2014 – Page 12 – Matt & Jessica's Sailing Page

Freedom is Another Word for Choosing Radio Presets

Monday June 2, 2014

Â Look at that face. Â She’s totally worth all the trouble.

Today we had the world at our fingertips. That is because today is the first time ever in our lives we have rented a car. I know, strange right? What have we been doing for the past two years that we have not had a car of our own? Oh right, borrowing other people’s cars or relying on them to drive us around.

Normally we’d be stubborn and try to take the bus, Matt has made it an actual point to see how long he can go without driving, but it just wasn’t a possibility today. Oh, not for him to not drive, he readily handed the keys over to me, but taking Georgie on the bus, even if she happened to be allowed, would have been a full afternoon of sounds being emitted from her that I’m guessing would be close to what you’d hear from a baby seal being clubbed. Of which I never want to hear. From either side.

This on the other hand would give us the chance to hit multiple places in one day and the opportunity to fill up a trunk with goodies from Walmart. I love you Publix (you’re the closest thing I can find to a Meijer), but some of your deals are just beaten to a pulp by Walmart. Though, if you thought our day might go simply smooth because we happened to have a car at our fingertips, think again. Here’s a little bit of what our day went like:

Woke up to alarm after six hours of sleep. Had a really good time at Vance’s party yesterday, feeling the effects this morning.
Walked a few blocks to the Lamborghini rental in Dubai, a car rental facility and had keys in our hands in less than 10 minutes. Wow, sometimes things actually go right on the first try.
Back at the boat, loaded up Georgie and and a spare fridge that we’ve been carrying around for the past 3 months. We finally sold that thing!
While Matt went to bring the car around and rain started to pour, I lost Georgie on a ledge under a balcony hanging over the water. Her harness tugged right off and it was a battle of strength which I finally, and thankfully, won. I hope the vet doesn’t notice that her nails just scratched across four feet of cement.
With a pounding headache (remember my six hours of sleep or less rule?) I got behind the wheel and drove us through a blinding rainstorm to South Maimi where we’d found a cheap (enough) Accredited vet to inspect Georgie.
Found out that even though we let her run rampant in Guatemala, she must not have picked anything up there because she was pronounced in perfect health, albeit a little gingevitis. Guess we need to start brushing those teeth.
Left the assistants to figure out the required paperwork while we went up the road to Home Depot and spent way too much time there to only end up with about six things in our cart. Among them, a new tool organizable bag for Matt. Hallelujah, I was literally about to throw the strewn one overboard.
Get back to the vet and find out they’re still interpreting the paperwork. All in all, it took four hours to complete.
Leaving our destination of South Miami/Kendall behind where we’d had every place we needed to visit mapped out, we tore back up the expressway to get the newly obtained forms to the USDA before they shut their doors at 3:30. This is the second time I’ve walked in just as they were about to close. I think they hate me.
Googled new location for West Marine and did three drive-by’s before finding it tucked in the very back of a strip mall.
Found out they only have yarn tell tales, and even though we knew they pretty much wouldn’t work out, bought them anyway.
Noticed that Walmart happened to be just across the street. Â Score!, we never even had to hunt a new one down!
Stocked up on a bunch of things that I can’t wait to tear into once we get on passage, including a 2.5 lb bag of Skittles and Swiss Miss hot coco with dehydrated marshmallows.
Getting back to the dinghy, Georgie seemed to still be alive and untraumatized, having spent the whole afternoon huddled on the floor of the backseat. Â She even had her first cry-free dingy ride on the way back to Serendipity, much more interested in the sights around her instead.
I actually found a non-permit requiring spot on the street to park instead of leaving it in a lot all night.

For having a car at our fingertips for 12 hours, it wasn’t as freeing as I thought it would be. Â Things went right, things went wrong, and we still ended up ragged and exhausted at the end of the night. Â I thought the car would alleviate things like that. Â But looking back on if we had to try and do all of that on the bus, I guess it could have been much, much worse.

Celebrating Birthdays with our Miami Family

Sunday June 1, 2014

So there was no avoiding taking the bus today. Not that we really mind, it’s not like we have a bustling schedule where we need to be anywhere as-fast-as-possible, but we’re always singled out for the crazy people to talk to. There must be some sort of kindness in our face that the rest of public transportees in Miami lack. These people have chosen wisely though, because we are always too polite to abruptly end the conversation and let them go off on whatever tangent they’ve pulled out for the day. Don’t worry though, the two hour ride between riding, transfers and walking to get ourselves to Key Biscayne was totally worth it. Today was Vance’s birthday, and we wanted to make sure we were there to celebrate.

Walking in the door right at two o’clock when it started and finding only Ivonne, Vance, and Vance’s daughter Jenny getting everything set up, they laughed and told us no one mentioned ‘Cuban time’ to us. By arriving on time we had arrived too early. Which was fine because it gave us a chance to help set up and take a small load off their hands. Before we knew it, all the other guests began to show up and we were situated at a table with Ana Bianca and Alfredo, stuffing our faces full of veggies and dip and washing them back with cold Yuenglings. We let them know of our new plan to wait for a good 4-5 day window of south winds and finally get out of dodge. It turns out they’re planning on taking I-65 down to the Virgin Islands instead of the thorny path, and a buddy boat alliance was formed since we both needed to make the same 500 miles east out of Miami. (We later found out though that they can go through the NW Channel of the Bahamas while we want to be above it, so the buddy boat plan didn’t work out)

When the air conditioning indoors became too much for Ana Bianca and I to bear since we’re not used to living our lives with it anymore, we moved outside to one of the shaded tables where we watched Jenny prep the grill and layer it with what looked like the most mouthwatering cuts of chicken I’d ever seen. Luckily I was able to snag the recipe of the marinade from her and will be trying it out on Serendipity sometime soon. Things got even better that when the chicken had finished cooking I didn’t even need to remove myself from the pool to get a few pieces, it was handed right over to me. Trust me, it did not disappoint. Jenny, you are my new grill master. (Sorry Justin, I’ve supposedly heard that you’re also a grill master, but I honestly didn’t see you do much of anything in that area today. The title remains with Jenny).

