Tinkerbelle

[Frank]

Craig loaned me this old paperback several years ago. Great read. I just found it online.  Enjoy   :D

http://www.clevelandmemory.org/ebooks/tinkerbelle/

[Travelnik]

Thanks for posting the link.

I just finished it yesterday. Great read!

[Frank]

I enjoyed it as well when Craig lent me the paperback. Kinda takes a mid life crisis to a new level   ;D
I was happy when I found the online link. Glad you enjoyed it.

[SailorTom]

Good read, just wish I hadn't read the epilogue :-\

[Frank]

Yes...myself as well. But they DID get to cruise together as a family and dreams DID come true. For many....they never do.....

[SailorTom]

One thing I'm curious about. Sailing offshore and during other events I've been awake for about 48hrs with a cat nap. I don't take anything stronger then coffee and I've never had vivid hallucinations. Sure decision making suffers and the uncontrolled nod off but never full on hallucinations.
I wonder is it because Robert was taking "stay-awake" pills? Because if it is I would never had swallowed another one after that first event.
Granted I've never been solo, out of human contact, for more than a week. So maybe that also needs to be part of the equation.

[CharlieJ]

His mind provided him a good excuse to go to sleep.

what I do on overnight single hand sails, is set a timer for 20 minutes. Takes a few times to get into the rhythm of going to sleep but after a few times it just comes. I wake, check sails, check course, do a round the horizon scan for other vessels, reset the timer and go back to sleep. Usually stretched out across the bridge deck or on the low side cockpit seat.

I find I get plenty of sleep that way.

Reading accounts of long distance lone voyagers, this is the technique many use. Apparently, less then 20 minutes doesn't get it, and longer gets you into a deeper sleep so you wake up groggy

[SailorTom]

Yeah I've done that 20min trick also. Years ago I used a timer, IIRC, called a "Screaming Meany". Put out some ungodly decibel level! But I always woke up:)

[SailorTom]

I found on youtube the original interview with Bob Manry when he was about 7 days out. The interview with the competing TV station WEWS News Channel 5
http://youtu.be/k8TODW-evYA?list=LLY4xSyP9nfIROXdHffhYJgw

Some more searching showed up in color pictures of Tinkerbelle!

[Frank]

It is surprising what a stir his voyage created! I think there is a picture in the book (by memory) of his arrival in England...WOW..looked like 1/2 the country showed up to greet him!! The entire docks and streets were full! His "15 minutes of fame" were big ones.

[SailorTom]

Ditto!!! It was quite a stir, I read somewhere it was like Lindbergh's arrival. I wish there had been GoPros around back then, would love to see Bob building Tinkerbelle then the voyage. And to think back then two guys in a 25ft sailboat crossing the Atlantic didn't catch anyones attention. So it tells you how totally out of the ordinary it was to cross in a 13.5ft even back then!

I heard there was supposed to be a global race in 10ft and under, now that is truly taking things to the extreme.

[SeaHusky]

Great read, thanks!
Regarding the "Around in ten" challenge, see http://www.yrvind.com/