Ocean Adventures – Whales, Tornadoes, Lightning… Oh My!

Repost from June 2018, sailnelson.com

For those of you catching up, I have decided to join my friend Travis on his boat Turnagain to return the boat to Vancouver from Hawaii. I have suddenly come to the realization that our trek across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to Vancouver for the Vic-Maui delivery is only one month away.

Wow.

We’ll be sailing approximately 2,308 nautical miles — or 4,275 kilometres — across the Pacific Ocean. To put that into perspective, that’s a very long stretch of open water with no convenient marina around the corner, no quick run to the chandlery, and no easy way to simply step off the boat when you’ve had enough.

And even though I’ve been around boats for most of my life — or perhaps because I’ve been around boats for most of my life — I’m nervous.

It’s a good nervous. The kind of nervous that comes with doing something that stretches you beyond what you’ve done before. I have training. I have good gear. We’ll be aboard a great boat, and I’ll be sailing with experienced crewmates. We’ve prepared for this.

But here’s the thing about offshore sailing: Mother Nature is in charge.

You can train, plan, prepare and equip yourself for all sorts of possibilities, but ultimately the ocean gets the final say. Weather changes. Equipment breaks. People get tired. Plans change. There is something incredibly humbling about heading offshore knowing that you are entering an environment that you don’t control.

And perhaps that’s exactly why I’m drawn to it.

Worrying…

My youngest daughter asked me a tough question the other day.

“Mommy, why do you have to do this trip?”

I replied, “Well, I don’t have to. But I want to.”

Then she asked the question she was really worried about:

“What if you die?”

Wow.

It’s not that I haven’t processed that thought myself. Anyone preparing for a significant offshore passage would be foolish not to think about risk. But hearing the question come from my daughter was different.

Suddenly I wasn’t thinking about risk as a sailor. I was thinking about it as a mom.

It made me realize that while I’m excitedly planning routes, looking at weather, checking equipment and thinking about the adventure ahead, my family is preparing for this trip too — just in a very different way. My adventure is asking something of them. They’re going to have to watch me leave, knowing I’ll be thousands of kilometres away from home in the middle of the Pacific.

That’s a pretty big ask.

It also reminded me that part of my preparation needs to include them. It’s not enough for me to know that we’re well prepared. I need to help my family understand what that preparation looks like and why I feel confident going.

Make Light of It!

So last night we played a game called “Name a Disaster!”

The rules were pretty simple. The kids threw increasingly ridiculous disaster scenarios at me, and I had to explain what I would do, how the crew would respond and what equipment we might use.

This turned out to be both surprisingly educational and completely hilarious.

We brainstormed our way through killer seagulls, giant whales attacking the boat, massive tornadoes and even the catastrophic possibility of all of my clothes blowing overboard. I’m still not entirely sure where that one came from.

But mixed in with the killer seagulls were some very real offshore scenarios.

What happens if there’s a rigging failure?

What if someone gets badly seasick?

What happens if a crewmember is injured?

What if our primary communications fail?

What if we have to abandon the boat?

Those questions gave us a chance to talk about the safety equipment we’ll have onboard and, more importantly, why it’s there. We watched videos of life rafts being deployed. We talked about harnesses and tethers and why staying attached to the boat is so incredibly important offshore. I explained EPIRBs and the different ways we can call for help if our primary electronics or communications systems go down.

What started as an attempt to reassure my kids ended up being a pretty useful exercise for me as well.

Because good seamanship isn’t about pretending that nothing will go wrong. It’s about asking “What if?” before you leave the dock. What if this breaks? What if that system fails? What if the weather doesn’t do what we expect? What resources do we have, and what would we do next?

The goal isn’t to eliminate every possible risk. That’s impossible. The goal is to understand the risks, reduce the ones you can, prepare for the ones you can’t, and develop enough knowledge and confidence to make good decisions when circumstances change.

And maybe that’s the difference between being afraid and being nervous.

I’m nervous about crossing the Pacific. I think that’s healthy. That nervousness makes me check things twice. It makes me ask questions. It makes me prepare. And underneath those nerves is an enormous amount of excitement.

In one month, I’ll be standing on a boat in Hawaii looking out at a very, very large Pacific Ocean knowing that Vancouver is somewhere over the horizon.

That’s intimidating.

It’s also pretty incredible.

I did stop short of suggesting that we all go watch Adrift this weekend, though.

I’m pretty sure that would undo all my excellent parenting and risk-management work in about two hours. 🙂

Fair winds,

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About Penny Caldwell

Penny Caldwell is a Canadian sailing educator, Sail Canada Instructor Evaluator, marine consultant, and host of the Your Pocket Sailing Instructor podcast. With nearly three decades of teaching experience—and nine seasons spent building and running the successful sailing school Sail Nelson—she has dedicated much of her career to helping people become safer, more capable, and more confident sailors.

She is passionate about helping sailors of all skill levels build confidence, develop practical seamanship skills, and enjoy a lifetime on the water. Through her articles, podcast, instructor development programs, consulting, and sailing adventures, Penny shares practical, real-world knowledge that makes sailing safer, more enjoyable, and more accessible for everyone.

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