Month: December 2016

This post is a little out of order, we wanted to get our passage story out first but this was a pretty funny story that happened just before we left the Virgin Islands and we wanted to share it!

After our friend Sean left, we got to work putting humpty Dumpty (Heritage) back together again. With most of the major repairs behind us, we focused on organizing and getting the boat ready for passage. Once we cleared off our deck we even got our first compliment on Heritage! Chatting with the couple that had dingied up to admire her classic lines, I noticed there was a beautiful sunset shaping up. So I naturally invited them on board for Sundowners. (Much to Alyssa’s dismay, we’d cleared the deck but the cabin was still a mess!) luckily, they said yes but had to run to their boat first, giving us just enough time to tidy up.

Continue reading “Hot tub, political machine”

But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?

– Joshua Slocum

Waking up the morning of our first passage felt like a combination of Christmas morning and the day of a big exam. Surreal that all we have worked for was actually happening and the nervousness of a new experience.

It was a classic Virgin Islands day, sunny with a light breeze to start the day, strengthening as the day wore on to the steady trade wind 10-15kts. We motored round the west end of St Thomas and then raised sails, settling into a beautiful broad reach at 4-5kts with 400 miles of open ocean ahead of us! Alyssa and I stared at each other in disbelief, she states both of our moods, “this is really happening. I’m so nervous!”

Continue reading “The First Passage and those pesky learning experiences”