I've been thinking about this for a long time -- since fourth grade, when Mrs. Fleming assigned Captain Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World."  In fifth grade, I got my first ride on a sailboat, a King's Cruiser (a Folkboat "derivative" like the Feral) in SF bay.  That summer, I got my first boat, a San Francisco Pelican.  There followed 40 years of messing around in boats, mostly dinghies and small, open keelboats.  In the summer of 1998, things came together:  My older daughter and I sailed our Santana 20 from Marina Del Rey to the unspoiled "other side" of Catalina and had a great time; on our return, she gave me a copy of "My Old Man and the Sea"; I reread Slocum; and I heard about the SSS.  In 2002, I bought the Feral, an International Folkboat, with the idea that I might one day do the SHTP.  Grandmothers have crossed oceans in these boats!  We completed the 2003 and 2007 LongPac races, and, after a few hard knocks (literally) and a lot of work, we are ready!

Goals: (1) to arrive safely in Hanalei, with no mutiny, scurvy, or other sea adventures; (2) to be able to enjoy the trip, whatever the conditions happen to be; (3) to hobnob with some great sailors; and (4) not to finish dead last.