US 101 FOR SALE, lying Honolulu

101 rocked up into paradise again at Hawaii Yacht Club. Now to strip her and sell her. Good-bye old friend.

Well, I didn't really have a weather window to cross the channel and the reinforced Easterly tradewinds weren't scheduled to let up for another week, so.... I went ahead and crossed the channel to Oahu. And it was every bit as miserable as I had feared. Ugh. First time in more than 2 years and 5 ocean crossings that I couldn't hold down food. And here's a little statistic that might tell you how hard the sailing was: It took me 8 hours to sail the last 21 miles. "US 101" did great as she always has, but sailing dead upwind in 25-30 knots with 12 foot breaking seas is never fun in a 2,000 lb 24-foot boat. 

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In Kauai to sell 101 :(

Back in Kauai for the first time in 4 months.... A bit bittersweet, but my situation has changed and unfortunately my beloved Moore 24 "US 101" must go. Mooring and insuring it in hte islands has been an unnecessary financial burden and with me now planning to move to France in the spring, I can't winter on it like I had originally planned, so.... 101 is for sale. Just flew into Kauai (for $196 direct from Oakland! Check out Alaska Airlines' specials!!) this morning and am planning to sail dead upwind in 20-30 knot reinforced tradewinds to get her to Oahu. Great... Bashing my brains out in a 24 foot engineless boat to weather in big breeze and seas. Oh well, it's supposed to blow for at least 8 more days and I don't want to sit around here just waiting for lighter breeze, so I plan to head out tomorrow or Saturday. The plan is to strip off the offshore gear and ship home to be sold, while I plan to leave the boat with a broker in Honolulu. $9999 if you're interested, stripped down to stock Moore 24 buoy set-up and with my old used practice sails. That price still includes the brand new rudder, boom, standing rigging, deck hardware and running rigging (all new in 2012), but does not include the new Quantum sails, offshore gear, safety gear or electronics. Drop me a line if you're interested and i'll send you more info!

I have no idea why this photo is sideways and I can't fix it. :(

This is something i've been planning for 3 years and working on for 3 months, but i'm only now beginning to really go public with. I am going to try to put together a campaign and sail in the 2016 Vendee Globe. Competing in that race is absolutely my dream and after a rewarding and encouraging year of racing "US 101" and an inspirational trip to France to check out the Vendee scene, I have decided to fully commit to giving it a shot. In the past few weeks, i've purchased the rights to RonnieSimpsonRacing.com and a website is under construction. I have created a proposal and other marketing information and I am actively beginning to hit up large corporations. I'm also in the early stages of organizing a "grassroots" fundraising campaign similar to what Bruce Schwab successfully did with "Ocean Planet", and in fact, Bruce has come on board as a big help to me in putting together a campaign. Professional film editor Pierson Jacquelin has come on board to help me make some promotional video material and I will also try to sell the campaign as a documentary and/ or reality tv show. Basically, i'm going to try to open up 5 different potential avenues to find funding for a campaign. It will be a great adventure if it goes down, so fingers crossed that in four years time I can compete in this great race! Here's Pierson's trailer:

First cut of my 2016 Vendee Globe promo trailer. Produced and edited by Pierson Jacquelin.

I have a campaign sponsorship proposal available in PDF format. If you are interestd in potentially sponsoring the campaign, donating privately or perhaps work for a company that may be a good fit to sponsor an endavor like this, please contact me. Once the new site is done, there will be full proposals, budget information, team information and ways to donate, all posted on online.

Thanks!

Sirena Gorda safely in port in Brookings, OR. Just 2 days before a massive storm rolls in....

It’s been a while since i’ve really written about cruising Sirena Gorda, so here goes! ....So my nearly two weeks in Oregon resulted in just 160 miles of progress, but at this point, i’m happy about that. Singlehanding a (mostly) engineless 27-foot boat down the Oregon coast in the winter time is not for the faint of heart... After getting back to my boat from France, I found myself with a pefect 2-day weather window to head south. Getting sorted and provisioned the first day and leaving that afternoon, I was in Newport for just 18 hours before leaving the dock and sailing down the coast to Coos Bay. Leaving on a big ebb tide, “Sirena Gorda” romped along at 8+ knots over ground when exiting the Yaquina River Bar. Turning south in about 18 knots of breeze, I was running almost dead downwind. Dropped the jib and went main only and it was amazingly comfortable, not all that slow and very easy on the autopilot. Perfect. I slept pretty much the whole evening and night in 20-minute cat naps and actually slowed the boat down at times so that I reached Coos Bay on the morning flood tide, just as the sun was coming up. 

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