BRISTOL - Donna Lange and her 28-foot Southern Cross sailboat Inspired Insanity limped into Narragansett Bay in the dark of the night in the beginning of June without the use of her engine and with no radio. Both had given out early in her two-week trip from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The propeller spun right off its shaft, and the radio gave out just after emitting reports of the first of two gales the little yacht weathered. That all happened well before the intense lightning storm, where bolts lit up the night sky around her while miraculously missing the solitary hunk of metal shooting into the sky, her mast, while she was merely a day out of Newport. She survived the storms, and after a brief night’s sleep in Newport, continued up the bay to Bristol.

She didn’t know anyone in town. Her only connection was a friend from the islands, a Bristolian called Rabbi — a well-known figure in sailing circles down south and here — who suggested she stop here instead of Newport to prepare for the continuation of her voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and to Ireland, where Ms. Lange plans to study Irish music.

When she sets sail again later this month, she will depart with a mainsail signed by more than 20 new friends wishing her good fortune and at least two promises from Bristol residents who say they will fly to Italy to meet her when Inspired Insanity makes it to the European mainland. Countless others have watched her play guitar, Irish whistle and drum or, if they are musicians, joined her on stage at the Common Pub, the Wood Street Cafe, the Regatta Club or the Topside Lounge. Donna Lange, with her boat Inspired Insanity in the background, spent the past month-and-a-half in Bristol making preparations to said on to Ireland, where she’ll study Irish music.

In the brief time she’s been here, Ms. Lange has made quite an impression. A friendly face There is a forthrightness, an honesty, to Ms. Lange that is immediately evident. She is in her forties, the mother of three — actually soon to be a grandmother — with chestnut hair streaked lighter in places by the sun, brown eyes and deeply tanned skin. Her friendly, outgoing demeanor is punctuated by an infectious dreaminess that has not only won her friends here in Bristol, but actually fed her, enabled her to raise money to make repairs to her boat and provision it so she can continue on her journey to Ireland.

"People have gone way, way out of their way to help me," she said. One man, whom she met only briefly, heard her story and handed her $50 to put toward her repairs.

When she arrived in Bristol, Ms. Lange knew she’d have to make some money to get her repairs taken care of and her boat provisioned, so she planned to canvas the bars in the area to find out who would pay her to play music. Her first stop was the Topside, where she met Corky Jones, who plays with the local band Mixed Emotions. He invited her to join the band the next evening at Gillary’s, and from there the gigs flowed and she was able to line up several steady shows at various bars in town, as well as set up some open mic nights that she said were big successes. She even played for Al Medeiros at his Fourth of July barbecue party. "It was good," said Sebastian Wordell, owner of the Wood Street Cafe, where Ms. Lange played twice. "We both had a good time, we both made a few bucks. And she made a lot of friends here." A fresh start.

Ms. Lange’s journey started four years ago when she left her marriage of 20 years after what she would only describe as a very tragic event in Burnt Hills, N.Y., where she lived at the time. "I had to get rid of all that wasn’t working in my life," she said. She moved to Baltimore where she got a job as a cook on a tall ship. It was her first experience sailing. Though she was officially a cook, she also helped with all the sailing maneuvers and took a liking to it, and even learned celestial navigation from the ship’s captain. From Baltimore, she hopped a ride as a chef on a boat headed to the Caribbean. She ended up in St. Thomas where she planted herself for awhile and worked on boats as well as playing music.

About two years ago, the idea to take her show to the high seas, like a sailing minstrel, started to take form and she found the Southern Cross 28, which was built here in Bristol in 1982. After putting some work into the boat, she sailed to South America, and within a few days of making land in the Grenadines off the coast of the continent, she had music gigs set up three nights a week. She was able to play music to feed herself and decided to expand the scope of her wanderings. She returned to St. Thomas, where she found that the hull of Inspired Insanity, called Tryst at the time, was delaminating. She spent several months getting the boat back together again and outfitting it with safety gear and other necessities like a steering vane.

Finally, in the middle of May, she left St. Thomas and headed due north to Rhode Island. She learned that she enjoys the open ocean in all its immensity and solitude. "I never get tired of the silence and the quiet," she said. Setting sail again Ms. Lange was ready to go again last week, and she geared up for an expected 30-day journey across the Atlantic. She stocked her boat with 20 gallons of fresh water, two cans of tuna fish per day, two cans of vegetables per day, two cans of fruit per day, a bag of rice cakes per week and some rice as well as a bunch of snacks, and she actually sailed out of Bristol and Narragansett Bay. But she was turned back less than 12 hours out and before reaching Nantucket because of problems with her batteries charging and more communication problems. With 30 days of rough sailing and her first transatlantic crossing ahead, she decided not to risk it and to return to port to make the repairs. Those repairs should be completed within days, if not by now, and she’ll be off to Ireland. She said she is really looking forward to getting out to sea again, where she can write songs, keep her journal, eat when she wants, sleep when she wants, and do what has to be done when it has to be done.

After Ireland, she said she will probably head to mainland Europe and the Mediterranean. After that, she is uncertain. Perhaps western Africa. Perhaps Cape Horn. She said she is nervous about encountering horrific weather, but that she can’t let that stop her. "Fear of the weather is intrinsic," she said. The ocean does what it does, she said. That is part of the allure of sailing and especially offshore single-handed sailing. It gives the individual a chance to take stock of herself because the ocean neither discriminates nor plays favorites. It can change from serenely beautiful to terrifying in moments without regard to the little yacht bobbing among her waves.

"I’m trusting that it won’t give me more than that little boat can handle," she said. She has her musical instruments stored away where one of the berths was in a big box and she hopes to break them out in Ireland in 30 days where she can learn traditional Irish music and dance from the folks who live it.

She said she wants to play with as many people as she can because there’s a certain energy shared when the instruments are strumming and the voices are harmonizing. "It’s magic," she said. "It’s bringing out a contagiousness for fun and interaction. I get to see the very best of everybody. People are excited about what I’m doing and they’re dreaming again."

This article was taken from East Bay Newspapers Online Edition:
http://www.eastbayri.com/News/2002/0718/Front_Page/003.html