Full article at: http://www.sailmagazine.com/kimball-livingston/twos-company-most-popular-offshore-racing-scene-san-francisco
Solo or Doublehanded to Hawaii?
Veterans agree: racing doublehanded on the ocean adds a degree of security, but it doesn’t make the sailing easier. If anything, the work is harder.
Nathalie Criou is the lone female entry in this year’s solo transpac. Photo by Leslie Richter
The lone female entry for the Singlehanded Transpac, Nathalie Criou, has a doublehanded crossing behind her, and she points out, “You’re solo on deck, but the psychology changes. I like going solo, because it’s just me and the boat and our relationship.” Criou chose Elise, her Express 27—it’s the other cult class in Northern California—because she likes to race fully-crewed in the Bay and shorthanded on the ocean where “fully-crewed is boring.”
Criou genuinely likes solo sailing. She likes it to the point that she has twice before sailed the Longpac—the Transpac qualifier, out the Gate and across the sea to 126°40’ west, a real nice patch of water. Turn and return. A total of 400 miles, bringing you back to where you started. This year, instead of looping back to a foggy coastline, she’s honing in on the fragrant blossoms of Hawaii, and who knows, she just might repeat what she did at the end of her qualifier. “I had three showers in one day,” she says, “because I could.”
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