We had a lazy, slow sail for most of the trip up to the Rappahannock. We knew the afternoon breeze was supposed to kick up, but until it did, we were plagued by black flies. I don’t think I’ve ever killed so many flies in my life. When the breeze filled in, it really piped […]
We got up at 6am to finish prepping for departure, ran over to the fuel dock and headed out. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but it all settled back once we got under way. The smoke from the Canadian fires was pretty intense, and we ended up wearing masks for a […]
We were up at 3am to finish departure prep. Even though I do as much as I can in advance, there are things we just can’t do ahead of time, and it always takes longer than we expect. As we prepped to leave, a squall blew through and we decided to wait it out. Once […]
We met David aboard Flight for coffee and some weather/routing talk first thing in the morning. The plan was to head out on the afternoon slack, and the weather looked perfect. It’s always nice to have another experienced sailor to vet plans with, especially when they seem to have a similar risk tolerance. We agreed […]
This passage was an interesting one, and this was another case where the forecast and actual conditions were not in alignment. As we approached the Saint Augustine inlet, I did NOT like the looks of things out there. But our choice was to go or not make Charleston this weekend. We left our slip just […]
With a short weather window to get to Saint Augustine, we were up well before dawn and hauled anchor just after 5am. As the sun came up, we popped the chute and took off. With 8-10kts of breeze, Windara ate it up, and it was fun to see how she performed under spinnaker and main […]
The day started with a beautiful sunrise, and we enjoyed a peaceful morning. Little Sale Cay is beautiful and appears to be a tropicbird rookery – I saw several of them flying around. We could see cumulonimbus clouds in the distance, and it was obvious the weather wouldn’t remain nice for long. We check forecasts obsessively […]
The day started with a muted but beautiful sunrise, and we hauled anchor around 0830. We had a warm, sunny day but barely any wind so we found ourselves motoring most of the way up the Sea of Abaco. I would have loved to be able to stop at Allans-Pensacola or Powell Cay, but there […]
It’s finally time to cast off the lines, and I’m sad that another incredible cruising season has come to a close. Spend enough time in a place, and it’s amazing how deeply it touches you, changes you, invites you to grow. Letting the lines slip is hard – you feel the pull of the place […]
We got up just before dawn so we could leave our beloved Hope Town before the tide got too low to leave and anchored outside. We dinghied back in to take one last walk on our beach and visit the farmers market (I scored some delicious-looking mango jam and we bought donuts that we really […]