Every competitor has his reasons for accepting the SSS TransPac challenge, but Dave's is perhaps the most compelling: "I was hospitalized for three months and they told me I wouldn't live," he confides. "I promised myself that if I lived through it I would go cruising. This is the start. I wanted to do something to rediscover myself."
 
Dave has been "going full tilt" ever since to buy the boat (two years ago) and get ready. His brand new rig was installed less than a month before the start date. For all his hard work, he anticipates the reward of experiencing the solitude of the open ocean, far away from the hustle and bustle of modern living.
 
To help him pass the time, he plans to re-read John D. McDonald's Travis Magee series, which was instrumental in cultivating his lust for sailing. He also hope to get as much rest as possible, having come to appreciate the importance of sleep on the LongPac qualifier where he got a little "spacey". Heading back into the Bay at night, he spent four hours trying to pass to north of Point Reyes, thinking it was the lighted buoy at the Farallones.

After the race, Dave will begin an open-ended cruising itinerary.

Navigation: 2 Magellan GPSs, Garmin GPS, computer chart plotter software; plastic sextants.
Steering: primary: Monitor windvane; secondary: Robertson hydraulic autopilot.
Food: fast-cooking meals, Big Deli sandwiches and frozen snickers bars for late night watches.
Special thanks to: his last employer, the high tech firm Marimba, "which had so many stressed out assholes, it convinced me to quit and go cruising."