Shortly after, we made our way back inside. Â There’s just no pleasing us girls, and soon we were craving our air conditioning again. Â Plus all the delicious snacks that lay inside. Â Going for seconds of shrimp cocktail and bacon jam (no, not together), I almost filled myself up to the point that when the cake came out and we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Vance, I was tempted to pass on the carrot cake being placed in front of me. Â A good rallying took me to accept it, and good thing I did because it was so delicious. Â And after that I even had to snatch one of the last chocolate chip cookies before they ran out. Â This party was full of food overload, but god do I miss those days where I just get to stuff my face. Â They don’t happen too often on the boat, usually because that would mean sweating in a hot galley to prepare anything. Â Yes, even the cold items.

While all the children, a whole gang of them under the age of 5, took their afternoon naps, us adults entertained ourselves out on the patio with glasses of Mt. Gay rum in our hands. Â When the kids woke back up later in the evening though, the party got it’s second wind. Â No longer content to only entertain among themselves, a collaboration between the children and adults began where some of the adults (mostly me) began acting like children and participating in their games. Â There were races around the room on top of boogie boards, dancing to Disney’s ‘Frozen’ soundtrack, and Vance even joined in the childish games with me by whizzing the kids around the room in his motorized chair. Â Of course no one could keep us kids away from playing with one of the family member’s labradoodle, Millie, and when we settled down just a little while later we were treated to one of the young boy’s a capella versions of a Disney song while standing on a table who proceeded to dive/crowd surf his way on to Matt’s lap directly after. Because of the current and and ongoing global situation, spending birthdays on these locations might still not be allowed. That’s why most would opt to celebrate on their own houses and backyards instead. As for the kids, their parents chose the best children’s outdoor playhouses which can be placed on their backyards so the kids can still have some fun and get their mind off the ongoing negativity.

Even though we were the first ones to arrive this morning, we were the last ones to shut the party down just shy after midnight. Â Good thing Ana Bianca and Alfredo were willing to drive us back to the dinghy because I don’t even want to imagine the kind of bus people we might have encountered on the way back. Â We’re starting to become a little sad that our departure date for the Med has been delayed, but as long as it has, we’re just so glad we now have a ‘second family’ in Miami to be able to spend our extra time with.

A Letter to my Family

Friday May 30, 2014

Â Don’t worry about us, we’re all smiles now.

(Photo courtesy of Lahowind)

Ha, what was I thinking posting something on the blog last week about having a major meltdown about our Atlantic crossing without sharing any of my hesitations with my parents first? Â Here they are sitting at home, thinking everything is fine and we’ll still be leaving in just a few days time, and then BAM, they see something online with me basically running in circles yelling ‘Oh my god, We’re going to die!!’. Â Yeah, not one of my smarter moves.

The good thing about getting that blog post up though was so any future ocean crossing cruisers know they’re not alone when that ‘Oh s%*t, what the hell are we doing?!’ moment comes up. Â If you stop and think twice about your actions and if you’re doing the right thing, then you can know you’re not alone.

The other reason, and I think I knew this before I published it, is that by publishing it, it would help bring me a little perspective. Â In all honesty, I know we’ll be ok, whatever we decide to do. Â If it’s to wait for the perfect weather window and cross the Atlantic, try for that but find ourselves running down to Grenada instead, or deciding that the Atlantic just isn’t in the plans for us this year. Â I needed to actually hear other people telling us that we’d be ok. Â And the support and positive energy you’ve all sent our way has been amazing. Â I feel a new vigor like we can actually handle this, and any nerves I had before have now given way to excitement.

With that being said though, it still doesn’t make up for freaking out my family like I did. Â I’m sorry family. Â Don’t worry about us. Â We’ll be smart in our planning and always trust our gut. Â And just to smooth out any wrinkles and ease any worry that my previous post might have caused, here’s a follow up on the subject. Â A response I sent to my dad after getting a ‘Why didn’t you tell us what’s been going on?!’ email from him that will also let all of you know our most up to date plans:

Hi dad. Â Sorry to freak the rest of the family out with my ‘Freaking out’ blog post. Â I did want to contact you and mom about our most recent plans, but we’ve still been trying to figure out what they are. Â Our departure date of June 1st is totally out the window now, so we’ll be around here a few more days. Â (Don’t ever think I’d leave without letting you know!). Â There’s actually a number of things keeping us here for about a week longer than expected.

Â Â Georgie. Â Nope, everything did not go according to plan there. Getting her into the EU seems like one of the hardest projects we’ll ever have to tackle. There was never specific information online about exactly what we needed (or maybe there was too much and I couldn’t make sense of it) and the vets we had talked to before seemed clueless about what was actually needed, only giving us small tidbits of information here and there, so that when we showed up at the USDA yesterday it turns out we did not have all the papers that were required. Â Everything we found before (and what the vet in Fort Lauderdale told us) is that we just had to show up to the USDA with an up to date health certificate. Â Which we got from the vet in Guatemala, and then added the record of Georgie’s rabies titer test. Â It turns out that we needed to visit a certified vet one more time within 10 days of our departure for them to say that she’s healthy, has all of her shots, and THAT’S what we bring to the USDA. Â So now we have another vet appt for Georgie on Monday, can drop the paperwork off to the USDA right after, and pick up the signed and notarized copy the next day.

