SS Pacifica

by Coleinger, Ronnie

  I looked into her eyes and said, “We can do that. Although, I will really miss smelling the stain and varnish we applied to the wood down in the cabin. I love having my brain cells pickled.” Becky did not say anything for a few seconds, but then she giggled. I looked at her and she said, “You were kidding me.”

  Once the tugboat dropped the towline, they moved to our port side and waited while we set the sails. As we raised and set the sails into the wind, the vessel began moving forward. Becky laughed aloud as the Pacifica-Two came alive. She was running high in the water and needed some ballast to keep the dive/steering planes below the waves. I quickly headed down into the cabin and began releasing some air in the ballast tanks, which allowed some seawater to enter them. Within a couple of minutes, Becky yelled down for me to stop. When I climbed back up onto the deck and looked back behind us, the tugboat was only a speck in the distance. I walked up beside Becky, where she stood on the bow; I could see the excitement in her eyes. She said, “This vessel is fabulous. If we let the planes come up out of the water, we might take flight.” I rubbed her shoulders and headed back into the cabin to fetch my GPS unit.

  When the GPS had located enough satellites and had begun displaying our current position and speed, it showed a speed that surprised me. I stepped up beside Becky and said, “Captain, you might want to see our current speed. I think you will be surprised.” When Becky looked at the display, she saw that it read, 5.1 knots. She did the math in her head and said, “That means we could travel 122 miles per day. The trip home is around 3000 miles, so that works out to twenty-five days until arrival in San Francisco, if we maintained this speed all the way home, which I doubt we will.”

  We only sailed towards the east for an hour before we turned the Pacifica-Two around and headed back towards Oahu. We planned to move the vessel out of the shipping lanes and submerge her in three hundred feet of water. If she would dive without any major leaks or other issues, we would know that we could safely submerge in bad weather during our trip home, or if pirates decided to attach us while out at sea.

  As we sailed east, I mentioned that we might want to purchase a couple of rifles for protection. Becky looked at me and said, “I agree. We should not even be out here today without some form of protection from pirates. We will address that issue immediately after returning to Oahu.”

  The rain had let up, at least for now. The sun was trying to peek out from behind some of the clouds and the air temperature quickly began to rise. As she shed our rain gear and stripped down to short pants and tee shirts, we found a place where we knew there was a sandy bottom some two hundred and fifty feet down. We had no depth gauge installed yet, so we would have to be very careful not to dive over the design depth of three hundred feet.

  We took down the sails, lowered the masts down into the dive positions and inserted the safety pins in each guide tube. These pins prevented the masts from moving up and down as the vessel followed the action of the waves and currents. Once the deck was secure, we entered the cabin and stowed the sails. Most everything inside the cabin was stored in plastic totes with latching lids, so we tried to insure nothing would fly around the cabin if we managed to roll the Pacifica-Two upside down.

  Once everything was ready, I checked the air tanks to insure we had an adequate supply of air to blow the ballast tanks of water when we were ready to surface. I did not want to have to wait for the air compressor to fill the tanks if we found ourselves upside down below the surface of the ocean. I am not normally claustrophobic, but the last time we found ourselves upside down during a storm, I did find myself quickly moving into panic mode. This time I would be ready if we should find ourselves belly up.

  When I was certain I was ready, I looked at Becky and she smiled. Then I saw a tiny flicker of fear cross her face. She quickly moved to one of the storage totes and pulled out a metal bucket with a latching lid. She carried the bucket over to where I stood; it was then that I realized it was a minnow bucket. While watching her, it dawned on me what the girl was doing. The last time we rolled over in the sea, she had puked in a similar bucket and then slammed the lid shut to keep everything inside. I began to laugh at my wife and soon saw her flip me the finger.

  I opened the two upper dive valves fully open to provide a path for the seawater to displace the air in the ballast tanks. Then I opened the lower dive valves and allowed seawater to begin filling the tanks. As we listened to the air leaving the ballast tanks and the seawater gurgling around all around us, we could see the vessel sinking down into the sea through the twelve-inch viewing windows in the hull. I saw Becky head up to the bow hatch and climb the ladder. Then she yelled down to me that she could see the sandy bottom when she looked out over the bow. She said, “Go real slow and we will settle to the bottom in another fifty feet or so.” I partially closed the dive valves and the air valve in hopes of making a gently landing in the sandy sea bottom. What actually happened was that the bow landed first and with a thud and then the stern began to settle. I instantly felt a wave of panic flow through me, hoping I had not damaged the hull. The Pacifica-Two submerged much faster than the Pacifica would ever have. I would have to remember to go slower with the dives or we would sink deeper than the hulls design depth would tolerate.

  As the Pacifica-Two settled into the sand, we could hear the pressure begin to strain the hull. The sounds we heard were not much different than we encountered with the Pacifica, so we did not panic. Once we were stable for a couple of minutes, we began carefully checking to insure there were no leaks anywhere. We checked every pipefitting, every hatch gasket, even the rainwater recovery hatch to insure we were watertight. When we were comfortable, we decided to get back to the surface and return to the boat yard. We needed to report to the owner and let him know that we were satisfied with the shakedown run. We also needed to add a few things to the Pacifica-Two that we had forgotten, namely a couple of rifles and some ammunition. We would stock the vessel with fresh fruit and vegetables once we were at Uncle Pika’s mansion.

