|
 Local news and information from Blue Hill, Brooklin, Brooksville, Sedgwick, and Surry, Maine. |
Visiting the area? Check out the winter edition of the Seasonal Guide visitor's portal.
 |
||||||||||
News Feature
by Jessica Brophy Imagine six days on the open ocean alone, with no contact with anyone. Just you, a 21-foot sailboat and the Atlantic. Emma Creighton can say exactly what it’s like. As part of her 4200-mile, 30-day single-handed sail from France to Brazil, she experienced six days of complete solitude. “You get so used to being out to sea,” Creighton said. “It’s so stressful to come ashore again.” Creighton shared experiences from her fall 2011 journey with nearly 150 people in the Bay School’s Emlen Hall on January 19. With slides and videos, Creighton, who grew up on Deer Isle, described the preparation, the journey and her activities since the race. She finished 19th in her class, and 22nd out of all 79 boats in the race. Fifteen of the 79 did not finish. Creighton decided to join the race, commonly referred to as the Mini Transat, as a way to move into the world of competitive sailboat racing. She began racing in college. She bought her 21-foot boat, Pocket Rocket, from a former Mini Transat racer. It needed lots of work before it ended up in Lorient, France—starting point of the race and hub of the racing world. “They take racing pretty serious there,” said Creighton, adding that thousands of people were on the docks before the start of the race. Local elementary school classes each “adopt” one of the 79 boats in the race and take a tour of the boat. The race is often dominated by the French, and by men—Creighton was one of only six women in the race. “Competitive racing is tough to get into,” she said. “I think it’s fair to say it’s even tougher for a woman.” One of the challenges of the race was her autopilot, which normally lets a sailor sleep for 20 minutes at a time, with brief checks for tankers on the horizon. Since her autopilot did not function well, she often slept for only 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Other challenges included sailing through the doldrums, an area near the equator characterized by calms, light winds, or fast, violent squalls. These came up fast and disappeared just as quickly—leaving Creighton damp and the sails without wind. Despite a lack of sleep and weeks of freeze-dried food and discomfort, Creighton said the toughest part was being alone. She listened to books on tape, talked to other boats when they were within VHF range (about 5 to 20 miles), enjoyed the company of dolphins and whales at times and kept a video diary. Creighton plans to move up to the next class of boats, which are 40’ in length. She will sell the Pocket Rocket and sail on 40’ boats double-handed. She still seeks a sponsor. She’ll sail from Quebec to France in the spring, and bring the new boat to the Blue Hill area in June. |
|
|||||||||||
|
Contact Us • Penobscot Bay Press Community Information Services |
|||||||||||
Cart