Â We’re missing a few shipments. Â Last Thursday we ordered a lot of things from this online boating store, things that we needed in order to complete projects on the boat before we could leave, like caulk to make sure we fix whatever leaks we’ve been finding. Â Ones that we’ve been able to semi-ignore in the past but shouldn’t for an ocean crossing. Â We even paid extra for 2 day shipping so that we’d have it by the weekend and get right to work. Â Well, that package hasn’t gotten to us yet and is now actually missing. Â We put in a claim with the USPS, but we think we’ll just have to get reimbursed for the money of what was inside. Â It looks like on Monday when we rent a car to take Georgie to the vet we’ll also have to swing by West Marine and buy all the stuff that was in the box just so we have it in our hands. Â Then, we need about 3-4 Â rain-free days to complete those projects.

Â The weather. Â That was what my worry in the freak-out blog post was mostly about. Â Not so much the two other boats that were lost and thinking for sure it would happen to us. Â As everyone is telling me, hundreds of boats successfully make the crossing each season, it’s just the ones with problems that make the news. Â One of the boats that was abandoned actually had issues last summer and lost their rudder, the same exact boat that made us go through and put an emergency rudder in after hearing what happened to them. Â I won’t go too far into it, but it may be questionable if that boat was sound enough to handle that kind of crossing.

So..more with the weather…this past winter seems to have screwed up global weather patterns and things seem to be settling in later than normal. Â The kind of weather we’re seeing out there right now is typical in that area for March or April, but not for late May. Â We’d never leave unless we were 100% confident about ourselves and the passage, which is also part of what that post was about. Â A prelude in case we end up in Panama or the Eastern Carribean. Â Not too likely, but we need to have backup plans and I thought I’d introduce the possibility of them now so no one is thrown a curve ball in case we one day show up a few thousand miles from where we originally thought we’d be. Â ‘Hey, guess what we just decided today on a whim….we’re going to Panama!!’.

Something I’ve been keeping my eye on, and Matt has actually come around to the idea in the past day or two as well, is to go much further south than we originally planned. Â The only thing that had us hesitating to still make the Atlantic crossing is the bad weather that’s been starting off the NE coast of the US, near NY and CT, and then making it’s way east out into the Atlantic. Â Most of it dissipates about 500-600 miles off shore though. Â The original plan was to ride the Gulf Stream north of Bermuda and then start cutting NE where the North Atlantic current runs, a route normally followed due to trade winds and currents. Â What we’re now looking at doing is waiting for a window of 4-5 days of south wind off Miami and then get just north of the Bahamas and cut east. Â We’d follow that for the 500 miles or so that all the bad weather has been happening above us, and then turn NE toward the Azores. Â Normally people don’t do this because there are constant east winds in that area making it almost impossible to head in that direction, but with a few good days we should be able to do it and it should help us avoid all the depressions off the east coast that have been causing us to worry.

So, that’s all that we’ve been up to lately. Â Sorry to freak anyone into thinking we’re certainly going to perish out there. Â We’ll constantly have weather updates at our fingertips and are hoping to be able to send short texts from our satellite phone every couple of days giving our location and letting you know we’re ok.

Â I don’t know when our new departure date is, but I’ll make sure to call you before we go.

Â Love,Â JessicaÂ

Just Can’t Keep us Apart

Tuesday May 27, 2014

It took us about two weeks of sitting here in Miami, but we were eventually able to pin our friends Ana Bianca and Alfredo down for an evening of hanging out. Both our groups have been pretty busy lately, and trying to find a day that we both didn’t have something going on (ok, maybe we’ve had a little more leisure time than them) did take awhile, but we finally planned on an night of hanging out in Key Biscayne with Alfredo’s sister Ivonne and brother-in-law Vance. Two more people that we’ve grown very fond of in our past visit to Key Biscayne, so we were very excited.

Spending my morning searching bus routes and times from Miami Beach over to the southerly island, as soon as I found out that Alfredo had to run into MB for something anyway, we jumped on the chance for a free and quick ride. Not that we couldn’t have taken the bus there, but….between transfers it would have been close to two hours. Plus this ride had air conditioning and someone much better to talk to than the passenger who wants to regale you with their release from prison. That just happened that day. (Two times this has happened to me!)

When we got to Ivonne and Vance’s place we found Ana Bianca waiting for us and ready to show off what all of their recent hard work had been going toward. If you’ve ever heard me joke on this website or our Facebook page about ‘Ana Bianca…saving the oceans!!’ (think of that in a Trey Parker/Matt Stone sing-song kind of way), it’s because she is! Between her experience as a photojournalist and his experience as a director of photography, these are making a documentary series of segments about our oceans in peril. Having already filmed a few of those segments while working their way up the coast of Central America from where we originally met them in Guatemala, this week was the big launch of their new website Element Zero, and they’ve been pouring all of their time and energy into it. We were given a quick tour of the new site where we spied the trailers we had already viewed on their Facebook page, as well as the awesome layout and beautiful photographs they’ve loaded.

They’re work for the day wasn’t quite over yet though, and since our bus wouldn’t have dropped us off there until 4, we’d just hopped a ride because it was available, we wanted to get out of their way for a few more hours so they could finish up their work. Having two bikes at our disposal though, man do we miss those, we were given recommendations of a few beaches and parks to explore and one tasty sandwich shop to grab lunch. Off we went into the bright Florida sunshine, ready to get some food before traveling the island. Hopping over to Oasis and brushing up on my Spanish, we had a mouth watering sandwich while chugging down an ice cold Coke before hitting the open road again.

Word on the street, or out of Alfredo’s mouth, is that Crandon Park has the best beach in Key Biscayne, and since we obviously don’t see those enough, that’s the first place we headed to. Â Honestly though, two weeks in the boat stuck in a large channel will leave you craving beaches again. Â The parking lot was completely empty as we cycled in, a far departure from the crowds that must have been here the previous day celebrating the holiday weekend. Â Waving back and forth on our bikes as we followed the asphalt drive we noticed a sign for a peacock sanctuary to our right and promised ourselves to check it out on our way back. Â Suddenly a ruffle of feathers and a loud squawk off to my side let me know that these large birds were not confined only to their sanctuary. Â Wanting to be as adult as I could, I refrained from chasing him down to see if he’d arrange his full plumage for me. Â Or maybe it was because I thought the tables would turn and it would be him who would chase me down in the end. Â So I settled for stepping off my bike and snapping a few photos while he idly eyed my can of Coke. Â By the way he slowly advanced on me, I’m pretty sure he wanted me to share.

