Commodore Tompkins on the Move Again
Commodore Tompkins has gone to sea again. With crew Eric Steinberg and Rachel Saudeck aboard his bright red, custom Wylie 39 Flashgirl, he departed the Bay on February 8 and arrived in Honolulu on February 26 — his 93rd birthday.
To “avoid hard weather and get to warmer weather,” Flashgirl headed south out the Gate to about 23N — about the latitude of Cabo — before turning west. The tactic made for better conditions at the expense of adding miles (2,800 miles vs. a “typical” summer crossing of about 2,200), but made for better sailing.
Unfortunately, it was less than comfortable for Commodore, who missed a handhold when the boat lurched on the third day out and he slammed into a bulkhead, cracking three ribs. He says the pain made it hard to sleep, but surprisingly didn’t bother him much when he went up the mast to repair a broken halyard — twice.
(When asked why he didn’t send someone else up, he noted, “There are certain tricks about going aloft at sea, and I know those tricks.”)
After a few weeks of rest and recuperation, Commodore and Flashgirl will be heading south and west, to places he visited earlier in the 2000s with his late wife, Nancy.
Look for more on Commodore’s return to ocean cruising in the April issue of Latitude 38.
We are honored to have him and Flashgirl at the Waikiki Yacht Club. Got to have a lemonade with him and catch up on his adventures. –
I’ve told this story a few times regarding Commodore Tompkins as told to me by my father…My Dad did a lot of ocean racing out of the St Francis in the 1950s and 60s on a Farallon Clipper. (Patita). In those days the Buckner Race, a famous race then, was a triangle from Marina to the Farallons, north to Bodega Head and spinnaker run back to St FYC usually a two-to-three-day race.
The race started around 7:00 PM Friday night because everyone worked and didn’t get off work till 5:00PM. It was supposed to finish before midnight Sunday so the guys could get home, sleep and be back to work Monday AM. This race was in mid-summer and the weather off the STFYC was usual summer stuff…wind 15-25 knots – gusts to occasional 30 and chop all the way out the Gate and cold as hell.
Commodore Tompkins was fore-deck and spinnaker man. He showed up that night to work the
fore-deck in nothing but shorts and a T-shirt and worked the foredeck barefoot the whole race while the rest of the guys were bundled in foul weather gear…..to be expected I guess from a guy who was reputedly born while going around Cape Horn on his father’s schooner which was bringing freight and goods from the east coast to SF. I wish him well!
Commodore is an awesome example and inspiration for sailors everywhere who have second guessed themselves about when to retire to a powerboat or worst yet to a land cruising RV. Go Commodore! You’re the toughest person I know. Keep on sailing!
Wonderful to read this story. I remember years ago reading an interview with Commodore Tompkins about the choices he made when designing and building this boat. Fantastic he is still out cruising. I have had a few friends who did not consider age a barrier to bluewater cruising, including David Lewis of ICE BIRD and Antarctica fame. His son, Barry, now 75, has just completed a solo trans-Tasman voyage from Auckland to Sydney, and Webb Chiles is at it again in the diminutive GANNET, his Moore 24, which he considers the best voyaging boat he has ever owned. I’m 72 and preparing my new yacht, 28ft ARION II, for further adventures. These sailors inspire me to keep going. (Author of Last Days of the Slocum Era.)