Month: July 2012

We know that we shouldn’t look at our average speed and distance to go to figure out what speed we need to make to arrive in Horta by nightfall.  We know that we should just be happy to have a safe passage and take things as they come.  Justin and I are not exactly experts

Shearwater can smell the barn.  We’ve been blasting along for 48 hours now with two 190 nm days in a row.  The winds have been consistently above 20 knots the entire time.  If there is one thing that has surprised us most on this trip it is the wind.  It is just so windy, day

Although we haven’t had lots of clear nights, we have had a few, and currently, there are actually planets aligning – all in a row with the moon!  Jupiter is just above Venus and the moon is sitting right between them. Earlier in our trip, we saw Mercury and Saturn, as well (according to our

And it just keeps getting better.  The last 4 days have seen the weather and seas get progressively better and better.  Yesterday was fabulous with perfect winds, broad reaching with the gennaker at 8 knots, sunny skies, and comfortable temps.  We flew the gennaker until later afternoon when the breeze got up into the low

For the past 24 hours, we’ve been sailing upwind towards a promised wind shift.  We can’t complain much about the upwind sailing, as Shearwater seems to love to go to weather – it’s so easy for her to go 7 knots in 12 knots of breeze.  With the recent headwinds we had, there were rain

Yesterday was the best sailing so far.  Clear skies, but not too hot.  Wind from behind at 20-25 knots.  The seas finally laid down a bit, and we made great progress.  203nm from 7pm – 7pm.  That is what we imagine trade wind sailing must be like. Today is quite different.  It appears we are sailing between

Yesterday, after 7.5 days at sea, we passed the halfway point between Annapolis and Horta.  We opened one of the gifts from family in celebration.  It was Almond Butter, which sounds really good right now.  The last few days were tough with thurderstorms, winds up over 35 knots, really light winds, and consistent ugly sea

We spent yesterday evening running in strong conditions – steady low to mid-thirties.  Today dawned with more of the same, although the sun has finally come out to make things a bit cheerier.  We’re currently reaching in 25 knots through some large waves that were generated by the system we encountered yesterday evening.  It’s exhilarating

After yesterday, we were looking forward to a nice, mellow day of sailing downwind.  We didn’t get it, unfortunately. We both spent the night in the cockpit, taking turns on watch with the other sleeping in the cockpit, in case any other squalls or other events came up.  At nightfall last night, we were still

The last 24 hours have been pretty amazing.  Starting at 7am yesterday through 7am today, we sailed 230nm.  For a cruising boat that is almost unheard of, for a 40′ foot cruising boat that is even more rare, and for a boat with only 2 people aboard, more rare still.  The best part was that