Go time.

Spring has sprung in Maine. The frost has thawed after a cold and snowier-than-average winter. Boats are back in the water, sailing season is here and Koloa Maoli and I will soon begin training for the 2027 Global Solo Challenge. As I write this, Koloa should be splashing on Friday May 23rd and hopefully have her rig stepped the same day. Fingers crossed all of the necessary logistics come together for that to happen. If all goes well, i’ll have a handful of days - about five - to work on the boat and try to get her put back together for the first time under my ownership before leaving town for a work trip. Maybe we’ll even get to go for our first sail together. When I get back two weeks later however, it should be pretty game on for a summer and fall with a lot of good Class 40 sailing. 

Koloa Maoli un-covered and almost ready to hit the water at Maine Yacht Center in Portland, Maine.

Last week I took the wrap off of the boat after being covered up for a long winter. And last night, I went to the boat and re-connected the batteries and fired up the electronics for the first time. Much to my delight, the batteries were fully charged after a winter of sitting un-plugged and disconnected. Certainly a lot of gratitude to previous owner David Linger and the whole Maine Yacht Center crew for preparing and maintaining Koloa to the level that she has been. I feel like i’m starting with a really good platform to build on. 

A couple of small maintenance items were done to the sail drive and a few other systems, but for the most part the boat has just sailed a racing circumnavigation and two TransAtlantics and still appears to be in excellent shape, and ready for more sailing. There’s a broken autopilot drive here and a damaged hydrogenerator track there, but the boat is surprisingly fully intact and only needs minor work to be back at 100%. Amazing, and it bodes well for how well the boat works and her being both tough and reliable. With the mast out of the boat and the rigging inspected by MYC’s riggers, the mast appears to be in great shape as well. I will re-assemble the rig this week, just before the boat splashes. We will certainly do a very significant amount of work to the boat and replace a lot of gear before my qualifier and before the 2027 Global Solo Challenge, but Koloa Maoli should be in really good shape for a summer and fall full of day sailing and coastal sailing that we can do to build community and launch a campaign.

Removing Koloa Maoli’s winter wrap.

From late June until hopefully late November, Koloa Maoli and I are planning to do a lot of sailing before going back into the shed for a solid winter re-fit to begin real preparations for the 2027 Global Solo Challenge. It’s still very early days in how the campaign will all come together, but the plan is to do a lot of local sailing here in Maine and hopefully a training run to Nova Scotia and back in early July. I may or may not do a 140 mile doublehanded race around the end of July, local to Portland. In September, I will likely be sailing the boat down to Newport, Rhode Island for the Newport Boat Show, and then down to Annapolis in October for the Annapolis Boat Show. From there, the plan would be to work our way back to Portland in late October and then continue sailing the boat until late November before putting the boat back into the shed for winter. 

Critical to success for this next campaign will be to become connected to resources. I think that with my past experiences and what we can offer with a 2027 GSC campaign, we have a good strategy to engage with a number of different entities and hopefully make a good business case that will enable us to find strong support. It’s always ambitious and always a struggle in America to find funding to go solo ocean racing, but we aim to work with a number of partners in Maine, likely with a more regional based campaign that unites community and Maine based businesses. This summer will be all about sailing and learning the boat while raising awareness and visibility for the campaign, trying to do good in the community, and getting a number of supportive people behind the campaign.

I was delighted to come speak to the group at Wichard North America in Rhode Island this past week. Wichard, Ronstan, Facnor and ProFurl were all sponsors of my last campaign that are under their umbrella, and it’s truly great to have their support for the next campaign. Koloa already has Facnor and ProFurl furlers, Ronstan mainsail track cars and Wichard hardware and safety gear, as it’s a lot of the best stuff in the industry!

I’ve already been on the road engaging with a few past sponsors and partners who we are grateful to have onboard for this next campaign, and we are beginning to book other speaking presentations, boat shows, and events with the boat. Definitely as we’re actually on the water and sailing, a lot more will be in this space. This is the first real blog entry since building out a new website, and we’ll start dropping some social media content in the next couple of days, especially as the rig gets built and then the boat goes back in the water. I will also be more publicly launching a crowd funding campaign in the next few weeks to help us cover some expenses as the boat is up and sailing; the link is now live and can be accessed through the main menu. 

Definitely watch this space in the very near future as things are really going to be ramping up significantly. Thanks to everyone who has already sent along words of support to me during the next GSC, and especially to my amazing partner Marisa. And huge thanks to the awesome staff at Maine Yacht Center for being such a great place to base a boat, and to Dave Linger and Lillian the former owners of Koloa for being so kind during the transaction and for being great humans. Truly looking forward to getting this boat on the water, she has long spoken to me in a number of ways, and she stirs a lot of emotions when it comes to contemplating sailing another Global Solo Challenge. We will share a lot of experiences together in the next three years, perhaps none more special than our first sunny day sail in Portland, Maine.

Go time. 

Aloha,

Ronnie