About Learjet

Learjet is 56 feet long. Displacement dry 26,000. D/L about 100. She regularly surfs at 15 kts. She managed to do 20 once (for about 30 seconds). Not bad for a cruising boat. Similar capabilities to a SC 52, but set up for single/double handing, instead of racing. The original owner designed her for a cruising couple to sail around the world. Designed by Nelson/Marek, who have designed some pretty famous boats. An early Pywacket is one example. She was built in 1989 at Dencho Marine, Long Beach. Same builder built many of the Alan Andrews designs of that era.

Learjet was custom designed and built as a very fast cruiser for a couple to sail around the world. They never did it. But they did a great job on the design of the boat. It is very fast. She can do 6 kts in 5 kts of wind. Or get her surfing to 15 or 20 kts when the wind and seas are up. But also easy to sail single or double handed. It has so many things that are perfect for cruising that they can't all be enumerated here. Very very different from a charter boat. This boat is designed to travel around the world, with confidence, quickly, and in comfort.

Emergency gear: VHF with DSC. 2 portable VHFs. 4 portable GPS units. SSB with DSC. Two 406 EPIRBs, both current with their tests. A personal EPIRB that can be worn in you pocket while on watch. Laser flares to be worn while on watch. A complete set of current SOLAS-0 flares (like required for Transpac). At least another complete set of expired flares (but likely still good). Personal flares that you can stow in your pocket while on watch, all current. Throw able strobe light for man overboard. A MOM-8 on the stern for man overboard. A Lifesling on the stern for man overboard. 9 SOLAS lifejackets, with whistles and strobe lights. Self-inflating PFDs w/ harness and tether. Jacklines. Harness attachment points on cockpit floor. 8-man Givens liferaft suitable for cross-ocean work and the best there is; brand new and test current. Two emergency ditch bottles carrying some of the equip above. Emergency gear in the raft. An inflatable dink if the raft should not work. Full medical kit, including many prescription pharmaceuticals for emergency use, all current. An Arrangement with onshore triage center open 24x7. For medical emergency, can call them anytime. They know exactly all the equipment Learjet has. Everything is numbered. They can walk us thru necessary diagnostics and procedures. Iridium sat-phone good for above and for sending email. Email is sent once or twice a day during passages. The on-shore readers know where we are. Both readers are on the list of emergency contacts that SAR will call if the EPIRB goes off. Radar. Night vision monocular. Radar reflector. The usual fire extinguishers. A special Halon-like larger than normal good for everything extinguisher. Fire blanket. The biggest manual Edson pump made. You stand on the thing and use the 3-ft handle to pump it; can do 60 gallons a minute. Emergency hull repair kit. Underwater epoxy. Tarp for plugging holes from the outside. About 2000 ft of line aboard the boat that could be used for towing warps. Parachute sea anchor. Super heavy duty auto-pilot that can take over if the steering cables fail. Etc.