I’m trying hard to catch up on the blog so some of the things I write about may be present about where we are or past from where we have been. Our situation is relative to receiving WiFi. Communications or lack of it has been our greatest shortcoming and our strongest asset. Without phone or internet I feel disconnected from family and friends. Without the phone or internet we have to live in the moment. Oh well back to the topic at hand.
I just wanted to share that we completed our first over night crossing of this adventure. Let me tell you I am not an “overnight” crossing kind of girl. I love my sleep. Revel in the comfort of my bed. Covet the affections of my pillow. The cruising life style has fulfilled my need for sleep. It gets dark between five and six then the sun is up between five and six. Somewhere around seven Marc and I start asking each other what time it is. We finish our friendly (bahaha) game of euchre and head to bed with the pretense of reading. Often we make it to Nine. Often we don’t. So because my captain needs a partner and my new commitment to being that partner I have got to stand up to the plate or helm depending on your view.
My first watch was eight to twelve. It was long, cold and damp. When I started the watch I had interesting conversations with myself about how I was going to clean the cock pit. It was to dark. I was going to write my blog. It killed my night vision. I was going to listen to music. I couldn’t find my ear plugs. I was going to do an extra hour or two to impress Marc. Not a chance. My only excitement was the radar. When I relieved Marc at eight he told me that he had started a radar warning to go off if anything came into our two mile radius. Personally I think he was trying to keep me awake. So Marc is below and within seconds I could hear his slow steady snore. The radar warning sounds, I scan the horizon. Nothing. I look at the charts. Nothing. Worried and with panic I turn the alarm off. I spend the next ten minutes searching the radar to no avail. This happens no less than six times more during my four hour watch. I swear nothing was there!
One of my 1000 my nemesis a crab pot buoy
I know it isn’t pretty. I need sleep and a shower.
Maybe not in that order or maybe sleep in the shower.
Why may you ask would I pick these time slots for my watch? I wanted the coveted sunrise. After all to little sleep, my next watch started at four am. Sunrise watch. I dressed warmer, made a thermos of coffee, found my trusty head lamp with the red light. Gathered up my book and up I went. I settled in, and read a little. Then with camera in hand I watched the sun rise. It was truly beautiful. I now have an entire album devoted to the sun rising over the West coast of Florida. Then out of the corner of my eye I spot a crab pot. Then another and another. Holy crab pot! There are so many crab pots it looks like the 401 during rush hour. I take the boat off auto helm and begin my strategic maneuvering. Marc’s plan was not too come close to Tarpon Springs before day break and I truly understand his reasoning. I just hadn’t realized how many there would be. So from 5:30 until 6:30 I navigate my way through the maze. I don’t want to be the one to catch a crab pot. I keep thinking bad things come in three’s. By 6:30 it begins to thin out to a maneuverable amount. So many times I thought about waking my captain. Tired and nervous I feel more competent now.
So facts: We travelled 157 nautical miles from Carrabelle Florida to Dunedin Florida in 26 hours 18 minutes. When we started the wave height was four to five feet 12 to 15 knot winds on the nose. With positive wind predictions of a calm day by early afternoon. When we ended smooth seas, light winds and sunshine. It was a good crossing.
Your passage sounds more idyllic than our first passage from Cape San Blas to Tarpon Springs, which took nearly 31 hours. We left Turners without an autopilot. We had three crew, so we took 2 hour turns at the helm. The wind speeds ranged fro 5 to 25 knots and the seas ranged from 0.5 to 2 meters. Everyone was pretty well worn out after their 2 hours of constant attention to the helm. I was surprised that no one became sick and that everyone was able to sleep at least some while we were tossed by the waves. When we weren't at the helm, we had numerous opportunities reefing, dropping sail, raising sail and unreefing. I wish Turner Marine had installed the autopilot before we left, although I'm not certain that it would have been able to keep up in those conditions.
ReplyDeleteOur wives later questioned the sanity of our decision to make the passage when we did. In reality, it was well within our crew and the boats capabilities.
Cheers, Bob Thackery