It Isn’t Exactly the Pacific Princess

When I think of cruising on the Pacific, comfortable images come to mind. A poolside chaise lounge. Lavish meals served by candlelight. A relaxing hot tub. A cabin with daily linen service. Nightly entertainment. Maybe a few stops in exotic ports.

Terry Lingenfelder and Mike Casinelli have a slightly different concept of a Pacific cruise.

In terms of conveniences, they have none of the above.

“Hey,” Casinelli protested. “We eat like kings.”

“Once,” Lingenfelder added, “we had a candlelight dinner with music.”

The music might have been Jimmy Buffett, but the meal was unlike any midnight buffet I recall. Eating like kings to them is bran muffins in the morning, turkey sandwiches for lunch ad a casserole d’jour for dinner.

To understand these guys, I suppose it is best to examine where they are coming from . . . or, more appropriately, where they are going and how they are getting there.

Lingenfelder and Casinelli depart the San Diego Yacht Club this morning for a two-handed sail to Hawaii. That’s 2,300 miles, during which the closest port will be either the one they left or the one to which they are headed.

If you think these guys are crazy, and well you may, be advised that 10 other two-handed yachts will depart with them in what is known as the Race for Life. The purpose is to attract attention, financial and otherwise, for the Trauma Research and Education Foundation.

Indeed, this race strikes me as a potentially traumatic experience.

But these guys are veterans. This, in fact, is the sixth time they have sailed to Hawaii, a journey that will take between 11 and 15 days. Of course, it all depends upon the whims of the wind and sea, over which they have absolutely no control.

“I’ve never seen two races alike,” Lingenfelder said. “It’s a crazy deal with highs and lows. It’s always different.”

It can be like a Sunday sail off Point Loma, or it can be howling winds and crashing waves. A 34-foot boat such as Stinger, which Lingenfelder and Casinelli co-own, looks very impressive in a slip at the SDYC, but the ocean can be rude enough to treat it like a piece of flotsam. Gale winds can snap masts as if they were made of balsa.

“After about two days,” Casinelli said, “we look around and wonder what in hell we’re doing out there.”

Because “out there” is there, and these are 50-plus-year-olds who have not lost any of the sense of adventure they had when they were lifeguards together in Hermosa Beach.

Indeed, when Casinelli turned 50, he rode a bicycle from Anacortes, Wash., to Camden, Me., a tidy little journey of 4,000 miles.

Lingenfelder is into tennis, skiing and surfing, in addition to sailing. Casinelli is into tennis, body surfing and, obviously, bicycling, in addition to sailing.

“He’s going to get into snow skiing,” Lingenfelder said. “He just doesn’t realize it yet.”

Even when they are not into something together, it seems they are into the same thing. They are both involved in the insurance business and banking.

But now they are into this race, where they will be very together for maybe two weeks.

They set it up so that they take turns at the helm, changing every hour. That’s 12 hours daily for each, and nothing more that fitful naps in between.

“The nights are the worst,” Casinelli said.

That figures. There are not too many street lights between San Diego and Honolulu. The best they can hope for is a full moon, and they’ll get that Monday.

“ That ,” Lingenfelder said, “is a real plus.”

In a few hours, they will be alone on the ocean. These boats do not exactly sail in a caravan. They see the others at the start and maybe the finish, but rarely en route.

And they see airliners.

“That’s how we navigate,” Casinelli laughed. “We follow the contrails.”

Not really, but the airliners provide a touch of perspective.

“We look up and think, ‘God, it would be nice to be up there with a cocktail and a movie,’ ” Casinelli said, “and there’s probably a guy up there looking down and thinking, ‘God, wouldn’t it be nice to be down there sailing with those guys?’ ”

And that guy in the airliner would be right on the mark. Casinelli and Lingenfelder are guys who do not seem to be approaching this most daunting of journeys with anything more than the relaxed camaraderie of long-time friends. If there comes a time to be serious, so be it. They will worry about that then.

“Sure, we want to win,” Lingenfelder said, “but most of all we want to survive and have fun doing it.”

“It’s a great feeling to hit the finish line,” Casinelli said. “And then the party starts.”

Come to think of it, it seems to me there are easier ways to get to a party.