I was just watching Nova / Pharoh’s Boat, and saw “David Vann, author A Mile Down” and thought to myself: “Hey, I know that guy!”

I once took a creative writing workshop in the San Juan Islands.  David was the captain/teacher, and that trip convinced me to crewed his boat Grendel for a trip south from San Francisco.  We were supposed to go through The Canal, but most of the crew bailed in Acapulco, because the boat was nearly in disrepair, and it’s hydraulic rudder system was clearly failing.

The story I had heard about Grendel’s fate was that the hired captain (not David) and a couple of crew continued south until both the engine and rudder broke, and then they hobbled into some crazy Central American port, and then they too abandoned the boat, and left David to clean up the mess.

But, I hadn’t heard that David had made a career of writing stories about his sailing mis-adventures.  His book “A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea” mentions Grendel and the Mexico incident several times.  Use the search box on the left to search for “Grendel” and you’ll see.

And, you can find more accounts of the trip on arts.gov, the site of the National Endowment for the Arts.   The abandoned boat he mentions is clearly Grendel, especially the part about the captain who ruined the engine.  (She was driving the boat hard because of David’s insane time schedule for getting the boat to the BVI.  With virtually still air all the way from SanFran, there was nothing more she could do to meet his demands.)

Anyway, here are some photos of the boat and her crew:

The woman is the hired captain, and the other guys are the crew.  Sorry, I don’t remember anyone’s names.  That photo was taken at a somewhat posh yacht club in Acapulco, Mexico.

Here I am aboard David Vann’s Grendel.  Circa 1997.

Digital photos were taken with my “state of the art” 1MP Kodak DC120 camera.  There are a couple more photos of Grendel and sailing here.  Note that the pictures are in no particular order.

After I abandoned Grendel in Acapulco, I headed to visit my sister on the east coast, then spent 3 months traveling in Ireland, France and the Netherlands.   Go figure.