Singlehanded Transpac - Rob Tryon

We've been talking to some of the most famous sailors in the world in our Sailor in the Spotlight Interviews, and while we know how popular these articles have been, the one question our readers have been asking is: "What about the people like me?" So today, we're focusing our spotlight on someone who is just an average guy - an ocean sailor who is heading out on his first ever solo ocean race, the Singlehanded Transpac - and discussing with him what it feels like to be taking this giant step.

Rob Tryon is no novice, and no fool. He has been sailing since he was eight years old, and has chalked up over 50,000 ocean miles as a cruiser, crewmember and delivery captain. Nevertheless, he describes this race, the Singlehanded Transpac, as his personal Everest. Yesterday, on a well-found if slightly blistery 1977 Valiant 32, Rob started his ascent. His goal is to find out what he can learn about himself through this test of self-reliance, and to earn the Singlehanded Sailing Society pewter belt-buckle - a $15-yet-priceless clasp that tells every Pacific sailor that you've jumped the puddle alone.

Having put years into planning and preparation, and with the continual support of his wife LaDonna, Rob predicts the voyage to be one of introspection more than drama. Tryon expects to be someone slightly different on the other end of 2120 solo miles across one of the loneliest parts of the planet. He doesn't know exactly what to expect of his personal transformation, but he's looking forward to it with the same healthy trepidation that he has for the sailing itself. To have a dream, and to chase it with drive and dedication - that earns our admiration, and that's why Rob Tryon is this week's Sailor in the Spotlight.

We met with Rob aboard Feolena, on the eve of the race.

 

YP: So, did you grow up around boats?

RT: When I wasn't in school, or in church [laughing], I was on the boat.

 

YP: Your Dad was a fisherman, and a pastor, right?

RT: He had his flocks of fish, and his flocks of souls. He wasn't a preachy guy, but they [the other fishermen] didn't take too well to it. They called him "Preacher Bob."

 

YP: When did you buy your first boat?

RT: My very first sailboat, my Dad built me. I asked for a boat for Christmas, and my Dad didn't really like sailboats. I think it was because he'd had run-ins with 'yachtie' types, and he just saw people in sailboats as stuck-up people with expensive toys.

I think a lot of the attraction I had as a little kid to sailboats was a totally rebellious thing. It was "Oh, my dad hates that," and so it had an attraction to me. We'd walk down a dock, and he'd look at the fishing boats and the big power yachts, and I'd be looking at sailboats. But he built an eight foot pram for me.

 

YP: When was the first time you raced?

RT: It was the very first offshore trip that I ever took. It was 1984, and it was the Pacific Cup. I was crew on a boat named Adios - a Columbia 43 out of Portland, Oregon. I had the 4AM to 8AM watch, and I remember this very vividly: I was sitting on the bow of the boat, with my legs hanging over, eating a sandwich, and the sun was just coming up behind me, lighting up the air around me. This pod of dolphins started playing in the bow wake. There were probably 30 or more dolphins, and it was surreal.

So, I was sitting there eating my sandwich, riding this boat with dolphins for company, and I was hooked. I wanted to re-create that feeling as often as I could.

YP: You say that you're not going into the Singlehanded Transpac for the race, you're going for the trip. Why would you not want to be racing?

RT: The reason why I got back into racing when we got here to San Francisco two years ago was to go sailing. To have a reason to go - to have a 'day' to go sailing. I have known about the Singlehanded Sailing Society for about 20 years, and it was always attractive to me. I told LaDonna when we were in Seattle, before we came down: "I'm gonna join this group, and do some of this stuff."

The reason for racing was to do this race - to get involved in the Society, and do the races leading up to this. And the reason to do this race is to go sailing to Hawaii by myself. So for me, it's not about a race; the only reason I joined the race was to have a date to go, and the motivation to get the boat ready.

The reason I'm doing it is this is the biggest fu__ing thing I've ever done in my life! To me, this is like Mount Everest. For a lot of world-class sailors this is just another trip to Hawaii, but for me, this is big! I can't sleep, I'm shaking. I went to a seminar the other night: There's a room full of world-class sailors, and I'm sitting there in the middle of them. It's not that I'm in any way as good, or will ever be as good as these guys, but I'm in the same room - rubbin' elbows!

 

YP: Has it hit you yet, that after all this preparation, tomorrow you're heading out?

RT: It was like, two weeks ago when it hit me in the face and I went: "I'm going to go sail to Hawaii by myself." Then, over the last two weeks, I've been getting these little waves of this same reality. Just earlier today, I was at the Skipper's meeting, and suddenly I just thought "Oh shit, it's happening!"

Last night, a guy who's not doing the race this time, but has done it in the past, said "Rob, you know it'll really hit you when you hand them your towline tomorrow to get towed to the starting line." And it's amazing because all of a sudden last night I started thinking "What else can I do?" If I can do this, which is small to some people but huge to me, that means maybe some of the other dreams I have - that seem so big to me - are attainable!

