how far north are we?

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Jenny

Arctic Tern with a tagged right leg

When we first saw this bird land on our boat, we had no idea what kind of bird it was. We also noticed the small tag on it’s right leg. Impressed with its beauty, we snapped a few pictures. Later, we did a little research. We were shocked to discover that it was an Arctic Tern. That told us something about our current northern location!
The Arctic Tern is a seabird that migrates from one pole to another. It breeds in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the north, and then it migrates all the way south to Antarctica. This bird has the longest, regular migration than any known animal. Pretty amazing!

Arctic Tern migration pattern

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your watch!

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Jenny

sunset over Bassetts Island, Cape Cod

When one is on a night watch during an offshore passage, it is comforting to know that the other person is sleeping somewhere nearby. That way, they can be alerted when help is needed, or awoken when it’s time for their watch.

Before I continue with the present, I must back up to a situation that occurred during an offshore passage we’d taken on our first boat. In the fall of 1998, we had sailed out the Beaufort Inlet on the back of a cold front, and the seas were still trying to settle themselves. It was early into the passage, and we were already worn out. A few nights into the trip, my watch was coming to an end, and Wil was asleep on a settee in the main cabin. I called out to Wil that it was his watch. No answer. I set the autopilot, and went to the hatch opening. “Wil, your watch!” I called. No answer. I went below and again said, “Your watch.” No answer. I shook Wil and said his name. Still no answer. I shook him harder, and he still did not stir. Instantly, I became terrified that he was dead! I reached to check his pulse. He suddenly jerked awake. I had never been so relieved in my life! He was just plum tired.

Now to the present day storyline.

The starboard aft cabin is directly below the helm, and is an ideal location for the off-watch person to sleep. All that’s required to wake them up is a knock on the hatch or a stomp of the feet. However, this particular cabin now happens to be Colin’s. Since Colin was sleeping in the cockpit the first two nights during last week’s passage, we were able to use his cabin for whoever was off-watch. When Colin was ready to have his cabin back, we had to resort to snoozing on the salon seats in the main salon.

For the most part, both of us woke up on our own. We either sensed that there was a need on deck, or we were able to wake up in time for our next watch. There were, however, times when we needed to call out to the other..

Just like that one night back in 1998, my watch was coming to an end. At the same time, the wind was picking up, and I needed help reducing sail. I called out to Wil who was asleep in the main salon.. I called to him and then waited. There was no movement from the inside. I yelled louder. Still no movement. Since we were entering a cooler climate, I happened to have on a pair of shoes. The salon doors were open, so I tried to throw a shoe into the salon. I missed, but it hit the door with a loud crash. Still no movement from the inside. I threw my other shoe. It sailed straight through the doors and into the salon. Still no response.

What was I going to do? The autopilot didn’t work, and the wind was too strong to let go of the helm. I thought about how Wil seemed to come to the cockpit whenever he heard a change in the rhythm of the boat. I decided to loosen the genaker sheet. The line creaked, the sail flapped, and Wil appeared. It worked! Whew! He was, just as I had suspected, only in a deep sleep.

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not now, the transition

Posted on July 23, 2012 by Jenny

After so many years of working for so long and so hard, contrary to what some people might think, it can actually be difficult to transition into a slower and more simple way of life.

Even though we have felt tremendous relief to have achieved our goal and are thrilled to be cruising, we have started to feel a certain sense of guilt. Is it really okay to relax for an entire day, or a weekend, and not do any work?

Many people work 40 hours per week, or more, and then mix the weekend up with house work and play time. Usually, the average person gets two weeks of paid vacation each year. We have worked almost every weekend for the past 3 years. Every holiday has been split between boat work and celebrating with family. We did not allow ourselves much time off.

Then came the last month and a half prior to sailing out the Beaufort Inlet. There were so many long work days. Early mornings and late nights. We were exhausted, but we had to keep moving. By the time we headed offshore last week, we were worn both mentally and physically. Not the way to start an offshore voyage, but fortunately, weather conditions were good to us.

When we dropped the anchor this past Wednesday, there was absolute silence. Then, we began hearing the call of the osprey on the nearby island. Nature was a beautiful sound. We went to bed early. We woke up late. We needed to recover. Even though we had just been at sea for 4 days, we didn’t leave the boat for almost 2 more days.

Once our energy level started to return, we began to venture out. Wil’s dad gave us a ride into Falmouth for some grocery shopping. The next day, we sorted through items that needed to be removed from the boat (yes, we are still trying to lighten our load!), and then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out at Wil’s dad’s house. We relaxed, visited, did laundry, and took showers. It was a nice treat.

Yesterday, the dinghy never touched the water. Again, we slept in. Wil watched a movie on Netflix. I caught up on email and blogging. Eventually, we started to feel like we should be doing more. So, Wil did a little waxing on deck near the trampolines. I worked on emptying the shower in the starboard hull where we have been storing random items. Even though we have larger jobs on our to-do list, we only felt like tinkering here or there.

