Fishtales Magazine: A Sailfish Point Publication - Magazine - Page 8
Journey
FOLLOWING BUOY NUMBER TWO
An Atlantic
every winter they would stare at buoy
number two wondering when Cyclops
would pass by on her way to Sail昀椀sh Point
Marina.
Odyssey
Heather: Jason and Gail, please explain the
preparation process. I assume one doesn’t
just get on the boat and sail solo across the
Atlantic Ocean?
I am on the Shell’s balcony looking out over the
ocean, which is an appropriate place to start this
interview. Jason, with Gail’s help, accomplished
a 昀椀rst for Sail昀椀sh Point members. He sailed solo
across the Atlantic on a 39-foot sailboat. Their
home looks out at ocean buoy number two, the
marine equivalent of a gateway arch to Sail昀椀sh
Point. For four summers in Europe, the Shells
prepared Cyclops for Jason’s solo crossing and
Jason Shell (Jason): The program started
with the design of the boat 昀椀ve years ago.
Cyclops, my boat, was built in France and
I requested several features to make solo
sailing easier. For example, a winch at the
mast to help with the spinnaker, threespeed headsail winches to help with
higher loads, a furling gennaker sail and an
alarm for detecting incoming ships. After
the boat’s maiden splash, we spent four
