He crossed the Atlantic solo in a boat he built himself
Published in Lifestyles
LOS ANGELES -- He was 1,300 miles from land, and another storm was barreling in.
Wind at 30 knots and climbing.
Chop, steep and shallow.
Sheets of rain erased the sky.
Three weeks earlier, he had left the Canary Islands for Antigua, and now in the middle of the Atlantic, he was alone and scared and ready to give up. He had been fighting a series of squalls throughout the night.
Waves slammed into his small sailboat as it rose and fell over steep swells. The wind howled, and spray pelted him.
He tugged on a tether fastening him to a safety line to keep him from falling overboard and scrambled onto the deck to take down the sails.
And to think: Not so long ago, Jack Johnson and his wife, Deby, were racing their dinghy in Alamitos Bay, white sails coloring a blue sky. Orange County was their home, and they loved summertime regattas, late afternoons on the water after work, dinner with friends on the patio of their yacht club.
Now tossed about like a dog's toy, he was off course and barely holding on.
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