We have discussed feeling guilty for not doing more. Surely, it is okay to not work hard. Surely, it is okay to take naps and watch movies. Surely, it is okay to drink a glass of wine while listening to music and cooking dinner. These treats are long overdue, and we shouldn’t feel guilty.

Today, we reviewed the jobs to be done, and then we said “but not now”. We will enjoy the rest of our weekend, and we will return to “work” on Monday morning. We might be cruising, but work must be done in order to keep doing what we’re doing. Soon, we will find that balance between work and play.

busy weekend in Red Brook Harbor ~ Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge in the background

the locals anchored out for the weekend!

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w.o.w. is WOW! (part two)

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Jenny
Now for the rest of the story!
After the wind and seas subsided, and sick tummies began feeling better, we were able to relax and take in the sights around us. At one point, Wil called out that there were a bunch of little dolphins swimming with us. Upon closer inspection, they were schools of yellow fin tuna chasing flying fish. Just as a flying fish would touch back to the water again, a large yellow fin would gobble it up. Since we already had a large mahi in the fridge, we didn’t have room for more fish, but it was still tempting to try to catch a small yellow fin. Instead of our normal hand line, Wil tried his hand at mimicking the flying fish with a lure on a rod, knowing full and well that if he hooked one, he might lose all the line. But, the tuna were too smart for us.
Other sights that were not so much fun to see . . .

buoys for long lines

many mylar balloons floated past

Our third day at sea was the most exciting, almost to the point of exhaustion! As we continued to motor sail (due to lack of wind), many more dolphins came to swim with the boat. We were dodging some long line buoys when we noticed a few groups of dolphins jumping exceptionally high in the air. From a distance, we applauded their performance.
Suddenly, we had an experience of a lifetime. A huge WOW! Wil spotted whale spouts about a mile off our port side. Yes, that’s how big they were! We could see the spouts from that distance. This called for an immediate change in course. We pulled in the genaker and motored full speed in the direction of the water spouts. As we were focused on following one pod, before we knew it, we were suddenly surrounded by many pods. For the most part, the whales stayed within a safe distance from us. But sometimes, two whales at a time would slowly approach the boat. They would swim right up to us and then dive under at the last second. This was a bit intimidating because they were every bit as long as our boat, and more. At times we wondered if we were going to be showered by their spray.

blow hole of a Fin whale

some were bigger than our boat

Fin whale swimming near the boat

zoom in and you can see the eye!

 

see the water where these two whales came up next to the boat!

our whale detour on the chart

We played with the whales for about an hour. Then, it was time to return to our course. As we had settled back into a normal sailing pattern, and all seemed quiet again, I got the surprise of my life. I was at the helm, when out of the blue, two more whales suddenly surfaced right next to the boat. I was so startled, I could only point. They were so close that we could have stepped from the boat onto their backs. It was as though they’d come to say a final good-bye, and then they went on their merry way.
My heart slowed to a regular beat again, and I returned my attention to the helm. As I looked to port, a whale of only 1/2 to 3/4 the length of our boat was suddenly and completely airborne next to the boat. By the time I yelled “whale jumping!”, Wil was only able to see the remaining splash. From that moment on, as long as we continued to see whale spouts in the distance, my heart rate remained elevated. For the remainder of the day, we walked around repeating the word “wow!”
For much of the passage we would constantly see Great Shearwater birds circling the waters around us. They would skim the waves in such a strong and graceful manner. There was also the smaller Petrel that had a similar flight pattern.

a Great Shearwater skimming the waves

taking a rest

take off

a small Petrel skimmed & touched its beak to the water

On our last night at sea, we knew we were getting ready to cross over the NYC superhighway of shipping lanes. We were so happy to have our AIS and radar working, and we were prepared to see numerous targets moving around us, as well as their lights on the horizon. To our surprise, the only vessel we saw was one fishing boat. All of the 35+ shipping targets remained at least 48 miles from us. A huge sigh of relief on our part!
By daylight of the following morning, we were at the entrance to Buzzard’s Bay. As usual for this trip, we motor sailed up the bay. Immediately, we were greeted with some common sights of the New England area, as well as a much cooler climate.

sailing in Buzzard's Bay

seagull resting on a buoy

 

lighthouse in Buzzard's Bay

Now, we are anchored in the beautiful little harbor of Pocasset, MA. Due to a thunderstorm with 40-50 knot winds that rolled in just after we anchored, we know the holding is good. We are sitting next to a small, uninhabited island, so it’s quite peaceful. In fact, it’s so quiet, we’d forgotten what quiet really was!
Our entire track for this passage . . .
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w.o.w. is WOW! (part one)

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Jenny

Wow! Our word of the week (w.o.w.) is WOW!

