News
We met on Transpac 2005 at the Trophy Party at the Ilikai Hotel.
Barbara was sitting at a dinner table with a mutual friend, Skip Allen. I stopped by to say hi to Skip, and he introduced us. The next morning, by fateful coincidence, I saw Barbara again, just as she emerged from one of the neighboring race boats, and just as I was walking down the dock with a crewmate, David Stotler (we were on Incredible, a Swan 53.)
Stotler and I were on our way to have breakfast at the Hawaii Yacht Club. A minute earlier or later and Barbara and I would have missed each other.
I asked Barbara if she would please join us for eggs benedict and champagne, and she said, “Yes.”
Then I replied, a bit presumptuously, “Great, then we can plan the rest of our day together.”
After breakfast, we drove over to the Honolulu Harbor to visit with my friend Doug Rastello and see Pyewacket before driving over to the Kaneohe Yacht Club for the Transpac party. After a burger, a beer and couple of hours there, we went cliff jumping at Kawena Falls, just off the Pali Highway.
In a leap of faith, literally, Barbara followed right behind me and also jumped from the 30-foot cliff into the pool below the falls. I was very impressed with her, and the day was going great!
So I then took her to one of my favorite places on Oahu, the Jacuzzi-sized blowhole called the Toilet Bowl, just around the corner from Hanauma Bay. How many women would eagerly agree to go to a place called the Toilet Bowl on a first date?
We then snorkeled around the point into the wide open bay, one of the most scenic spots in all of Hawaii. It was late in the day, the park was now closed, and we had the entire bay to ourselves.
We swam with a turtle, holding hands, and just as we stepped out of the water we enjoyed a freshwater rinse from a brief, light rain shower, followed by a beautiful rainbow.
We then returned to the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor and changed for a luau that night at the Waikiki Yacht Club. Out on the dance floor, I asked Barbara for a kiss.
At the same moment our lips met for the first time, the fireworks went off at the nearby Hilton Hawaiian Village. What a magical first date!
She asked, “What are we going to do tomorrow?” I told her, sadly, I was flying out that night on a red eye back to LAX. We exchanged phone numbers and promised to get together again soon. She lived up the 405 in Manhattan Beach.
A week later, I invited her down to Newport Beach for a beer can regatta on Amante, our second date. I asked Barbara what was the No. 1 thing on her bucket list, and she replied, “To sail around the world.” How many women say that?
I quickly said, “Me too,” and we worked together to make it happen.
I bought Traveler, a North Wind 47, and we did a complete circumnavigation, visiting 61 countries on six continents. The first leg of our three-year round-the-world cruise was Transpac 2007, and I’m please to say we trophied, placing second in the Aloha Class.
For many guys like me who grew up in Newport, because boating is such an important part of our culture, when you find the right woman, you take her to Catalina for the weekend to see how she does on the boat. It might be a deal breaker. This voyage on Traveler was a little extended version of that, and it all worked out great!
A year after we got back from our extended cruise, we did another Transpac together on "Traveler," in 2011. During the half-way party on that race, I decided to pop the question.
But it was unplanned, totally spontaneous and I did not have a ring. So I went to the tool box and found a really nice stainless steel hose clamp that worked just fine as a temporary engagement ring. With the rest of our crew stunned and gathered around us in the cockpit, I took a knee, got a bit choked-up with happy tears, and asked her to marry me.
She said yes.
We got married four months later. At the ceremony, she presented me with a handsome, matching hose clamp for my wedding ring. After she slipped it on my finger, she adjusted it with a screwdriver.
In 2013, Tony Sandrolini invited both Barbara and me to race with him on La Sirena, a Beneteau 47.7, for our third Transpac together. Barbara and I were on opposite watches, hot bunking.
It was 2 a.m. with just two days to go, and a big squall was coming. From my bunk, I could hear the wind building. I dragged myself out of bed, and stood in the companionway to see if my help was needed.
The wind had gone from a comfortable 18 to a wild 30 knots, with horizontal rain, but no worries. I remember seeing my amazing wife, Barbara, at the wheel, quite capably and calmly directing the other crew members, drenched with rain, wearing her bikini, T-shirt and a PFD life jacket.
I said to myself, “She’s got this,” and went back to bed.
For this year’s Transpac, which starts Monday, we got invited back on La Sirena. This is my sixth Transpac, Barbara's fifth and our fourth together!
Mahalo for letting me share our Transpac love story with you.