Fishtales Magazine: A Sailfish Point Publication - Magazine - Page 9
“吀栀e crossing was like being teleported to 13thcentury England—it was wet, the food was
horrible, and there was a constant chance of
death. Inexplicably, I 昀椀nd myself missing it.”
— Jason Shell
summers exploring France, England, Spain and
Portugal by boat. I would sail the longer passages
solo to improve my skills and con昀椀dence, and Gail
would meet me at the next port. Gail’s modes of
travel were sometimes not traditional and often
included several legs. In Dartmouth, she had to
ride an old steam train on her way to join Cyclops
and me. Sailing to the Channel Islands I saw Gail’s
tiny propeller plane 昀氀y overhead. We were both
having adventures!
Gail Shell (Gail): The gravity of the trip arrived
at the end of the fourth summer. Cyclops was
positioned in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary
Islands. After a few months back in NYC to wait
out hurricane season, we returned to Tenerife,
the starting point for the 4,000-mile trip to Sail昀椀sh
Point. Jason is a bit of a dreamer, but it comforted
me that he took the preparation very seriously
and was deliberate if not overly prepared for the
journey. He had all the modern safety equipment
on board.
Heather: Jason, you had already sailed for four
seasons in Europe, what additional preparation
was required before the crossing?
Jason: Boats always seem to have a way of
generating work. For example, the boat has an
autopilot that can steer the boat at a speci昀椀ed
angle to the wind. In the 1,000-mile leg to
Tenerife, the autopilot was “driving as if it had too
many drinks at Terrace Grill”. The solution was
a software upgrade that had to be performed
before undertaking the passage. Yes, boats need
software updates! The nearest quali昀椀ed tech