As if seeing a peacock directly upon our arrival wasn’t enough, we locked the bikes up and walked into a scene that looked as if it was taken directly from the coasts of North Carolina with a few palm trees thrown in. Â This place was stunning. Â We walked out to the Atlantic and waded in the shallow pools of bath water before hiking further up the beach and peeked at a sandcastle contest that was going on between a large group of children.

When we decided it was finally time to make our way back we did still pop into the bird sanctuary which is a lush area of grass, trees, and ponds that’s just as alluring as the beach. Â Plus the wildlife (to us) was just an added bonus on top of that. Â Iguanas skittered across the path as we listened to more peacocks call and parade next to us on the lawn. Â Our big goal was to spot an alligator in the ponds, of which the signs warned us there were, but was unproductive as there were none. Â Or they were very very sneaky. Â And I wouldn’t put it past us to miss any kind of wildlife that’s right in front of our face. Â It may have happened like one or two (or fifty) times in our past. We actually couldn’t even identify half of the birds we did end up stumbling across there. Â I mean, what is the thing that looks like a mix between a duck and a goose?*

Once we were back at the apartment we enjoyed a refreshing beer and a little more website looky-loo before tearing ourselves away for a ride in the family’s golf cart, dubbed the Love Bug, for a ride up to the grocery store to stock up on items for dinner that night. Â There were items to put on the grill, some chips to snack on, and best of all, a case of Red Stripe. Â For cheaper than we bought it in Jamaica! Â I’ll have to keep my eye on those sales more often.

Just like the last time we were here with Luki and Elmari, our group took over the area surrounding the pool although the afternoon clouds probably would have driven everyone else away anyway. Â What can I say?, except we fell right back into our old dinner club routine and conversations picked up right where we had left them off two months ago. Â Except this time instead of talks about our crossing to Europe we were slowly trying to be talked into following Ana Bianca and Alfredo on s/v Kajaya to Aruba and back up the Western Caribbean. Â Extremely tempting based on the weather reports we’ve been seeing, and Alfredo’s testimony that today’s weather is typical for February or March, but not late May. Â As I said, it was very tempting, but we’re still hoping to stick with our original plan of an Atlantic crossing. Â Let me just go write those plans in the sand real quick, I think it’s low tide right now.

As usual, the night passed by way too quickly and before we knew it we were being chauffeured back to Serendipity. Â We’re hoping this won’t be good-bye between the four of us, but I have a feeling it won’t. Â And it’s not because we’re now planning on hightailing it south instead of east. Â Nope, this family is always having get togethers, and the next one happens to be Sunday for Vance’s birthday. Â Somehow I have a sneaky suspicion that we won’t be leaving on time and we’ll being seeing these faces once more.

*Not the birds shown in the photo. Â I never got a picture of the things I want to keep referring to as a mongoose. Â Even though they are completely different things.

Random Images from our Anchorage

Sunday May 25, 2014

I wish I could tell you that more exciting things were happening here on the ‘Dip, but honestly, there hasn’t been much for us to do. Most of our projects are reliant on getting our order from Defender, something that was supposed to come yesterday, but still hadn’t arrived when we went to the Post Office to claim it. Â So we sit here stagnant. Â Stalled.

We try to keep ourselves busy in the afternoon with little cleaning projects and even took Georgie next door to Monument Island on Friday. Â I didn’t realize what a hermit she has turned into since we’ve adopted her. Â Going from being in a shelter with over 200 cats and a dozen assistants, she was extremely overwhelmed by all the weekend boaters that decided to turn this into a party island and I think was actually excited to get back into the dinghy after less than five minutes ashore.

Let’s hope that our package comes in on Tuesday so I’ll have something new to report on, but until then, enjoy some random images of our anchorage. Â We really haven’t ventured past it in the last few days.

Our first night in Miami, anchored east of Monument Island.

Georgie couldn’t wait to get back in her litter box after I washed it out.

Storms rolling in behind Belle Island.

Just a quick walk for the kitty.

Passing by Star Island. Â Not all that great.

One Project Forward, Two Projects Back

Thursday May 22, 2014

Don’t you love when a list of projects leads to another whole group of projects that weren’t even on that list? Things that come up while you’re doing said list, and you think to yourself, ‘Well that just can’t go ignored’. Such is the case on our to-do list. We’ve had it all printed out since the Bahamas and even got busy checking off little things here and there. We were confident that with about a week of hard work in Miami it would all be completed. If only it were that easy. Because the one unplanned thing that can be added to a list and drive any sailor crazy are unexpected leaks.

There we were one afternoon this week, cleaning out our ~~garage~~ aft cabin to lube up the steering system when Matt gets to the very back part of the cabin, only reserved for the the things we never have to get to (like my sewing machine) and therefore never pull those items out of the way, only to find dampness all over the bottom of the cabin. We had just suffered through about a day of constant downpours and assumed that was the cause of the wetness…but where had it come from? Doing a little tracing we found that it also followed along the shelf that runs against the wall and since there are no hatches or ports that far back, it must be from the toerail.

It looks like our simple and relaxed day of just doing two small items to get off the list was now going to be taken over by pinning down the source of and fixing that leak. The bung plugs were taken out above deck, and while I did my best up there to keep the screws from moving while Matt worked in the small confines from below with the ratchets, we successfully removed about 10 screws that would be rebedded with a little more staying and leak-proof power. We hope.

