As fate would have it, the first boat he looked at was Bravo, which had recently returned from doing the '96 SSS TransPac with then-owner Fred Hess at the helm. Bob perused dozens of other boats, but finally decided Bravo was 'the one'. He and his wife Cindy moved aboard and before long he announced his intentions to do the TransPac. Fred Hess became a close friend and mentor, without whom, says Bob, he would never have mounted this campaign.

Like just about everyone else, he'll race Bravo to win, but he is also attracted to the idea of completing a personal challenge. "The boat has the potential to do well," says Bob, "but winning isn't everything. Still, I'd like to show up while some of the other racers are still in Hawaii!"

Since this will be Bob's first singlehanded ocean passage, we asked if he worries about all that time alone with himself - and his own thoughts: "Oh no. I hear those voices talking in my head normally!"

Besides his own intracranial chatter, Bob plans to entertain himself by reading novels and listening to lots of good music - including Jimmy Buffet and the Grateful Dead.

Since he travels constantly for his job with Sun Microsystems, you might think Bob's idea of a break would be to just stay home. But as he puts it, "This race is the perfect excuse to take Bravo on a long ride in blue water. . . with no planes, phones or e-mails." That being said, however, Bob has volunteered to act as fleet communications liaison using his onboard computer via SSB.

Navigation: Magellan Nav 6500 GPS, Micrologic GPS. Steering: primary: Alpha 3000 autopilot; secondary: Monitor windvane.
Food: Simple stuff: canned dishes, fruits, canned fruits. . .
Special thanks to: Fred Hess, his wife Cindy and the folks at SSS.