Is Heather Richard Giving the Best High School Graduation Present Ever?

With spring on the horizon, are you thinking about a good school graduation present? A local liveaboard and sailing mom has already figured it out. How about a mother/son doublehanded Pacific Cup race to Hawaii, aboard your liveaboard home? That’s the answer for Heather Richard, who’s raised her three kids aboard their 43-ft aluminum sloop Carodon in Sausalito. Heather plans to race to Hawaii with her son Julius this summer. And although she raced in college, Heather has never raced Carodon and has never done a Pacific Cup. But she and her kids have thousands of miles of sailing to their credit.

Heather runs Fine Day for Sailing charters aboard their home, Carodon, taking guests out from Sausalito. She and the kids also spent 2021–22 cruising Southern California. She’s a USCG 100-ton licensed captain and has worked on the Matthew Turner and aboard many of the Bay Area’s charter boats.

We asked Heather for a bit more background on the boat and she replied, “Carodon is a 50-year-old, 43-ft custom aluminum sloop. We have cruised her extensively as a family and she is our only home. She is also used for charters out of Sausalito through my company Fine Day for Sailing. We have not raced her yet, so the Pac Cup will be a first!

“To prepare, so far we have replaced the lifelines and rig and gone through all the checklist items for Pac Cup inspection. We have ordered a new downwind sail and added running backstays as well as an inner storm jib setup, mainly for the way back in case we hit some rough stuff coming home. We are waiting on a new liferaft and the downwind sail, then will go do some coastal practice sailing this spring, doublehanded to get our teamwork down. We are both working with a personal trainer this spring to get physically ready too. Lastly, I have been studying weather and setting up a YouTube channel so family and friends can follow along.”

Asked about other sailing experiences, she said, “I have never done an offshore race, but I sail every day for work and/or wingfoil for fun. My son is on his high school sailing team and teaches sailing at our local club. This will be his first big-boat race too.”

Beyond this being Julius’s high school graduation present, Heather mentioned she’s going because, “I have never been to Hawaii and it’s been on my bucket list for 20 years.”

She continued sharing about sailing with her son Julius, saying he’s hoping to attend Cal Maritime Academy this fall. She added, “I should mention we have shore support from my best friend, who is an emergency room physician, if we need medical help over satellite. We also have shore support from the team at Spaulding Marine Center in prepping the boat for the race, and from my rigger, Jason at Argo Rigging. We have a few friends in the race too, so it feels like a big team right now, but on the boat it will just be me and my son. I want him to see what he is capable of at 18, and give him an experience that culminates his childhood living aboard as well as launching him into the maritime career he has chosen.”

Heather described additional trip details. “We will likely be bringing lots of Patagonia Provisions instant meals, which we both like. With just two of us, we’ll be trying to do some filming, and though we won’t have Starlink, we’ll be staying in touch and getting weather GRIBs [via] Iridium GO! exec.”

With graduation on the horizon, the list of gift possibilities has grown dramatically.