Cruising Confidence

We're off again, but spent some time trying to figure out why we spent the past two weeks in the same place. We got to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon and just stopped. In six years of marriage, we have never 'stopped' for more than 3 days, never mind two weeks! Might have something to do with two months of go go go, getting ready and taking off into lots of wind and new experiences, we just got tired and things seemed much more difficult than we thought. Might be likely that we've realised that although we'd been out on the boat a lot, a week on the boat is very different than living on it. In reality, it's probably a combination of both. Now you know intellectually, of course, that living on a boat is different than holidays on one or chartering, but deep down what you really think, 'Oh, it won't really be that different.' It is different, but in ways that are so subtle that it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what the differences are. Here are some:

Nobody has set a schedule, there's no date when you have to be back. When you charter, you have a set period of time when you go and when the boat has to be back by - same with a holiday on our boat. You almost always go in the summer when the chances of bad weather are pretty slim (Meltimis aside!). You never have to maintain charter boats and pay someone to maintain yours. You provision for a week rather than the long term. You don't care what it costs 'because you're on holiday'.

You can't get off (well, you can, but it's a bit more difficult). For example in Italy, a week sailing with no wind. Oh well, the weather wasn't that great this trip, but next time it will be better. When we were on our own boat, we carefully selected to sail during weather windows and brought the boat back when the weather turned poorly. If you are anchored next to a deserted island two days away from anywhere and the weather gets blustery, you ride it out - there is no bringing the boat back to the marina and going home when the wind blows.

You really don't realise how much you need to know. We spent most of our time concentrating on keeping the boat going and not enough time learning about the weather, the wind and the interrelationship between those, the boat and where we want to go. The big learning for us is that you shouldn't pick where you want to go and then look at the weather - you may never get there. The starting point is - what is the weather going to do and what are the journey options given that weather? There is a constant prevailing wind and you've got to work with it. And since we have never been to the majority of the places we've been to and where we're going, it really doesn't matter where we go - places are irrelevant. It's all new!

You can pick - where you're going, when you're going or the weather you'll have while you're going - but you can't pick all three at the same time. Weather isn't something that happens coincidently, it is fundamental. I had always thought weather in Florida was a constant sameness, sunny every day, slightly varying levels of warmth and add in afternoon thundershowers in the summer. When you're on the water the weather is much more varied and we have to pay attention to far more detail. Right now we're monitoring:

Wind speed - today, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, following day

Wind direction - today, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night, following day

Tide times - low, high, low, high

Wave height - Atlantic and bay waters

Sunrise time, sunset time (and we often view both)

Air temperature, water temperature

Rain chances

Skies - overcastness

Barometric pressure - rising, falling

Where the Gulf Stream is located (who knew that it moved and when it is closer to shore you can go and snorkle in it?!)

It's all interesting and different, and we're back on the sea again. Important to understand what's going on though. You can understand why some folks find a secure, protected harbor with lots of friends and activities and just stay there, just stop. I think we'll keep going.

Differences for Jess: The boat feels like a home rather than a hotel. Charters always feel temporary. An example of a simple difference - having a deck pillow to snuggle up to and sleep on versus not having a deck pillow.