Feral on the Beach

June 6 , 2010

On June 3, a group of sailors from the Singlehanded Sailing Society of San Francisco Bay carpooled down to Marina del Rey for fellow solo sailor Thomas Kirschbaum's memorial service. Tom was lost from his International Folkboat, Feral, on a delivery in rough weather from Catalina Island to Marina del Rey on May 23. Feral, reefed, neatly trimmed and helmed by her autopilot, sailed ashore at Venice Beach. She broke apart when she was dragged out of the surfline and up the beach.

"We pulled in to the California Yacht Club," said Alan Hebert, "and hot on our heels was Skip Allen, which was great. Chris and Justine Humann followed soon after; they had flown down. We had time for a beer in the bar (I changed into a kilt and tie) and then the memorial started." Alan, Skip and Chris are veterans of the 2008 Singlehanded TransPac, in which Tom had sailed.

"After the memorial was over, Synthia, Ruben, Rob, Chris, Justine and myself drove over and saw Feral on the beach,. I spotted Feral's California YC burgee in the wreckage and grabbed it. I will mail it to Tom's wife Gayle."

Feral rests before the L.A. urban sprawl. ©2010 Synthia Petroka

Her winches are mising. ©2010 Synthia Petroka

Fellow 2008 Singlehanded TransPac vets Rob Tryon (left) and Ruben Gabriel view the wreckage. ©2010 Synthia Petroka

"It was a hard day, but a good day," said Alan. "Gayle and the girls told us many times how glad they were that the SSS'ers were there. Ilana, Tom's daugher, said that her dad truly came alive when he was on the boat. He became who he really was when he was sailing."

Thomas Kirschbaum and Feral at the start of the 2008 Singlehanded TransPac in Tiburon. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

Tom's body was recovered on May 26 from the ocean off Long Beach. See L.A. Times and Press Telegram. Please also see the comments and tributes on the SSS forum, and Tom's bio from the 2008 TransPac.