Originally placed in the toerail with butyl tape, of which we find works great for many other things, we just weren’t sure if it was up to handling the job here, which meant it needed to come off all of the screws. And if you’ve ever worked with butyl tape, especially once it gets warm and gooey, you’ll know that it is a pain in the butt to remove. All of the screws were handed to me since Matt has only nubs of fingernails and I spent the next hour trying to get this blessed yet wretched product off. It wasn’t until after I’d gone through and cleaned them all down to a nice silvery sheen that Matt found out, and quite by accident, that WD-40 will actually remove butyl tape clean off a surface. Nice to know. I wish I could blame him for ruining my nails after going through this process when it turns out I didn’t have to, but it turns out that I had already done it myself with a sewing project. Constantly pushing a needle through fabric using my thumbnail to put a little force behind it kind of screwed it up to begin with.

Once these were all clean we went through with the drill to make sure all the holes were wide enough, and Matt took some Life Caulk to the screws and made sure they were fully coated before placing them back in their holes. Then just as before, I sat above deck and held the screws in place while he tightened them from below. Now we just wait for more rain to make sure the whole process has worked. I’m sure we’re the only cruisers in history that have been disappointed by every rain cloud that keeps dodging us, keeping us bathed in sunshine instead.

In good news though, we did complete one more project that didn’t give us any hassle at all. That was to place a permanent (for the crossing) inner forestay up at the bow instead of relying on the temporary Amsteel we currently keep up there. Ever since we replaced all of our rigging upon getting the mast back up on the east side of the Erie Canal, we’ve had a spare piece of standing rigging just sitting in our aft cabin going unused. We figured this would work best since we want to keep our staysail rigged during the entire crossing so it’s ready whenever we want to use it, and this way we don’t have the hanks chaffing the braided rope of the Amsteel.

All in all this project took us about two hours which isn’t too bad in my book. We’d already taken the previous Amsteel inner forestay down and brought it to shore along with the new rigging to measure the two pieces to the same length and mark the new one. Back on the boat though, before we got down to any cutting, Matt had the suggestion of attaching the new forestay and measuring once more down to the deck just to make sure our cut would be precise. Good thing too, because as soon as Matt came down from the mast and we went to hold it out we realized that our original measurement was about a half an inch too short. And there would have been no getting that back if we went ahead with that cut! Re-marking our new measurement we got busy making the proper cut and getting everything attached. Voila! New inner forestay installed! Now, if we could just make sure the order we just put into Defender can get here by this weekend we’ll be able to start checking the rest of these projects off and look at getting this show on the road.

I am FREAKING Out Here People!

Tuesday May 20, 2014

Do you know what I was doing this morning at 4 am? I was lying awake in bed, thinking off all the terrible things that could happen to us as we cross the Atlantic in a few weeks. Here’s another fun question for you. Do you know how many boats were abandoned just last week while taking the same route that we are? Two!! That’s right. Two boats with a larger number and more experienced crew than the two of us had to leave their boats behind while making the same trip we’re about to do. I am FREAKING out here people! Granted, both of those boats appeared to be passing through a very nasty low pressure system a few hundred miles east of the United States around the 40th degree latitude, but all I could think of through the whole night was ‘That could be us!’. One of the two crews was picked up by the USCG, but the other crew, as I currently write this, are still missing; their boat believed to be abandoned in the Northern Atlantic.* Pardon my French, but that is some scary shit!

For the weeks and month leading up to our departure from Miami and across the Atlantic to the Azores and then through Gibraltar, I’ve tried to mentally prepare myself as much as possible. Prepare for the monotony of being at sea for 30 straight days, and prepare for the onset of at least 2-3 fairly rough storms during our crossing. In my mind, and according to most of the books I’m reading, the worst part of these storms usually pass you in a few hours and all you’re left with after is maybe a day or two of overcast skies with some rain and the drudgery of waiting for the seas to settle back to their original state. The weather systems that we’ve been tracking for the past few weeks though to get a feel for what’s going on out on these waters, is showing a completely different story.

I will admit to you now that we have never once listened to a Chris Parker forecast. We have taken his information while cruising with friends that do get up at the ungodly hour of 6 am to listen, but personally we’ve always been fans of Passage Weather and have used that to prepare for any passage we’ve taken. This does require internet, of which we will not have once we leave on our crossing, but at that point we’ll be relying on downloading forecasts from our SSB twice daily, something that should give us a four day outlook that will be very similar to what we’ve always viewed on Passage Weather. While keeping an eye on it at the moment though, these are the kind of images that we keep seeing pop up.

You can see where I’ve labeled Bermuda and the Azores, and our approximate intended route (terrible job with the paint brush, I know). You can also see all that yellow and orange showing up in areas close to where we’ll be, and that’s very, very bad. If you follow the wind indicator at the bottom, you’ll see that yellow represents winds of 30-35 knots, and orange represents 35-40 knots. That would be bad enough on it’s own, but I may have mentioned to you before of our learning of reading Passage Weather, and have pretty much found it to be true. Always expect 5-10 knots higher than it shows. If it’s reading 30-35 knots, expect 35-45. If it’s reading 35-40, well, you’re S.O.L. It’s why we never go anywhere when a forecast is reading over 20 knots. Even though we always travel in weather that shows 15-20, we experience at least 30 knots sometime during the trip. Every.Single.Time.

So you can imagine why these images are getting under my skin. They never end. There might be two days of calm in those areas before another front develops. This is not normal, not for this late in the season, and it has me terrified that nothing will change before our intended June 1^st departure date.

So as I laid there wide awake, waiting for the sun to come up, my mind was filled with alternative routes. I was thinking to myself, ‘You know, since we were about to take on a 30 day passage anyway, we could make it to Panama in 10-12. And you know who’s in Panama? Brian and Stephanie on Rode Trip. That would be so fun!!’. I actually lulled myself to sleep with false promises that we would stick to the Caribbean where we would never be more than 200 miles from some form of land.