  I left the top dive valves closed to keep the air inside the ballast tanks, and opened the lower dive valves to allow the seawater to escape as I added air from the storage tanks. It only took a little air to displace the water. Within a minute or so, we felt the vessel begin to roll a little from side to side, as she lifted up off the sandy ocean floor. I could tell that we were rising quickly and closed the air valves, then closed the lower dive valves. Within fifteen minutes, we were setting on the surface, listening to the waves splashing over the deck above us.

  When Becky looked out of the bow hatch viewing windows, she said that we were riding to high in the water. I added some seawater in the ballast tanks to lower her down a couple of feet. When Becky was comfortable that the planes were staying submerged as we moved in the waves, we opened the bow hatch. I set the rudders so that we remained running diagonally into the waves and then we began lifting the sails up onto the deck.

  Setting the sails on this vessel went even easier than on the Pacifica. Within ten minutes, we were moving with the sails in full wind. The huge sails were not as sensitive on this vessel and they did not so easily luff as they did on the Pacifica. Becky stepped up to me and kissed me, then said, “I think we have a winner. This vessel is incredible.” I laughed and said, “I will reward the designer with a fine supper tonight.” Becky slapped me on the butt as she headed down to the cabin to get her GPS unit.

  Chapter 23 – Paying Uncle Pika a Visit

  As we waved goodbye to our friends at the boatyard, we began setting the sails and headed northwest towards Uncle Pika and Elizabeth’s home on the east coast of Oahu. We planned to visit with them for a couple of days before heading back home.

  Once we had the sails set, the Pacifica-Two seemed to come alive in the water. With the increased sail size and the sleeker hull design, she moved easily in the water. The improved sailing and dive/steering planes gave the vessel the extra stability that made her run in the rough water like a catamaran. The h
arder the wind blew the more stabile the vessel became. I was extremely pleased with the design changes that Becky had put into this vessel. Her engineering skills were impeccable.

  Towards evening, we moved closer to the east shoreline of Oahu and picked a spot a mile or so away from some other anchored sailing vessels. Once we dropped our anchor, we left the hatch doors open and put the screens we had the carpenter build over the hatches to let in some fresh air. The rain had stopped and the skies had cleared, so we figured we could get away with leaving the doors open for the night. As we crawled into our beds, I heard Becky giggle. I asked her what was so funny. She said, “Stanley, we cannot go to sleep yet. We must christen this vessel by making love.” I thought about her words and decided she was right. I moved over into her bed and snuggled up close to her. She giggled again and said, “Are you planning to seduce me with your socks and shorts on?” I got back out of bed and stripped down to nothing. While I was already up, I grabbed a towel and put it in the bed with us. This time when I lay down beside her, she used her lips for kissing instead of talking.

  I did not sleep well at all that first night. In the morning, I wondered what had kept me awake. I realized I was sleeping in a new sailing vessel, and a new bed, but there was no real reason for me being restless most of the night. Becky had slept well, and I had listened to her quietly breathing and talking to her dream lover. As the sun rose and brightened the interior of the cabin, I realized why I could not sleep. We had not purchased any weapons to protect ourselves from pirates or vandals. Now that I had discovered my reason for not sleeping, I quickly fell asleep.

  When the smell of perking coffee woke me, I quickly got out of bed and went up onto the deck. Becky giggled and said, “You might want to put on some clothes this morning. There are sailboats moving around us. They seem to be checking out this strange new submarine that they saw sporting sails last night.” As we sat on the deck fixing our breakfast, a small Coast Guard vessel came up alongside us. The men stood along the handrails of their vessel, looking at us. The officer in charge spoke to us and asked, “Is this the new sailing submersible that was just commissioned by the Howard Boat Building Company?” Becky told the man that he was looking at the SS Pacifica-Two, and her captain went by the name of Mrs. Becky. The gentleman bowed a little at the waist and asked, “Do you give tours of this incredible sailing vessel, Mrs. Becky.” She said, “I will certainly give tours to your crew, but one at a time please.” The officer lowered a catwalk down so it was a couple feet over the deck of the Pacifica-Two. He walked to the end of the catwalk and asked permission to come aboard. Becky gave him permission and he stepped down onto the deck. He said, “I should ask to see your license and paperwork, but I know the lead engineer that built your boat, and he always follows the laws. I will not even waste your time looking at the paperwork.”

  I stayed on deck and Becky showed the man around the cabin. I heard her explaining that we intended to outfit the vessel in San Francisco and then begin a yearlong voyage through the Panama Canal and up the east coast of the United States to New York. The officer asked why we wanted to visit New York. Becky laughed and said, “Hubby lived there for a number of years and we both think it would be an incredible trip.”

  We spent the next twenty minutes giving tours of the vessel before our guests departed. They were actually very nice people and very knowledgeable of the sea and of sailing vessels in general. Before the crew motored away from us, Becky asked if there were any sharks in these waters. The men said there were, but they would not bother us if we wanted to swim. They would only become a problem if we put food or waste products into the water.

