It’s Monday morning early and I woke up early to the sound of wind in the rigging. We have been anchored here in Nassau harbor for a few days and enjoying the local sights. A front came though yesterday, complete with squalls and clocking winds. Fortunately, Nassau harbor is well protected so we were comfortable, rain and all. It’s been fun being here with Brenda, Rob and Kandice as we enjoy our last few days together prior to their heading out and my run back to CT aboard Pandora.
Today I will get a car and drive them to the airport and pick up my crew, Jim and Rich, who are flying in to accompany me for the run north.
We don’t yet know if we will do he entire run in a single leg or if we will stop along the way. Last spring we had a good weather window that lasted long enough to make the 1,000+ mile run back non-stop, and did it in six days. That was quite fast, with near perfect conditions. I doubt that I will be able to do it again that quickly. Who knows, perhaps I’ll be lucky again.
I’ll speak with Chris Parker shortly and will have a better idea of when we should leave to catch the best winds to get us out of the Bahamas and into the Gulf Stream, the river of water that runs northeast along the east coast. The strong current will give us a boost in speed as we make our way north.
While I am looking forward to the trip, I am always a bit nervous before a long run as when we are making a “blue water” trip and we will really on our own and far from land. As you can imagine, there is plenty that can go wrong so we have to be very well prepared. Yes, we have all sorts of safety gear but being hundreds of miles from land carries risk so it’s best to be careful and even a bit worried. To be casual is dangerous. Best to be prepared.
I have done a lot over the years to be sure that Pandora is up to snuf and prepared for long voyages. We have spares for a lot of our equipment and our safety gear is up to date. We have an offshore liferaft as well as two different systems that we can use to summon help via sattelite from the Coastguard if needed. Of course, that isn’t something to be taken lightly.
Well, enough of the “worry stuff” for now as there will be some terrific sailing ahead for the next week or so. The winds are forecasted to be favorable beginning….
My plan is to keep this blog up to date with perhaps one photo each day via my SSB long distance radio. Sending photos and text vis the SSB is very s-l-o-w, glacial actually so the files have to be small. I’ll send the post materials to Brenda who will put them on my blog. The SSB radio will also allow me to talk to the weather router each day and stay in touch with others through two SSB “nets”, one at 08:30 and the other at 17:00 each day. I will check in and give position reports twice a day so other cruisers will know where we are.
I will also “push the button” every four hours on my SPOT GPS transponder, at the change of the watch, for the entire run so that you can “follow” along and see where we are at any given time, 24 hours a day.
When I say “watch” that means that there will be someone on deck at all times as we make our way north. Customarily, we have one on deck at all times, two if it’s particularly windy or rough, with the remaining crew down below catching a bit of sleep.
Sleep is tough for me for the first day or so as I get used to the constant motion of the boat. Yes, I have been aboard for the last four months but it’s very different to be “under way” around the clock verses being anchored knowing that we are safe and settled each night. Obviously, being on the open ocean is a bit less “simple” and that takes a bit of getting used to.
Anyway, I am looking forward to getting underway. However, before that happens, I have to get current crew safetly on their way home and new crew aboard as well as be sure that everything is ready aboard Pandora for the long run.
This morning we will move Pandora to a nearby marina so I can take on fuel and water as well as have convenient access to groceries etc. As I write this it’s pretty windy so the idea of moving into a marina slip in this wind isn’t too exciting to me. If Chris says that we should delay our departure a day or so, I’ll just stay here anchored and move to the marina when it’s more settled.
I don’t have any new photos to include here to illustrate this post, besides, I put something like 15 into yesterday’s post so I guess I’ll pull something fitting from my photos from earlier in the year.
Yes, this one will do. A rainbow that we saw the day we checked into the Bahamas in early February? Yes, that seems appropriate as I make my way toward home and our own “pot of gold”.
Here’s to a safe and speedy voyage. Wish me luck.