The realities of long passage sailing

It’s beautiful, but stay aware 

Remember to bring the Dramamine!

It's not like you see on YouTube, where all turns out good at the end of the video.  The realties of long passage sailing are that you need to be very aware of the condition of your body, the condition of your vessel, understand what items you brought on board and be in a team-based problem solving mode all the time.  This is not the time for egos - keeping your crew safe and the vessel afloat is critical. We did forget the anti-seasickness medicine, something that will never happen again…..

Watch for items that aren’t buttoned down….

Last night, in the rough seas, a bowl leapt off the counter and smashed into a zillion shards of glass on the floor.  The Corelle pieces were all over the salon and down the stairs into the berths.  I didn't get any pictures, but as you can imagine, the crew spends most of their time in bare feet.  Clean up was critical and ensued immediately. These types of events not unusual, but it felt overwhelming at the time we were trying to get ready for the night's sail.  

Weather is settling out

More rain and high seas in the morning about 8-10 feet.  By the afternoon, it had cleared up enough to dry clothes on the side wires. The waves continued to be high.  There were some pretty rainbows after the rain.  

A few surprises along the way!

We were enchangted with a school of dolphins playing around the bow of the boat! So much fun they were having, the smiles were all over our faces. They are so playful, so free to roam the oceans….

You can’t beat the sunsets

Once the weather cleared, the sunsets were to die for….Every night, the ritual was to sit out on the trampoline and catch the beautiful setting sun. So awesome and inspiring giving you the resilience to power on, moving closer to your destination.

In the next blog:

Settling in the routine of the passage

Power issues???

Making sure the crew is fed

Kim’s first watch