I don’t even know where to begin. The experiences on this trip were WOW! I fully expected this trip to be “old hat”. We’ve sailed the east coast quite a few times, so we are familiar with the many sights and sounds in this part of the North Atlantic. At the same time, we knew that all of it would be new to the kids, and we would get to experience the trip through their eyes. Little did we know, we’d experience a few firsts ourselves.

The first couple of days were a very gentle introduction to offshore sailing for the kids. The winds were light (5-10 knots) and the seas were relatively flat (1-2 feet). In fact (although Colin would beg to differ), the whole trip couldn’t have been more perfect for the kids. We were also thankful for the gentle conditions while we became reaquainted with the boat again.

As we sailed out the inlet, our excitement couldn’t be contained. Wow! We were thrilled to be sailing again. Almost immediately, dolphins came to swim in our bow wake. The kids identified some of them as Atlantic Spotted Dolphins, but we also saw a few other types. I can’t count how many times we called out that dolphins were coming. If the kids were inside, they’d grab their life jackets and head for the bow. They never tired of the many wildlife sightings, and there were some good ones (as you’ll see in part two of this post). We also caught a false albacore tuna that first afternoon, but we tossed it back because they are a little too fishy for our taste buds.

Justine learning the helm

dolphin watching

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

watching for dolphin

dolphin in our bow wake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we departed Beaufort, I had thought about how cool it would be if Wil’s mom and step-dad could fly over us and take a picture of us from above. We never had a chance to talk to them about it, so it was quite exciting when we were suddenly being buzzed from the air by a familiar plane. And now we have an awesome photograph! They circled us a few times before heading back to the mainland.

feeling a little green

Later on that first day, Colin had been in his hot cabin just a tad too long. He suddenly appeared in the cockpit looking a little green. We had him go forward to the trampolines, so he could get plenty of fresh air. As we were sailing between Beaufort and Cape Lookout, we had the wind on our nose, so the motion was a bit unsettling for all of us. It’s been 3 years since we’d felt the boat move! Once we rounded Cape Lookout, and had a better angle to the wind, the ride was a lot more comfortable. Even so, both kids slept on the floor of the cockpit for the first night. Neither one wanted to chance staying inside for too long.

During our first night out, my nerves started to get the best of me. I knew we were getting ready to round Cape Hatteras, something we usually try to avoid. Cape Hatteras is known for having its own weather pattern, and many times the conditions can be rough or currents strong. To our surprise, this time it was dead calm and we had to motor the entire way past the Cape. A huge sigh of relief!

The second day was pretty much like the first day. Light winds, calm seas, and more dolphin sightings, along with some flying fish. However, Wil and I were already starting to drag from our first night on watch. We kept our 4-hour watch cycle. Wil 4 – 8 p.m., Jenny 8 p.m. – 12 a.m., Wil 12 – 4 a.m., Jenny 4 – 8 a.m., and so on. Unfortunately, our autopilot is still not functioning, so we had to keep hands on the helm for the entire 4 days. Since the seas were calm, we even attempted a re-calibration by doing a few circles, but that didn’t seem to be the problem. We didn’t have the proper manual onboard, so we were going to have to wait until we had internet access for further investigation.

keeping the feet cool

sunrise on Jenny's watch

By the second night, all tummies were starting to feel better. However, Colin still preferred to sleep on the cockpit floor. We were amazed at how he was able to sleep. The wind was actually starting to strengthen that night, so we were having to do a few sail changes in the middle of the night. With all of our running around and sails flapping, the boy continued to sleep. At one point, I wondered if he was still breathing!

The following morning everything started to happen at once. The wind was blowing about 20 knots out of the southwest, but the swells were still out of the east. The wave height had gradually increased to 4-6 feet, and the seas were bumpy and confused. We finally had the wind we wanted, but the ride was a bit uncomfortable. Although not big waves, they were the biggest that the kids had seen, and the motion was really tough for them.

Colin wasn’t awake for very long, when he was suddenly green again. A small squall was approaching and Colin began vomiting. He had just finished one round with the trash can, when a mahi-mahi grabbed the hook. Between bouts of seasickness, Colin managed to reel in the big fish. Quite impressive!

Meanwhile, Justine who can’t stand for anyone to be sick, was in a state of panic and begging for her harness. She wanted to go forward to the trampolines. Never mind that we’d just caught a fish! Justine stayed on the foredeck for the entire day, and refused to come back. Even though I brought sunscreen to her, she was a tad sunburned by the end of the day. Fortunately, the seas gradually grew calmer and the wind subsided.

pulling in his first mahi-mahi

our catch for the week

 

to be continued . . . .

