Webb Chiles to Resume Circumnavigation
Over the weekend, we got an email from a certain circumnavigating legend who wrote about himself in the third person. “I am sitting in what I like to call Gannet’s Great Cabin . . .” he wrote.
Webb Chiles, 77, is about to sail from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for Panama and San Diego, in Gannet, his ultralight Moore 24, to complete his sixth circumnavigation and her first. Since leaving San Diego in 2014, Gannet’s daily runs total 25,028 miles.
Their intended course to Panama is east of the Bahamas and through the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti.
Webb Chiles has never had sponsorship or shore teams. He goes to sea with no radio beyond a handheld VHF with a range of less than 10 miles. He has contempt for crowdfunding of other people’s dreams. Decades ago, he found freedom by choosing to be independently poor. The key word is ‘independent’.
He and Gannet will depart when he sees a GRIB he likes, but no earlier than Wednesday, January 16. Once at sea, he cuts ties to the land completely and receives no outside weather information. He studies the sky, the sea and the barometer, looking for signs of change.
He hopes to reach San Diego in time to be with Carol, his wife, on her birthday in late April.
If you want to follow, Gannet’s Yellowbrick tracking page is:Â Â www.my.yb.tl/gannet. His website is: www.inthepresentsea.com. His online journal:Â www.self-portraitinthepresentseajournal.blogspot.com.