Reality did set in this morning though as I realized the light of a few very important things. 1. We don’t have to go if everything is showing the same in a week and a half. Have those fronts not showed any sign of leaving, we will wait for them to do so. Or, hightail it to Panama. 2. Based on years and years of data, they should be changing any day now. The Bermuda/Azores high should be settling in, and things should start to look much calmer on those waters. And 3. Downloading a 96 hour forecast twice a day should keep us on top of any fronts that could arise. If we see anything that looks like it’s coming up, we have no problem backtracking or adding extra miles to avoid it. We are going to be very cautious cruisers on this trip, and that is fine by me. I would much rather arrive even a week later than anticipated if it means we’re not surfing down 20 ft waves in 40 knot winds. Ever.

Now this is the kind of weather I’m looking for!

* On Friday May 23rd, the USCG found the hull of this second boat, the Cheeki Rafiki, but with no sign of the crew. Â The life raft was still on board and never inflated.

Brushing up on Chapman’s

Sunday May 18, 2014

I think it’s about time I became reacquainted with an old friend of mine, Chapman’s Guide to Piloting & SeamanshipÂ A 900 page manual on everything boats and boat related. The how’s, why’s, navigation, weather, safety, ect. Chapman’s and I were supposed to become well acquainted back in 2010 when Matt had purchased the most recent volume for me and plopped it in my lap stating â€œRead thisâ€. Right…this is exactly how I wanted to spend my summer. I did try though, really. There was actual effort put into covering the essential chapters, the ones that were going to teach me how to sail and read weather patterns. The only problem was I didn’t fully understand the information at the time, and therefore didn’t retain much of any of it. What I did retain was actual on the water sailing where I’d try and pay attention to what Matt was doing and figure it in to what I had previously read. Even that wasn’t…great.

Although I do now know all the lines on the boat, where they run to and from, and what purpose they serve…I’m clueless when it comes to sail trim. I have read the little annecdote on how to read tell tales numerous times, and every single time I get it backward in my mind which has me trimming the sails the wrong way, and the official sail trimmer of the boat getting upset that I still haven’t learned how to do it after five years on the water and almost two years cruising. Understandably as well. I know I would be very frustrated if it was the other way around. No more excuses though, it’s time, and I need to learn what I’m doing. There’s 3,000 miles of ocean coming up in front of us shortly and we can’t afford mistakes out there. Plus I can’t rely on Matt to always be there to fix everything for me. I need to be able to do it on my own.

During our days with bad weather in the Bahamas, especially the areas like Lee Stocking island where we were never even able to get off the boat, I’ve set myself down with as many sailing how-to videos as possible. Penny Whiting’s ‘Learn to Sail’ and ‘Annapolis Book of Seamanship’. I know, these are as basic as it gets and a lot of the information I do already know, but, it just gives me that extra visual so when I do pick up Chapman’s again, it might come a little easier to me. I can put an image in my mind of what they’re trying to describe. So with enough watching and reading over and over again, I might finally learn how to trim a sail to look like an airplane wing, or find out where I want the draft. Â And then how to get it there.. Funny thing is, I feel much more prepared to handle sails in storm conditions than just cruising along. I think those tactics have been engrained in me long ago. But, if I can finally figure out how to get the sail back in perfect shape after it starts flogging without Matt having to yell out â€œEase the main!!!â€, then I will consider it a successful payoff.

Â *Example: While sailing from Warderick Wells to Bimini, Matt asked me to move the main over as we set ourselves on a downwind course. I stared back at him with a blank face. ‘So I … walk it over to the other side?’ (No, I was supposed to trim the main to the center, and then the wind would catch it as I eased it out to the other side) To be fair, I had just woken up and also hadn’t eaten in 14 hours, so my mind wasn’t quite all there yet, but still. I know how to do that move when fully awake and full, I should know how to do it while sleep deprived and starving.

Tarte Amazonian Clay waterproof cream eyeshadow

Cosmetics that Stand Up to the Heat

Friday May 16, 2014

Let’s be honest. Â Once you move yourself onto a boat where your daily chores consist of scrubbing decks and cleaning the bilge, and extracurricular activities are going for an afternoon swim or a sweaty hike around an island, your old beauty regimen tends to fall by the wayside. Â It might be because you know you’re apt to get dirty minutes later, or because no one else will see you besides other cruisers that have also stopped putting the landlubber effort into getting ready, or possibly because you don’t feel a need for it out in nature and you’re happy just to get back to nature. Â Face is clean, albeit sunscreened because that is still a must, and hair is pulled back from the face. Â It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s what works for most days.

But, if you happen to be like me, there are days that you just want that girly touch back. Â Not an all out blow-out of the hair and a pair of strappy black heels, but just a few extra touches to enhance your natural beauty. Â (Or a Fancy Cocktail Hour with blown out hair and strappy black heels) Â I think all of us women want that from time to time. Â But depending on where you’re cruising, even that might be troublesome due to heat and humidity. Â Who wants to spend the time making themselves up just to have it sweat off ten minutes later?

Luckily for you, before we began cruising I did a lot of research on products that could stand up to the kind of heat and humidity we’d be living in, or would stay on my face as I played around in the water, and then carefully made purchases through a variety of different brands. Â Some are cheap items you can find at any drug store, and a few are a bit more high end. Â Now that we’ve traveled through the ridiculous heat of places like Jamaica, Cayman, and Guatemala, I think I have a good idea on how they all hold up to their claims. Â And while everything may not be completely waterproof or melt-proof, I mean, I did put them through 90 degree days with 90% humidity, I haven’t been disappointed by any of these products yet.