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first passage complete

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Jenny

under sail between Beaufort and Cape Lookout

This photo was taken while we were under sail between Beaufort Inlet and Cape Lookout. We were buzzed by Wil’s mom and step-dad in their small plane. Very cool!

There is a lot to tell about our first offshore passage with the kids, so sit tight and more posts will come!

Pete's plane buzzing us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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preparing for departure

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Jenny

We are in the final stages prior to hauling up the anchor and heading out the inlet. We are aiming for Cape Cod. Only time will tell where we end up. Since I don’t have any pre-posts written on this go around, the full story of the passage won’t appear until we have reached an internet connection again. Possibly in about 5 days from now, give or take. In the meantime, you can keep up with our GPS location via our SPOT.

Farewell Beaufort!

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made the news!

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Jenny

Full Monty was shown on a television news clip about yachting in Beaufort. Check it out!

Carolina News 14

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culprit found!

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Jenny

rag found in the coolant water pump

“I found it!” called Wil from the port engine room. It was like music to my ears, but yet too good to be true. When I asked what he’d found, he held out a small dirty rag in the palm of his hand. Was he being for real? Yes, he was. A small rag had actually been left inside the engine! Apparently, when Wil had acquired this engine to replace our old engine, the rag had been placed in the coolant water pump in order to keep bugs and dirt out during the transfer. No wonder the engine wasn’t cooling properly! In my mind, this is like a surgeon leaving a sponge inside of a patient! Yikes!
Regardless, we (especially Wil) are extremely relieved to have found the culprit to the overheating engine. It was late, but Wil still managed to put the engine back together, and we had it running. It did not overheat! We didn’t let it run for too long, but it was long enough to know the temperature wasn’t getting too hot. Tomorrow, he’ll double check that everything is in working order. Yahoo!
If all checks out, then we’ll complete all the last minute tasks for an offshore voyage. Top off water tanks. Attach jacklines. Put reefing lines back on the mainsail. Do laundry. Finish decluttering the cabins. Finish the abandon ship bag. Review the navigational plan. Watch the weather. We’re guessing it could take about two days for the final preparations.
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dancing boats & clean decks

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Jenny

Our decks have finally been rinsed with a good dousing of fresh water! Although, not without a little boat dancing to go with it.

First, here is a little background about the anchorage here in Taylor’s Creek at the Beaufort waterfront. The channel runs along the town’s waterfront, and there is a very narrow strip of area for anchoring just outside the channel. However, much of that narrow strip is taken by moorings, and the water can be shallow in places. Due to the lack of room for the many boats that come here, a lot of the bigger boats are anchored well into the channel, including ourselves. It seems that as long as enough room is left for passing boats, no one says anything about anchoring in the channel (as of yet).

anchorage in Taylor's Creek ~ red triangle is our position

When the SW prevailing wind is blowing, the boats face into the wind. When the wind dies, the tidal current causes the boats to face up or down Taylor’s Creek. The only time boats are bow to the town is when a weather front or thunderstorm rolls through bringing a N or NE wind. The dancing begins when the wind dies on a slack tide, and all boats go all directions.

We knew when we dropped the hook that we were putting ourselves in a position that counted on that prevailing SW wind. It was the week of Fourth of July, space was limited, and our options were slim. At the time, our stay was going to be short, and there was no bad weather in the forecast. We had pulled close to some moorings, one empty and one with a boat. Our hook was placed just at the channel’s edge, and then we sat back with our stern to the town, occasionally swinging up or down the creek.

Life got a bit exciting when a line of thunderstorms arrived in Beaufort yesterday evening. First, the wind died on the slack tide, and the boats began to dance with each other. One boat nearby wasn’t aware that they were swinging towards other boats and the channel marker, so we blasted our air horn and yelled at them to get their attention. Then, the wind and rain picked up, and all boats swung around facing the N wind.

We knew the wind switch was coming, and if we let ourselves swing, we’d be sitting on top of a couple of moorings, including one with a boat. We had our good engine ready, so when the wind switched, we kept the engine throttled to keep us at a safe distance. Occasionally, when the wind really howled, we’d start the overheating port engine to give us the extra boost and control.

It was a natural instinct to want to re-anchor. Then, we wouldn’t have to worry about staying at the helm during the storm. However, being in a poor anchor holding area, we didn’t want to give up our good anchor set. Also, when the wind would return to the SW, we’d have re-anchor yet again. So, we sat the storm out in the cockpit and at the helm. Adrenaline flowing every time the wind kicked up or a lightening bolt hit nearby. We’re not the tallest mast, but we all stick up there! Even with everything that was going on, we had the broom out, scrubbing the deck within the cockpit area. We were desperate for clean decks!

Finally, the storms passed, the wind died, and our boat settled back into a normal swing pattern with the tide. By 9:30 p.m. when the storms had finally departed, we were mentally drained and exhausted. We had no problem falling asleep last night!

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