Solo cruiser, 88, second trip 'round world almost complete

by Mark Holmberg on 3 Jun 2004 At 88, American sailor Harry Heckel Jr. is attempting a gigantic feat _ his second solo trip around the world in his 32-foot sailboat.
But as the stature of ‘solo sailing's elder statesman,’ as one sailing magazine has dubbed him, continues to grow, Heckel himself has seen the reverse.

‘I think I'm down to 4-foot-10,’ the former Richmond-area resident said last week while visiting his son in Mechanicsville Virginia. ‘My height should be about 5-foot-5, but I've damaged my back so many times pulling up anchors. It's pitiful I've been so stupid.’

Stupid is not a word anyone else would use to describe this retired research chemist, who took a month off from his journey to fly home for a family reunion while his boat, the Idle Queen, idles in Costa Rica.

One long-distance sailor described ‘the inspiring Harry Heckel’ in her online journal after her family met him in Phuket, Thailand, four years ago.

‘We had a wonderful evening with him, discussing everything from world history to religion, and found him irreverent, incisive, and sharp as a whip, his formidable knowledge of the world a real challenge to keep up with,’ wrote Diane Stuemer from aboard the Northern Magic.

Heckel said he keeps going simply because ‘I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing.

‘I like being alone at sea,’ he added. ‘I like the challenge of ocean crossing. I'm always delighted to be back among people. But after a while, I wish I was back at sea again.’

He took the much-easier east-to-west route during his first single-handed circumnavigation, which he completed a decade ago.

That ‘coconut run’ allows sailors to take advantage of trade winds and prevailing currents. This time he's going the opposite direction _ the road less traveled.

‘The first time I went around in 2 1/2 years,’ he said. ‘This time I've been 10 years out, and I haven't gotten home yet.’

This trip he's spending a lot of time off his boat. He's using trains and buses and exploring deep into foreign lands, the way his wife, Faith, would've wanted it.

‘She was more outgoing than I am,’ he said. ‘She was tremendously interested in people and places.’

By the time he retired in 1972, Heckel said he, then 56, and his wife knew they wanted to get involved in blue-water cruising.

They bought a camper and explored the United States, ending up in California. That's where they found the boat they were looking for, an unfinished, cutter-rigged, fiberglass-hulled Dreadnought 32.

‘We finally found out what it was we wanted in a boat,’ he recalled. ‘It took a long time. I guess we were slow learners.’

The Heckels finished the boat, rigged it, and set sail. They cruised to Hawaii, Tahiti, Alaska and Central America, then up and down the U.S. East Coast and as far north as Nova Scotia.

Harry Heckel said his wife wanted to see Europe, but was reluctant to do a full ocean crossing. He said he talked her into it.

‘We got to Bermuda, and she found a lump in her breast,’ he said.

Thus began his wife's battle with cancer. It ended five years later. The couple did manage a trip to Europe, by airplane, before Faith Heckel died in 1989, her husband said.

Harry Heckel was then forced into single-handed sailing. He said he passes the time by reading history books, poetry and mysteries. His said his lifestyle became ever simpler; when his refrigerator quit, he saw no further need for it.

‘I open a can of vegetables and a can of meat, heat water for instant mashed potatoes and mix it all together,’ he said.

Extravagance is a 4 p.m. martini. A newshound, he'll listen to world reports on Voice of America over breakfast and, in the late afternoons, the BBC.

His monthly expenses, including extensive inland travel, are about $1,500 a month.

Once a year he flies home to see his family, which now includes nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

He also gets a thorough medical check-up, which usually includes some surgery on sun-ravaged flesh.

‘Basil cell carcinoma,’ he said, pointing to a raw spot on his nose. ‘Every year they find a new spot to rip off me.’

He has absorbed the delights of Japan, China, the Middle East, New Zealand and countless other destinations while, at times, weathering seas that would strike terror in younger, lesser sailors. His knowledge of the world and old-style sailing techniques is considered extensive.

His eldest son, Harry Heckel III of Mechanicsville, said his father is a source of amazement and inspiration, showing ‘the way to grow old is to stay active physically and mentally. If you're sailing the seas, you can't afford to sit around. It's just you out there.’

Daughter Florence Russell of Cleveland was in town yesterday for the family reunion. She's writing a book about her parents, focusing on their sailing adventures and her father's uncanny single-handing.

‘We wanted Dad to write it, of course,’ Russell said. ‘He said he would write the book when he retired.’

She laughed.

‘It's obvious he's not going to retire.’

Her father said he plans to explore Central America for a good bit of this year. In November, Heckel's four children will fly to Panama to assist in the Idle Queen's navigation of the Panama Canal. (Four line-tenders are required in the canal.)

After that, he'll sail alone into the Caribbean, perhaps spend a month or two in the San Blas Islands, before heading around the tip of Florida to finish his second circumnavigation in Jacksonville sometime next year.

‘I think that will be the end of my single-handing,’ Heckel said. ‘It's not just the skipper. The boat's getting old, too.’

His family said they'll believe it when they see it.