Picto Diary - 20, 21, 22 November 2015 - Simplify Your Life
Above: Carol Wade speaks to La Societe Deux Magots (LSDM). 20 November 2015. Wasatch Bagel. Park City, UT.
Topic: Two solo Atlantic crossings in 30 foot ketch.
Hat tip: Manhattan
Note: Note taker is fallible. Carole Wade is welcome to make clarifications or corrections to these notes.
Background:
Born in Seattle.
Dad with Boeing.
Moved to Bozeman, MT where Dad went to school.
Chicago for a couple of years.
Pittsburgh, PA, where I started the fifth grade became my home.
BA, University of Wisconsin, Art major.
Career in graphic design.
Lived in Provo, UT, Hartford, CT.
Liked to ski... settled in Park City. Took up painting. Park City is a good place to be an artist.
Above: Carole Wade speaks to LSDM ROMEOs. At left, Manhattan, Carol Wade hat tipper. Wasatch Bagel. 20 November 2015.
Becoming a sailor
I was living in Cape Cod in the early '90's. I wanted to simplify my life. I bought a book. "Simplify your Life for Dummies."
One solution for life simplification was living on a boat. I would have to get rid of a lot of stuff to live on a boat.
I bought another book: "Boat Purchasing for Dummies." And another: "Single Handed Sailing for Dummies." I wasn't a sailor. My boyfriend had a boat... but, we split up.
I bought a 50 year old 30', fiber glass ketch.
I decorated the boat like a girl... I was 51 years of age.
In 1995 I sailed to the Bahamas... where I lived, anchored in an Eleuthera harbor, for a couple of years. I had to take a dinghy to get to the store.
First Transatlantic Sail... Incident at Sea
In 1999 I started my first trans Atlantic sail, via Bermuda.
I was headed for the Azores when I heard a message from a Norwegian freighter. They had found a 20 foot sail boat adrift with a dead body on board. I called them to ask if I could help. They said, no, go on your way.
Then... they called back. The law of the sea says that when a ship finds a "situation" that they should remain with the "situation" until a naval authority shows. In this case they were waiting for a Portuguese Navy ship to arrive from the Azores. The Norwegian ship said they were having trouble staying with the sailboat without damaging it. They asked if I could take over. I said, "OK."
I went to the sail boat containing the dead body... and was joined by a larger French sail boat. The Portuguese Navy authorized the French sailing craft to tow the immobilized boat to the Azores. My boat was too small to accomplish this task.
Once in the Azores I had to spend a day debriefing with the Portuguese Navy... I was not "detained" per se... but I had to go through some hoops with them to eliminate myself from any suspicion about the case.
I found out that the deceased was a 22 year old French resident of Marseilles headed for French Guiana. His boat had been de masted in a storm and he ended up in "doldrums like" waters, the "Azores High," for over a month. He had run out of food and water. Painfully, he had died only a couple of days before we came upon him.
Above: Carole Wade's boat in dry dock in Cape Cod post paint job.
Storm
After leaving the Azores I sailed to Portugal. I ran into a bad storm. Three days of 40 to 50 naut winds. I had to lash the tiller and put on a small storm jib to ride it out.
Waves were 15 feet. The boat just went back and forth. I stayed below. It was trying.
I arrived in Madeira. I was the first woman to arrive in Madeira after a trans Atlantic crossing. The town leaders met me on arrival and gave me a large fruit basket.
My boat's fuel tank only held 30 gallons of diesel. I had a small wind powered generator and a solar panel... enough to power a small fridge.
Above: Painting of Park City Miners' Hospital by Carole Wade. 20 November 2015.
Artist
I stayed in Madeira for a couple of weeks.
Shortly after departing for my return Atlantic crossing, my boat engine froze.
I returned for an engine fix.
It was too late, because of adverse weather conditions, to cross the Atlantic.
I stayed in Madeira for a year and became a painter.
In 2003 I entered a local art contest and won a Euro 1000 2nd prize.
A year after arriving in Madeira, I started my return crossing. I went south to catch the trade winds, ended up in calms for 5 days. Then the wind picked up and 28 days later I was in Antigua. From Antigua I sailed to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then on to Cape Cod.
Q and A
LSDM: No watch at night?
CW: I woke up every 30 minutes to an alarm I had set. I went above to check the horizon and then went back to sleep. This routine sounds difficult, but, I made it work. I felt rested after 12 hours of following this routine.
Thank-you
LSDM thanks Carole Wade for her fascinating account of two memorable trans Atlantic solo sail boat crossings.
Above: Coin sorter. 20 November 2015.
Having a feeling of being without purpose in life, I finally found a way to become productive... to give meaning to existence.
Above: 21 Opening day. Park City ski resort. 15 minute lines. No fast track. Bishop don't do lines. Where's John Cumming when you need him?
Above: The Bishop and 'Cake. Park City Ski Resort. Day 2. 22 November 2015.
Above: Cat. Making play dough with Mom. 22 November 2015.
Above: Cat, The Bishop, and Drums. Park City Ski Resort. Day 3. 23 November 2015.
Image by Event.
Addendum:
Wow, so many Americans who haven't lived at the Apex. I hope you didn't feel too much out of place.
Sly grin,
FeeNix,
Phoenix, AZ
Thanks for including me, Steve! ---I particularly enjoyed the Transatomic Session and reference to the Chicago Bridge Company. --
Manhattan,
Park City, UT
Above: Roy in leaves. Image by Portland.
When I lived in Menlo Park I had lunch at NM every so often and lived the popovers.
I took LIZzy several times and she loved it
> Your mentioning it gave me a real hankering so last evening I got my popover recipe out and mixed up a batch in my blender and put it in refrig. I got it out at 11:30 today to get to room temp and got my popover pan out to heat at 400 and them drop butter in the bottom and reinsert in oven to heat till butter sizzles. Then pour cups half full with batter and cook at 400 for 20 min and then turn down to 300 and cook 20 more minutes.
I told Cyd I would bring her some since the recipe makes 12. Will let you know how they turn out. I haven made popovers for at least 3 - 4 years!
Do you have snow on ground and how was first day of ski season?
Cheers
Aunt Joyce,
Ashland, OR