Â Aveeno Positively Radiant Moisturizer

Purchase through Amazon here

This is my go to moisturizer I use throughout the day, and I love it. It’s very light, non greasy or oily, and it has a key component of having an SPF built right in. That probably would have been enough to sell me on it right there, but there’s also hidden beauty promoters added inside. This moisturizer contains a natural soy complex which works to even out skin tone and blotchiness while using light diffusers to promote radiance. Even though I do also have expensive skin care products, my skin has always had a nice glow when soley using this product, and the fact that it is cheaper, means that I wont hesitate to use it during multiple rounds in and out of the water when I know I’ll be reapplying all day. Don’t let that fool you though, a little bit goes a long way. One of these bottles will last me about a year.

Purchase through Amazon here

Ah yes, the aforementioned expensive skin cream. Ok, maybe it doesn’t fall into the category of ‘stands up to heat and humidity’, but I’m including it on this list because of what it lets me do when the sun goes down. Unfortunately, and although I love this lifestyle, I’ve probably done more damage to my skin over the past two years than I have my entire life beforehand. Maybe that’s because I had no friends to go to the beach with in high school and college, but either way, it definitely suffers now. Let me just warn you, this stuff is expensive, but it is also magic. It works to firm the skin and erase fine lines and wrinkles. I used it for about a year before we left and had amazing skin, but then I became lazy as we started to travel more and believe me, certain areas of my skin could tell that I was trying to cheap out on it. Within two weeks of starting my old beauty routine up again though, boom, flawless skin was on it’s way back in. Again, a little bit goes a long way, and personally I think it is well worth the money.

Maybelline Super Stay Foundation

Purchase through Amazon here

These are a few of my cheap drug store purchases, and while, yes, I could have spent more and went with a department store product that they put on models while shooting in the tropics of Bali, I needed something cheap because foundation and concealer are the base of my beauty routine which means they get used much faster. And in turn empty out my wallet faster. As far as drug store brands go though, I think this is the best you can get. This product claims to flex with your skin so it never feels tight, and it also withstands heat, humidity, and sweat. Does it actually stay on for 24 hours or even a full day of sweating under the blazing sun? No. But it does hold up longer than anything else I’ve tried.

Â Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blush

Purchase through Amazon here

Tarte, whom I love as a brand for being eco friendly and cruelty free, has a great line of Amazonian clay products that contain a dose of Amazonian clay and are baked in the sun. The result is long lasting, streak free color that pops and lasts all day. Â I love the slight gold shimmer in this color (Wonder), which is especially flattering on slightly tanned skin. If you’re looking at the photo you’d probably think that I’d just cracked this blush open last week (and then dropped it causing a chip in the color, that much is true), but let me set you straight. This is my number one blush. If make-up is going on my face, you better believe this blush is accompanying it. I even started using it the few months before we left on this trip. It’s just so packed in pigment that you only need a touch of it.

Tarte Amazonain Clay Eye Shadow Palette

(Purchase through Sephora here)

This eyeshadow quad is made of the same material as the brand’s cheek color, and does the same amazing job of staying on all day long. Just like the blush though, it is extremely high in pigment and you have to be very careful of how much you apply. In the quad shown above, I haven’t even gotten around to using the darkest color yet because I get so much punch with the other three that it’s just not necessary. I would love to learn how to use this kit to get the perfect smokey eye though, something I’ve never been able to perfect in my life. Anyone have any tips for me?

Â Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Cream Eyeshadow

Purchase through Amazon here

Unlike the above mentioned eye colors which only have high staying power, the contents of this little bottle are actually waterproof. I know what you’re thinking, it must be completely thick or waxy to be able to hold up to this claim, but trust me, it’s not. This color glides over your eyes and lasts all day without smudging or creasing. This color goes on light, but can be built up with more applications. For water or land, it’s been a great item to have in my beauty bag. Â *Tip: Â It works best if you can start with a dry, oil free eyelid.

Â Sephora Liner 12 HR Wear Waterproof

Purchase through Amazon here

Ok, ok, I know that eyeliner is going just a bit overboard, but I like to wear it. Â Honestly, I do. Â I actually have four eyeliners aboard between two makeup bags at the moment. Â These two however, are the ones I use when the temperature starts to climb. Â The description claims that they are resistant to water, heat, and humidity, and trust me, they do. Â Not have I only never had a problem with running or smudged eye liner when I’ve personally worn them, but I’ve also read accounts of women wearing this product to the gym and it’s still sitting perfectly on their eye after an hour long sweat session. Â I’m sure that eyeliner is probably the last product to make it on to a boat, but if you’re like me and you just can’t live without it, this is the product to use.

Covergirl Natureluxe Water Resistant Mascara

Purchase through Amazon here

Â You were probably wondering what happened to my drugstore products, thinking I may as well buy you a gift card to Macy’s since that’s the only place you’d be able to get most of these things. Don’t worry, there’s a few more cheapies on the way!

Here’s the thing about waterproof mascaras. They’re terrible for your eyelashes. They might keep them pretty and full for a few hours while you frollick around in the water, but too much use of them and you’ll barely have anything to put that mascara on anymore since they are very drying to lashes. Which is why I love this product from Cover Girl. It’s the lesser of evils in the mascara category for when you’d still like something for those occasions you need full lashes in the water or in the rain (me, me, I’m that girl!), but want to keep the damage to your lashes to a minimum. * Tip: Removing waterproof mascaras with all the extra rubbing and tugging is partially what makes them so bad. For tough eye make-up removal, I am a huge fan of Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Makeup Remover
.

Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick

Purchase through Amazon here

I’ll be truthful with you, basically any long wear liquid lip color will do it’s job if it’s applied properly. Â For me that means starting with absolutely dry lips before applying the product. Â Then (and this is the hard part), you have to let them stay completely dry for about five minutes. Â It will feel tight and uncomfortable, but this is what lets it really soak in. Â After that, apply some of your favorite lip balm to keep you lips moisturized throughout the day. Â One of my favorites is Blistex Five Star Lip Protection SPF 30Â (a godsend for the lips, I use it all the time).