 

 

YP: So does that mean that there's something you want to prove to yourself?

RT: Yeah, you could say that, sure, 'Prove to myself.' I know that I'm a capable sailor. I know that I have the right boat, and the skills in terms of navigation and sailing skills to get the boat to Hanalei [Kauai, the finish line]. What I don't know is how I'm going to handle 17-18 days by myself. What I don't know is what kind of fears I'm going to be confronted with in the middle of the night, when the wind starts blowing hard or something.

So part of it is a 'proving,' but more than that it's an examination. What am I going to learn from this about myself, about those abilities that I think I have, but haven't been tested?

 

 

 

 

YP: Right now, looking forward, what are you anticipating will happen?

RT: What I'm worried about is not being as in-tune with the weather as I could be. Not knowing enough to be a weather person or meteorologist, which it seems is required in any ocean race these days. So, I hope that I can play follow the leader a little bit. I guess my biggest fear is getting there after everybody's already gone home. You know, I want to get there for the party and get a belt buckle, and I have to be there by August 1st to get a belt buckle.

What I'm most looking forward to is the Tradewinds stuff. LaDonna and I were asked once, a few years ago, what our sailing fantasy was. Hers was being in some white-beached lagoon with palm trees, sitting in a hammock, and my fantasy is sitting in the tradewinds, half-way to Hawaii, with a fish on the line, on a broad reach, and never getting any closer to Hawaii. Just staying right there, on that wave for eternity.

 

YP: How do you usually feel about solitude, about being alone for this long in general?

RT: I'll let you know! I did the five-day qualifier, and I got really lonely. If I would have done this race 20 years ago, I might have had a totally different attitude about it, but I'm in love right now, and have been for a long time. So there's going to be a loneliness there that wouldn't have been there 20 years ago, or even 15 years ago.

 

 

YP: Your wife LaDonna packed everything on the boat, so do you think it'll be a little like she's with you?

RT: Sure, every time that I get into a locker that has a label on it [there are labels everywhere], it'll remind me. She did everything from sand the bottom and put bottom paint on to... -well I don't think she went up the rig in this boat, but she did everything. She was a help in every aspect of the preparation of the boat, and the emotional support has been Un-Failing. So, she's pretty amazing.

 

YP: Shifting gears here: two people died in one of the races you were in. There was criticism being flung at the race committee and the Coast Guard, but you were pretty vocal about people's self-responsibility.

RT: Yeah, if I was in trouble, I'd like to believe that calling for help would be a last resort. I'd like to figure it out for myself. If somebody else called for help, I'd drop what I was doing and go to help, but the self-responsibility and self-reliance is really important to me.

This race requires that we have a liferaft aboard, EPIRB, and long-distance communications. If I was doing this trip, without being a part of the race, I wouldn't have any of those things. One of the other guys from the race was very concerned about my attitude about not having a liferaft. They all feel like: if you have a liferaft, then "Oh my God, you're safe then." It's like it's a magic plastic donut that's going to transport you home.

I'm going to stay on the boat, and not get into the plastic donut - probably no matter what.

 

YP: Then do you think the race committee is asking for too much with this stuff?

RT: No, I think it's great, and understand 100%. I'm just really glad that singlehanded racing isn't illegal. Because, it's kind of against the rules. You know, there's the COLREGS regulations that require a constant lookout, and we can't do that. Luckily, we're sailing in a part of the ocean where there isn't a lot of shipping. For a majority of the trip, we're going to be in one of the loneliest spots on the planet [smiling].

 

 

YP: I notice you're grinning when you say that. There seem to be a lot of things about this race that appeal to you.

RT: What's great about this race is that this year there's not one boat out of 22 that's sponsored. It's all grassroots, home-grown stuff. So it really goes back to the roots of Corinthian ocean racing: "Let's get a bunch of goofballs together, and go sail across an ocean and go meet under a tree in Hawaii." I mean, somebody said that "this race is a buglight for weirdos." All you have to do is walk around the docks and talk to these guys, and you'll see that they were 100% correct. [laughing]

 

YP: Present company included, of course?

RT: Included, definitely!

 

 

 

- Brad Hampton for YachtPals.com

 

 

READ MORE ABOUT THE SINGLEHANDED TRANSPAC

• Singlehanded Transpac - Sailing California to Hawaii Solo (Main Article for Singlehanded Transpac 2008 including notes from singlehanded sailors at sea)
• 2008 Singlehanded Transpac - Dogbark Sails to Line Honors
• SINGLEHANDED TRANSPAC (all articles, blog, and photos)

 

 

Read More Sailor in the Spotlight Interviews

• Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
• Ellen MacArthur
• Kenichi Horie
• Sam Davies
• Lin and Larry Pardey
• Loick Peyron
• Hilary Lister
• Dee Caffari
• and more

 

Submitted By YachtPals on 13 Jul

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