SIGHTINGS taking big strides slowly Elana Connor came to sailing first as a hobby, and then — after being inspired by the travels of pioneering female skippers — as a way to travel the world slowly and thoughtfully, and as a means to immerse herself in faraway cultures. After working in the patriarchal hustle-bustle of Silicon Valley for almost eight years, Connor plans to sail singlehanded to Hawaii in early June. She bought her Sabre 34 Windfola in October, and imagines she'll eventually carry on to the South Pacific. Connor hopes to start a business around her travels and interest in culture. Although she's been sailing for less than four years, Connor has longed for this adventure from the beginning. "It's been a dream to go sailing. I poured all my savings into the boat and have been doing the work to make this happen," she said. "And I don't count my trip as singlehanding. I have a little dog." Six years ago, Connor stumbled onto a sailing trip in the Greek islands. "I totally fell in love. I was fascinated by it," she said. "I spent the first day vomiting, but after that, I was fascinated." After continued on outside column of next sightings page
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Latitude 38
• June, 2017
another record Less than two years after the maxitrimaran Lending Club 2 shocked the world with a 3-day, 18-hour record run to Hawaii, that record has fallen. Lloyd Thornburg's ultra-quick MOD70 trimaran Phaedo3 has been going after big race victories and world sailing records for years now, and May 16's L.A.-to-Honolulu record is just the latest in a long line of record-book entries with the boat's name on it. After leaving Long Beach on the afternoon of Friday, May 12, at about 1:45 PDT, they came ripping past Hawaii's iconic volcanic cone at Diamond Head in the wee hours of Tuesday, May 16, to best Lending Club 2's record run by just over an hour. The new time of 3 days, 16 hours