We left sight of land by 2:00 and we had done 50 miles by 5:30 with 70 to go in our overnight trip. The seas were calm and we had a good breeze for the majority of the day so Steve was able to get a bit of sailing in rather than just motoring. Our watches were planned for the overnight, but realistically we knew that neither one of us would get much sleep. We both pottered around during the day doing odd jobs, reading and talking about the upcoming trip. After a gorgeous sunset, it quickly went dark.
We had been motoring, but once the sun went down the breeze picked up again so Steve put up the jib and the mizzen and we zoomed off! Zoom is an interesting word to use when discussing our boat because it doesn't normally zoom, it does a nice sedate 5 knots. If things get really zippy then we'll do 6. We were doing at times 7 knots plus - zooming!
As it went dark, the moon and the stars came out. This was something I had been waiting for, to see the night sky with no land lights dimming the brightness. It was absolutely gorgeous! The brightest stars I have ever seen along with constellations that I had never seen. The moon reflected off the water and so did the lights from the boat as we sailed along. Steve watched the moon set in the same place as the sun, and used the stars to hold the heading.
It was a good trip and a trip of many learnings. Steve and I have different speed / heeling thresholds, particularly if it is not sunny. It was quite windy, 20 to 25 knots. I can do fast and heeling
if it is a bright sunny day, but bring a grey, overcast day or dark and my speed / heeling threshold drops way down so we need to adjust for that in the future. We knew that about overcast and now we know it about dark. It's just like the motorbike, we need to find the 'slow down knee squeeze' equivalent. Also now having done the first, we now know more of what to expect in terms of how the boat will react and how we will react. Steve steered by hand for about 12 hours, which causes next day pain. We know what we'll do when something breaks (the snatch block on the jib sheet (don't I sound 'sail geeky') gave way). We'll do overnights again with more confidence (actually Steve was plenty confident, I will be more so now!).
We made it to Key West just as the sun was rising and were anchored by 8:30ish, about 3 hours earlier than we expected. Showers, breakfast and bed!
We had been motoring, but once the sun went down the breeze picked up again so Steve put up the jib and the mizzen and we zoomed off! Zoom is an interesting word to use when discussing our boat because it doesn't normally zoom, it does a nice sedate 5 knots. If things get really zippy then we'll do 6. We were doing at times 7 knots plus - zooming!
As it went dark, the moon and the stars came out. This was something I had been waiting for, to see the night sky with no land lights dimming the brightness. It was absolutely gorgeous! The brightest stars I have ever seen along with constellations that I had never seen. The moon reflected off the water and so did the lights from the boat as we sailed along. Steve watched the moon set in the same place as the sun, and used the stars to hold the heading.
It was a good trip and a trip of many learnings. Steve and I have different speed / heeling thresholds, particularly if it is not sunny. It was quite windy, 20 to 25 knots. I can do fast and heeling
if it is a bright sunny day, but bring a grey, overcast day or dark and my speed / heeling threshold drops way down so we need to adjust for that in the future. We knew that about overcast and now we know it about dark. It's just like the motorbike, we need to find the 'slow down knee squeeze' equivalent. Also now having done the first, we now know more of what to expect in terms of how the boat will react and how we will react. Steve steered by hand for about 12 hours, which causes next day pain. We know what we'll do when something breaks (the snatch block on the jib sheet (don't I sound 'sail geeky') gave way). We'll do overnights again with more confidence (actually Steve was plenty confident, I will be more so now!).
We made it to Key West just as the sun was rising and were anchored by 8:30ish, about 3 hours earlier than we expected. Showers, breakfast and bed!
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