Passage Making Baptism

It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally put ourselves and our boat to the test of a truly long-distance passage…and we passed! Nine days and 967 miles after our departure from the Puerto Rican island of Culebra we gratefully dredge our anchor into the well-scoured bottom of St. George’s harbor, Bermuda.

For the number crunchers out there: Our fastest daily run had us bashing through 150 miles of turbulent wave-tossed water, while our slowest day saw us bobbing across roughly half that, or 80 miles. Overall, we managed 110 miles per day or 4.6 nautical-miles per hour (knots) average speed. Even in the painstakingly slow world of sailing these numbers are nothing to brag about, but they’re respectable enough for a cruising boat of our length. In the world of displacement boats, waterline length is everything.

At any rate, let’s look at the Top 10 things we learned during our first true-blue long-distance offshore voyage:

The boat never stops moving. Even if you aren’t making headway the boat nevertheless is lulling about in the seas.
THE BOAT NEVER STOPS MOVING.
If you are sensitive to movement during sleep, then you probably won’t get much of it. Clare definitely wins the Most Valuable Sleep-Deprived Crew award.
Even if you don’t usually get seasick, you probably will at some point. Zach definitely wins the award for feeding the most fish, while SeaJay remains a stingy Scrooge throughout.
Since the boat is perpetually underway, mundane tasks and natural bodily functions that you otherwise thoughtlessly perform throughout each day will now take approximately 3-5 times more energy, difficulty, and time to accomplish. For example, boiling a pot water (say for cozy hot beverages) can become a risky, attention and time-consuming affair, and should only be undertaken with the utmost care. Just ask CJ’s forearm…but thankfully she is okay.
Even though you have seemingly endless unscheduled hours with which to finally scratch some items off that ever-growing To Do List, you’ll probably end up just sitting in the cockpit watching waves.
Yeah yeah, we’re all sailors first, but when the wind dies for any appreciable amount of time it leaves the boat adrift with her beam against the oncoming waves. Let’s see how long you tolerate such conditions before firing up the Iron Genny. The bottom line is that as much as we prefer sailing, engines are awesome.
A mechanical self-steering gear (i.e. wind vane) is an indispensable piece of kit for any offshore sailing vessel, and you will never begrudge the expense of having one.
With two of you aboard, you will inevitably divide your waking hours into shifts. This means that for long periods of time each of you will experience an unprecedented amount of alone time. Because you permanently live with your partner on a tiny boat with nowhere else to go, you may have forgotten what time and space to yourself feels like. During the silent revelry of such solitude, you may find yourself unusually irritable to any outside disruption. Take caution if you are the person off-watch!
Audio books are excellent for graveyard-shift helm watches.

Upon arrival we come to learn that Bermuda is hosting the 35th America’s Cup international sailing race–which is gearing up to begin very soon–in addition to a coinciding Tall-ship & Schooner convention and regatta! Even during an insignificant year, the pervasive nautical allure of this island nation attracts to a rich assortment of top-notch craft. But now, hosting a Classic Regatta and one of the world’s premier boating events–The Cup only occurs once every four years–Bermuda is absolutely inundated with yachts of a caliber that redefine tax-bracket categorization. Let’s just say there is no shortage of eye-popping-candy for anyone attracted to things that float, and commensurately the water is broiling with nautical activity.

Meanwhile, we couldn’t be any more excited just getting to the land. We wander around the colorful, picturesque town and even find a winding trail through the “countryside.” Before heading back to the boat we splurge at the supermarket: A meat pie fresh from the oven, a whole roasted chicken complete with sides, and plenty of ginger beer.

Although we still haven’t seen much of it, we are already pleasantly surprised by the charm and beauty of Bermuda. It is an odd island located in a remote part of nowhere Atlantic ocean with a unique post-colonial mismash of cultures. Unlike the USA, this former British colony is closer to her homeland and therefore has Clare feeling especially comfortable being amidst Cadbury chocolate, cars driving on the left-side of the road, and Union-Jack symbols posted all over.

Geez, we could really get used to this passage making thing.