Despite Perils, Sea Is Still a Powerful Lure

Some dreams just won’t be dampened.

Katriana and Erik Vader bought a 46-foot unfinished boat hull four years ago, stored it on a San Diego County hilltop and slowly began crafting it into the Seayanika -- a single-masted yacht that in January will become their home as they embark on a 10-year world cruise.

Neither has had much open-ocean sailing experience, but Katriana Vader, a veteran world traveler, doesn’t see that as a big impediment. And she doesn’t see the presumed drowning of a Cypress couple lost at sea earlier this month as a lesson in the crushing power of the ocean, or in the risks of embracing the romantic more closely than the pragmatic.

Their dream will still be pursued.

“The big element of danger there is [that] you have to pick your weather window,� said Vader, 50, a freelance translator and real estate investor from Vista. “I believe it is so much safer out on the ocean than it is crossing the street in front of my house.�

For ocean sailors, the apparent deaths of Brian and Helen Moore last week represent an uncommon loss in the battle between mariners and the sea, in which the opportunity for catastrophic failure is constant.

The passion to sail, they say, overwhelms the occasional tragedy.

Four days before a Honolulu Coast Guard station picked up a distress beacon from the Moores’ 32-foot sailboat 1,000 miles east of Hawaii, relatives and friends gathered at the Redondo Beach Yacht Club to remember veteran solo sailor and author Frank Guernsey, who disappeared a year ago en route to Cape Town, South Africa. And Rich Van Pham, 62, of Long Beach spent four months aboard a mastless sailboat last year before he was found adrift off Costa Rica -- 2,500 miles from his intended destination, Santa Catalina Island.

The apparent deaths, and Pham’s experience, are reminders to ocean sailors of the worst that can happen, much like airplane crashes are to frequent fliers. But they are not, ocean sailors say, portents of what will happen.

“The dangers at sea always entered my mind,� said Andy Sibert, 66, of Seal Beach, who spent seven years sailing the world with his wife on a voyage that began as a six-month jaunt to Florida. “There’s always a risk, but if you go out there being afraid, you shouldn’t go.�

Why people go touches on emotions that many have trouble expressing. For some, there’s a yearning for isolation, for the rigors of a physical trial, or for the romance attached to sailing into strange ports and out-of-the-way places.

For some, it’s the thrill that comes with besting nature.

“It’s the adventure that drives people to go,� said Sibert, the retired owner of a pest control business who now charters boats. “It’s the same concept that makes people want to climb Everest.�

Mary Guernsey said her husband’s love of adventure and challenge, coupled with a desire to escape the humdrum of everyday life, led him to take repeated long-distance voyages. He detailed one 128-day solo trip around the treacherous southern tip of South America in “Racing the Ice to Cape Horn,� published in 1999.

The couple knew the risks that Guernsey, a life insurance broker, was taking in his voyage, but they rarely talked about them, his wife said.

On Guernsey’s last trip, another single-handed voyage around Cape Horn, the unspoken risk apparently won. Guernsey hasn’t been heard from since clearing Catalina Island in October 2002 aboard his 22 1/2-foot sailboat, MF, for Mary and Frank.

“Many people talk of their dreams. Frank lived his dreams,� Mary Guernsey said. “He wanted to sail to different lands single-handedly. The last was the most extreme and most treacherous. No matter how prepared you are, you just can’t fight Mother Nature.�

Yet experienced ocean sailors believe the best insurance against disaster is preparation -- and deep respect for foul weather. It’s crucial to know what seasonal weather to expect. Stay away from hurricane zones during hurricane season. Avoid the North Pacific during winter months, when sudden, howling gales can turn the ocean into a heaving, battering beast.

“This is the season to go to Mexico, but not the time to cross the Pacific because the weather is rough,� said Len Bose, 43, of Costa Mesa, a fleet captain at the Balboa Yacht Club who has taught sailing at Orange Coast College. “There’s always risk out in the ocean, but it’s all about prepping the boat.�

In recent years, the sea has become more crowded, sailors say, because the experience has become more manageable with advances in technology, from locator systems to on-board desalinators.

“There’s a GPS [global positioning system] that guides you, and better technology, so people have water-makers, DVD machines, and microwaves,� Sibert said. “Almost everything you have in your house, you can put in your boat and make the journey comfortable.�

Anna Gleckler made a five-year voyage with her late husband aboard their 37-foot single-mast boat Passage. For her, the heart of the experience had nothing to do with gadgets.

“It’s so worth it,� said Gleckler, 57, of Seal Beach. “It’s a wonderful feeling and it’s so tranquil. There’s nothing but beautiful sunsets .... It’s a dream lifestyle, but it’s also a demanding lifestyle because you never know when things break. Of course we always thought of the risks, but that’s what preparation is all about. It’s a horrifying thing to think about, but no matter how prepared you are, there is always a risk.�

Jim and Cyndee Crosby dreamed of raising their children at sea while they saw the world. The family returned to Southern California in February after seven years away -- most of it at sea -- so the children could reacquaint themselves with their extended family and get a more formal education.

For Jim Crosby, the appeal of life at sea lies in the challenge, and the sense of satisfaction that comes in succeeding at a difficult task.

“The real thing is in the sense of accomplishment when you cross an ocean,� said Crosby, 42.

That first sight of land after weeks of flat blue horizons can be chilling.

“It’s a mixture of emotions,� Crosby said. “One of them is relief, and certainly excitement. It’s very hard to describe. There’s an overpowering sense of, ‘I did it.’ �