01 · THE START
California
Cast off from San Pedro, down the coast past the islands Keeldragger knows best.
DEC 2024 — JUL 2025 · 11,750 NM
Keeldragger's Great Pacific Adventure
One boat. One ocean. Nine salty months.
California to Mexico, single-handed to the Marquesas, on through the Tuamotus to Tahiti — then Hawaiʻi and home to Catalina, aboard a 1988 Valiant 40.
CALIFORNIA → MEXICO → FRENCH POLYNESIA → HAWAIʻI → CALIFORNIA ⚓ 11,750 NM
The route, in five chapters
FULL LOG ON SUBSTACK →02 · CREWED + SOLO
Mexico
Down Baja to Banderas Bay, then a winter cruising the Sea of Cortez — La Paz, Espíritu Santo, and back.
03 · SINGLE-HANDED
French Polynesia
The Puddle Jump: PV to Nuku Hiva alone across ~2,850 NM, then solo on to Rangiroa and Tahiti.
04 · CREWED
Hawaiʻi
Tahiti to Hilo with crew — a second equator crossing, northbound on the trades.
05 · HOME
California
Hilo to Two Harbors, Catalina — the long reach home to the mooring where it all began.
THE BOAT
Keeldragger
A 1988 Texas-built Valiant 40 — the classic Bob Perry bluewater cruiser, equipped for serious offshore sailing. She's carried her captain 11,750 miles across the Pacific and back, much of it with no one else aboard.
VALIANT 40 · 1988
TEXAS-BUILT
CUTTER RIG
OFFSHORE EQUIPPED
Follow along, every mile
PICK YOUR CHANNELYouTube
Every leg on film — passages, breakdowns, landfalls.
YOUTUBE.COM/KEELDRAGGER →
Substack
The written log: Keeldragger Sailing & the Great Pacific Adventure.
KEELDRAGGER.SUBSTACK.COM →
Anchorages, wildlife, and boat life between episodes.
@KEELDRAGGER →
Where is Keeldragger now?
Live position, track, and conditions via PredictWind satellite tracking.
FREE
Keeldragger Offshore Sailing Toolkit
Prepare the boat. Plan the passage. Post it at the nav station. An Offshore Readiness Checklist, Float Plan, Watch Bill, and Emergency Cards — built together, kept in sync, and printed as one packet. For iPhone, iPad & Mac.
The sailing community taught me most of what's in this toolkit — building it is my way of giving something back.
Get the Toolkit →
The sailor behind the keel
Mark A. Bunch, Sr. learned to race on midwest lakes and moved to Southern California for bigger horizons. Six boats — Catalina 22, Tartan 27, Star, Fuji 35, Dana 24, and the Valiant 40 — and 25,000 miles later, fifteen thousand of them offshore, he's still dragging keels across the Pacific.
USCG 50-TON MASTER
SAILING ENDORSEMENT
MROP
2× EQUATOR
6 BOATS OWNED
Support the adventure
Your likes, subscriptions, and comments keep the channel sailing — and mean the world. If you're inclined to chip in for the next passage, financial support is humbly accepted through any of these.