The reason I choose Revlon Colorstay is that it’s lighter than the other brands, and I love their wide array of flattering colors. Â With tiny micas and pearls added they always make my lips look fresh and flirty, with a natural pop of color. Â Because of the cheaper price I can stock up on multiple colors, and the fact that it does hold up to it’s claim of 12 hr staying power makes it my must use item when I want a little color on my lips.

Night Watches

Wednesday May 14, 2014

Lately I’ve been reading lots of accounts, through Facebook groups or blogs themselves, of how many other people out there don’t enjoy night sails. No one ever goes into much explanation of why…just that they don’t feel comfortable with them or would prefer not to do them if they don’t have to. Being no stranger to them myself, I thought I’d take a moment to go over my own personal pros and cons of these supposedly apprehension causing passages.

I can’t say that I’ve had the luxury to be afraid or uncomfortable with them. Right from the beginning I was thrown into night watches without a choice. Our very first long distance excursion in Serendipity was an overnight sail from Muskegon to Milwaukee, back in 2010 with a couple of friends, complete with thunderstorms and sustained 30 knot winds. If that doesn’t prep you to be less afraid for what future night ventures might hold, I don’t know what will. Even our first leg of this journey was an overnight from Muskegon to South Manitou, a 120 mile jaunt. Maybe it was the nerves getting the better of me of having just left my whole life behind, but I remember going to bed just as the sun was setting with a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. When I woke up for my three hour shift and all I had to do was sit in the cockpit for the next three hours while we gently rocked back and forth in Lake Michigan as I stared up at the stars, I realized it wasn’t so bad.

Ever since then I’ve never really been fazed by night sails and actually prefer to take them when possible since why would you want to waste a whole day traveling on the water when you can do it at night and spend half that time sleeping instead? Friends had started asking me, especially once we got into the open waters of the Atlantic, Doesn’t it scare you to be out there in the dark where you can’t see anything? Wouldn’t you rather do it in the daylight? In reply I had to answer that it was actually better. Without being able to see anything, how could you be afraid of it? Those menacing graybeards that I had to stare down through the afternoon were now blended into oblivion. I couldn’t see them, and they couldn’t see me. In fact, on the really dark nights where you can only see a foot or two past the boat are the best because then you’re really just living in the space that is your boat instead of imagining all the empty miles between you and your next landfall. Â It’s kind of like being in your own cocoon.

The only thing I have to do is make it through 3-4 hours while listening to music or a podcast until my shift is up and I can crawl back into bed and sleep half the night away. Sail changes rarely have to be made, maybe a little trimming or easing here and there, but for any of the major things I’d wake up Matt to help me, and what’s the difference between doing that in the dark vs daylight anyway? Â Ok, maybe it was a little hard sometimes while going down the east coast, but once in the Bahamas we spent a few days rigging all lines to the cockpit, so it doesn’t need to be left unless something is really wrong. Â Or the boom vang has to be brought from one side to the other. Â But we run jacklines and wear harnesses, so that’s not usually a biggie.*

If I did have one contention of night sails though, it would be the fact that you do get an interrupted night of sleep. You can’t have your yin without your yang. Although I do love the fact that I can sleep half of the trip away, therein lies the problem as well. I’m only sleeping half of it. If you ever learn one major thing about me, it’s that I love my sleep and I am horrible under sleep deprivation. It can lead me to be moody, forgetful, or even downright sick. (Honestly, if I get less than six hours a night I get light headed and go into dry heaves at some point). If you ever got in the way of me and a good nights sleep, be prepared to be on the wrong end of the worst cussing, name calling, or possibly even property destruction that I can throw at you. (Ok, maybe I won’t actually destroy your property, but it will be the first thing to jump into my mind) That’s how much I love/need my sleep.

Not getting a full night’s sleep unfortunately goes hand in hand with night shifts, and it’s usually the debate I have in my mind on if it’s worth it. There are set schedules worked out on Serendipity where I sleep from 8 pm â€“ 12 am, go on watch from 12 am â€“ 4 am, and sleep again from 4 am â€“ 8 am, meaning I should still get my eight hours in with just a four hour break. Which sounds perfect in theory. And that’s where everything is perfect, right? Â In theory. Unless we’ve been on passage for at least two days I can’t actually force myself to fall asleep at the unholy hour of 8 pm. So I lay in my little bunk, rocking back and forth, for two to three hours until I finally manage to drift off, usually only gaining one hour of sleep until I have to be up again. The second day of passages we usually find ourselves sleeping away most of it, trying to catch up on the actual hours of sleep that we missed while waiting for it to come as we laid in our bunks the previous night. Â It kind of reminds me of how I explained passages to our friend Nate before he joined us on a 380 mile journey from Grand Cayman to Utila, Honduras: â€œPassages are not exciting. They basically consist of sleeping, or counting down the hours until you can go to sleep again.â€.

We’ve heard and sometimes realized ourselves that the longer you are on passage, the easier it is to fall into a routine, and after four to five days you’ve slipped into falling asleep when you’re supposed to, staying awake when you’re supposed to, and hopefully best of all, gaining your sea legs which means it’s much easier to move about the cabin without getting sick. That’s the big payoff that I’m hoping for.

So, between a few off tangents, there you have it, my feelings on night watches. If I can get my sleep schedule down and get a minimum of six hours in before being sent off to do anything that requires too much concentration, I am completely fine with them. Which kind of makes me laugh, although it’s kind of not funny, that because I’d had a collective two hours of sleep on our ride over from Bimini to Miami last night/this morning, I totally missed that I had us anchor right next to a submerged cable and almost right on top of it. My eyes were not even on the chart plotter, but instead of that wide open spot between a few boats in the anchorage. Let’s just hope I don’t suffer more severe consequences next time. I’ll let you know how it all goes once we pull into the Azores after four to five weeks at sea. Hopefully that schedule will have really settled in before I can do anything stupid.

*We also have a safety system that during non daylight hours, whoever is on watch in the cabin always has to be harnessed in. Â No excuses.