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"The Fate of Resolution"


Joel

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I found out about Charlie's boat and plans thru John Welsford's page on Duckworks, and have followed his build for about the last year.  I'd been waiting for news as his began his trip to Hawaii, and almost fell out of my chair when I read his last post on his Tokyo West Blog http://tokyowest.typepad.com/charlies_blog/2008/06/resolution-is-no-more.html.  What will he do now, I wonder-- two and a half years of loving work and $80,000 gone forever, 66 years old, and no boat?  I haven't been able to get it out of my mind.

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  I've followed Charlie's build for a little over a year.  The last update I read was when he was about to set sail and I was looking forward to reading the news of his voyage when I could find it.  The world seemed wide open to this man with his solid little boat and I eagerly anticipated the tales of far-flung ports and wonderful people but rock is rock and wood is wood.  Bad things happen to good people.

  I'm absolutely horrified and heartbroken to hear of the untimely demise of Resolution.  Not just the boat but the plans and the dreams scattered across the rocks.

  I hope that Charlie has a good bunch of family and friends to help him adjust to the reality of life after this terrible event and I hope he catches a break on his next endeavor.

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Well that felt like a punch in the gut. :'(

I've followed Charlie's progress from day 1 and was pleased to see he was finally going to get underway. I'm stunned to see it end before it even started.

My first thought was, why? What happened?

First, he mentions her tiller snapped. In one of the Pardey books, I recall Larry mentioning that his test of a tiller is to block up both ends, then jump up and down on it in the middle. They need to be that strong.

Second, if I read this right, she was self steering in dangerous waters with no watch? There are two forms of self steering. Autopilots, which steer to a heading, and various forms of self steering, which steer to the apparent wind. Sounds like he was doing a version of the latter. If the wind shifts, your course shifts accordingly, not to mention what the tide and any currents are doing to you. Sounds like one or both of those must have happened while he was down below, and that may be what got him in trouble.  A damn shame.

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Howard, steering to the apparent wind is how I read it, too.  Rather a surprise to sleep at such a time given the experience he has.  Having said that, my experience is very limited, so I'm not a good judge.  I wondered also how much fatigue may have factored in, since he'd been fighting squalls.  Still, if I needed a nap, I'd set an alarm so as not to leave the helm unattended too long that close inshore.

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