  By the time we were alone again, we decided to have that swim. The water was only thirty or forty feet deep and was quite warm. We did not spend a lot of time in the water, but we did get a chance to scrub with some soap. As we washed our breakfast dishes and began packing up our gear, we decided to continue up the coast and anchor on the sandbar in front of Uncle Pika’s beach house. We would spend some time organizing our new home and making a shopping list before we called Uncle Pika and asked to take him and Elizabeth out to dinner. On this stop, we would sleep on the Pacifica-Two, instead of the guesthouse. We did not want to overstay our welcome after our last trip.

  ***

  It was late in the evening by the time we found the correct location to anchor the Pacifica-Two, and by then we were tired and hungry. I quickly began cooking supper on the camp stove, while Becky secured the sails and prepared to collect rainwater during the night. The skies were looking like rain and we wanted as much fresh water as we could possible capture. We had put a hundred gallons or so of tap water in the potable water storage tanks, but that would not last long out a sea. We ate hot turkey sandwiches and green beans packaged in individual serving plastic containers. We had made mashed potatoes from a box and put butter on them. After this meal, we would concentrate on eating the perishable items we had purchased first, and then we could eat the packaged food stuffs while out at sea. We would replenish the fresh fruit and vegetable supplies just before we began crossing the Pacific towards San Francisco. I had twelve fresh pineapples, twenty coconuts and an assortment of squash on board for the crossing, and they should hold up nicely for most of the trip. As long as we could collect adequate supplies of rainwater during the trip, we would do just fine.

  We had only been in bed an hour or so when we began seeing the lightning flashes light up the cabin. I got up, closed and locked both hatches, but we left the watertight door open on the water collection system. Under the door, there was a funnel like attachment. It emptied into the potable water storage tanks. We could release one side of the funnel and swing it out of the way. This gave access to the watertight door so we could pull it closed. Then we could secure it with a rotating wheel that forced the door down securely against the sealing mechanism. The small door worked just like the larger watertight bow and stern hatch doors except it was much smaller.

  As we tried to sleep, the storm intensified. I could now hear what sounded like hailstones pounding on the freshly painted hull of the Pacifica-Two. I heard Becky swear and then get up from bed. She peeked out the viewing window in the bow hatch and said, “It looks like snow outside.” I laughed at her comment, but she insisted. Finally, I got myself up from bed and looked out the stern portal window. Sure enough, there were hailstones covering the deck. I hoped we did not find a damaged paint job when the sun came out tomorrow. The storm quickly passed, but it rained for most of the night. When we went up on the deck, the epoxy paint job was still as beautiful as ever, only a little cleaner after the rain had washed the salt off it during the night.

  Becky called her Uncle Pika around eight o’clock that morning, told him about our new sailing vessel, and explained that we were just a mile or so from his beach house. He invited us to come ashore and they would take us to breakfast. Elizabeth wanted to try out a new restaurant a couple of miles down the road and this would give her an excuse. As we brought up the dinghy up from the cabin, we decided to read the instruction sheet before pulling the inflation ring. Good thing we did, because the dinghy was much larger than we originally thought. It would easily carry six people, so hauling our groceries back to the Pacifica-Two in this thing would not be a problem.

  Chapter 24 - San Francisco, Here We Come

  We spent two days visiting with Uncle Pika and Elizabeth. We had a great time, but it was now time to begin our trip back to San Francisco. I could sense the tension in my wife’s body as we prepared to set sail. We purchased adequate supplies for the trip home, but tried not to overstock the vessel. We made certain we had enough batteries for the small lanterns and GPS units, and plenty of white gas for the cook stoves and lanterns. We did not have any fancy cabinets or cupboards to store anything in, so we had purchased locking lid plastic totes to store everything in for the trip home. We decided we could always use the totes in the boathouse to store things when we got home.

  We had filled twelve
totes with pineapples, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and squash for the trip. We also had found bags of wild rice that would be easy to prepare on the trip home. We had filled three more totes with camping fuel for the lanterns and camp stoves. We both realized that mathematically, we could complete the trip in twenty-five days. We also knew that would not happen. There would be days when we would not have favorable winds, and days when the storms would churn up the waves to such heights that we would have to tack often to keep the vessel on course towards San Francisco. We also would take time to bathe and fish whenever Mother Nature provided us with calm seas.

  We had designed the Pacifica-Two with a large swim platform at the stern, which covered the propellers. The platform was slightly narrower than the hull at around twelve feet wide and extended four feet out from the hull. The men that painted the hull had added silicon sand into the paint when they painted the swim platform. The surface was slip resistant even when coated with seawater, although one would not want to be out on the platform when the sails were set or in high seas. We had added tie down rings in the hull at the swim platform before the painters did their magic. The tie down rings provided a place to connect our safety lines to prevent one of us from slipping into the sea. The platform also provided a handy place to take a bath without entering the ocean. Becky would appreciate this convenience when Mother Nature provided her with her monthly cycles. It was also a great place to fish while running at slow speeds.