Sailing through large empty horizons at night on the ocean, under sail gives you true religion.... You can really reach deep down inside yourself under those skies... Sailing can be very difficult at times and presents you with many choices regarding your present situation, which means you are really living in the moment...Being alone surrounded by 360 degrees of empty horizons, with no trace of another living soul allows you the freedom to really examine yourself and become familiar with who you are... Probably my favorite part about being out on the ocean is the skies... A person cannot help but change under a moonless and cloudless night sky, far enough off the coast not to have any light contamination... Only the lucky few who are out there are enjoying the view, losing it is the price you pay for living in the city... Life can really feel amazing on the water, almost overwhelming at times... I knew everything I changed in my life so I could be on a boat, happened while anchored off an uninhabited island in the Spanish Virgin Islands named Culabrita... A wildlife sanctuary, with white uninhabited beaches lined with palm trees, cliffs on the north where I did a painting, and nearby on the short mountain top, the abandoned remains of a light house built in 1901 and I had the island all to myself... Living with nature, learning the laws of tides and moon phases, or trying to read the horizon approaching you connects you with the natural forces and if you are smart you will listen and learn from them...
Cape Hatteras has a bad reputation and over 600 shipwreck along its coastline to back it up, but so does my girl CHOICES, she's got a reputation she has earned... She was designed for the Northern Latitudes has proved herself worthy to the task, even at the expense of my fumbling abilities and constant begging her forgiveness but if she'd just give me one more chance I won't let this happen again, I promise... I passed Cape Fear which by it's name says it all, without incident going South, got me the most scared I have gotten off that same coast the Summer before, when it took me 6 days to go 200 miles, with hurricane force winds blowing my boat over to being in the middle of a major lightening storm headed North. That passage was what made me chicken out of going North around the outside of Cape Hatteras, and instead take the ICW through the backcountry of North Carolina and then transit into Norfolk via the Dismal Swamp Canal which is a real experience, despite it’s name it is beautiful..... On retrospect I really seemed to have the most challenging times while going around the Capes, they all generate their own weather patterns leaving them very changeable at best, got my best lessons handed to me getting around them 4 out of 5 times, but I also grabbed some great sailing and clocked some nice comfortable speeds at times over 7 knots… Those kind of lessons either steer us away from our dreams, or just makes it more worthy… What you come out at the other end with is the certainty that no matter how bad the lesson, you were lucky, it can always get worse….
I am now in the process of "de-cruising" me and my boat, having passed the 1000.0 Nm yesterday on this last leg of the passage south, which ironically, took place just down from where I went aground for the first time on this trip and after some throttling back and forth managed to power myself off... I should have read the charts a little better

Life is like sailing, I just hang on and hope I survive the storms...

Lantana Florida to Fernandina Beach Florida Passage

I motored North on the ICW on the afternoon of June 5th, and anchored at the entrance of West Palm Beach harbor entrance for the night. I ended up spending the next day and left on Sunday morning before sunrise on a heading of NNE figuring I would catch the Gulf Stream. The day proved to be very hot and muggy with little breeze to cool things off and I grumbled to myself more due to the heat than anything else that a little wind would have been nice. Big mistake! At about 9 that evening, located about 80 miles off the coast of Florida, about parallel with Cape Canaveral I sailed into a series of converging Tropical storms, with winds about 50 kts out of the North on the squall lines that ride in front of these systems. The seas in the stream are notorious when the winds out of the north and the Gulf Stream going north collide and creat very rough conditions with 8 to 10 foot seas with very short intervals. What this translates to is heading into wind gusts over 50 kys, with the boat rising and then plummeting into the trough and headfirst into the next wave, in the pitch black night, as there was no moon, only being lighted by the lightning hitting all around me. I had seen the system approaching and had been able to prepare the boat and myself for the oncoming onslaught, putting on my harness and tethering myself to the boat. It is at times like this that you ask yourself why you chose this lifestyle as it was going to be a very rough ride and there would be little sleep that night, if any. About 2 AM I was through the worst part of it and looking south it looked like the 8th Air Force was bombing Berlin with the massive lightning stikes filling the skies. The winds had shifted to the West and the seas finally started calming down towards sunrise.
Continuing North I decided to head towards Savannah unless the winds, as predicted shifted back to the north then I would make landfall at either St Augustine or Fernandina Beach. Towards the afternoon the winds, as predicted had shifted to the NNE and I tacked west towards the Florida coastline some 85 miles away. The seas by this time were very calm and the boat was cruising along at about 5 knots in the direction I wanted to go. Finally I was able to go below and catch some sleep, the fist since departing West Palm Beach. Setting my kitchen timer for 30 minutes I laid down and at intervals of 30 minutes, getting up and going up into the cockpit, check the horizon for any lights, the trim of the sails and verifying my course, I would go below again and reset the timer and catch 30 more minutes. As tired as I was I had no trouble falling back into an exhausted sleep after each check. The next day proved to be some of the best sailing of my life, cruising along at 6 knots, perfect conditions I entered into the breakwater channel just north of Fernandina Beach where I planned on spending a few days sightseeing. Catching a mooring I launched my dinghy and went ashore, got a restroom key from the Marina office I took a much needed and greatly appreciated shower. That evening , back on board, I ate a light meal from some of the food Josh and Seth had packed for me from my going aweay party that my daughters had given me.

I am in the process of preparing the boat for my cruise North to the Chesapeake Bay where I plan on spending the Summer in hopes of avoiding a storm this hurricane season. All is in readiness and hopefully the weather will cooperate on my trip, if not I will be off the coast and will duck in to some sheltered waters to ride out the storm if need be.
I have problems saying goodbye to friends and this has been no exception. The past year has been spent with my daughters and the many very nice people I have become friends with. Pre-departure jitters are , as usual, present as I think of the million and one things that can happen in an instant no matter how well the boat is prepared. These worries subside once out and clear of the shore. My plans are to keep a journal using this blog for those that have requested it.
Saturday night I was invited to Josh's house for a friendly little get together and last night I enjoyed a very large party my daughter Ginger throws every year, complete with a live band. Tonight I am going to a party being thrown for me at Chrissy's boyfriend Seth's house where I will be cooking steaks for the guests. Tomarrow I hope to depart, weather willing.