce stood and reached for the overhead railto steady himself against the boats crazy lunging. Okay, Ill beright up.

Once on deck, he slipped on his life vest andharness, glanced at the compass to confirm our course, watched theraucous seas for a moment, noting streaking foam atop the 10- to12-foot waves, and looked up to survey the already reducedmainsail. He stepped to the upper deck and eased the halyard.Leaning against the boom to free both hands, he pulled the mainsaildown, preparing to take in another reef.

I stayed in the cockpit to handle the coiledhalyard. I heard a loud bang, a noise I hadnt heard before, andlooked up. Bruce, what was that? Bruce!

No answer. He wasnt there. I let out agarbled scream. My worst nightmare! Bruce had fallen overboard! Theboat surged ahead as my mind whirled with what I must do. Idrehearsed it often enough. Forcing myself to think, I went throughthe steps.

Reverse our direction. I always knew ourreciprocal course180 degrees from the direction we were headed. Ihad to start the engine. I had to drop the sails or they would workagainst me. I needed to throw the man-overboard pole, but I had tosee him first, so he could get to it. Wait a minute! Was there anelectronic box on the pole that I was supposed to set? Oh, God,I cant remember! My mind screamed with panic.

But where was he? I looked aroundId losthim already! Had his lifeline failed? The waves were so high, hewould be out of sight as soon as two or three swells came betweenthe boat and him.

Truly, I had always thought that if one of usfell overboard, I hoped it would be me. I knew Bruce could find me,I seriously doubted I had the skills to find him.

Impunitys Sail Plan

Offshore sailing had been a life-long dreamof Bruces. Ten years earlier, when wed been married only oneyear, we fulfilled my dream when we went to Africa and, as PeaceCorps volunteers, worked and lived in The Gambia for two years. Nowit was time to satisfy Bruces dream. Every chance we got we walkedthe docks at Seattles many marinas. Bruce would point out to meboats features he liked or didnt like, explaining the variousaspects of boating equipment.

Before we were married, Bruce crewed in localsailboat races. In his late teens, he installed a diesel engine inthe tall ship M.S. Explorer, the State of Washingtons bicentennialentry in the New York Tall Ships race in 1976. While in college, hehad a part-time job as a rigger for a Seattle boat dealer, and inhis current job he designed marine electronics. Bruce was wellequipped to own and operate a sailboat.

Soon we imagined that his dream, now ourdream, could be a reality. We made a five-year plan with a goal tobuy a boat, quit our jobs and take a couple of years to sail,possibly circumnavigate the world.

Once we decided that we could do it, acquirea boat, sell our house, and prepare for a two-year sea voyage, ourplans quickly fell into place. Not quite that simple, but muchquicker than wed anticipated. Before we knew it, our five-yearplan whittled down to a two-year plan.

The first thing, of course, was to acquire aboat. For months, every spare weekend found us going to seaportcommunities looking at sailboats for sale. Sometimes, a glance wasall we needed to know a boat wasnt for us. Other times we examineda boat closely, but for one reason or another rejected it.Naturally, Bruce and I viewed potential boats differently. Brucelooked at the engine, the sail configuration and the technicalaspects. I looked at convenience, cleanliness, storage, and thesmellI cant stand the musty smell of an unkempt boat.

Finally, from a picture in a Seattle brokerswindow display, Bruce found what he thought might be the boat forus, a Bristol 40. It was more costly than wed planned. Still, wecaught the Anacortes ferry to San Juan Island to check it out. Aswe walked along the docks at the San Juan Bay Marina, among all themasts swaying in the breeze, Bruce spotted it. There it is. Boy,shes a beauty!

Where? How can you tell? All I could seewere rows of masts, all looking pretty much alike to me.

Pier 4. The seventh one down. The yawl.

The closer we got to Impunity, themore excited Bruce became. We were impressed. The cost was anissue, but we liked everything we saw.