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The cruising moments you don't expect.....

5K views 25 replies 22 participants last post by  lancelot9898 
#1 ·
The following is an excerpt from my passage log, from a 36 hour run in company with friends on the Queensland coast. I share it here as maybe It sums up for me the unexpected, inexplicable moments of cruising I didn't ask for, but that now have me hooked.

5PM
After a few carefree days in Civilisation we have now finally left in company with Whimaway to again try and take advantage of a very small weather window.
The forecast is far from ideal. The seas and winds are big and still on the nose, but are mean't to be decreasing. If we can't make this weather window work then we are stuck in here for probably another week if not longer.

7PM
Have had an uncomfortable start to the passage beating into large but decreasing seas. We are taking it ok, but if we were honest neither of us really want to be out here right now. Josie is a little queazy, Pizza for dinner while watching sunset. Have invited Whimaway to swim over for sundowners, but so far no takers.

10PM
Jo and Sophie have gone to bed and conditions aboard had improved considerably. The boat's motion is now quite comfortable, and the seas are reasonable. Listening to Dire Straits, starting to see stars, and moon is out. How quickly things can change.......

2AM
Early hours of the morning and we have a warm westerly at 15 knots!! Sheets eased and the moon is shining as dolphins swim past us and it is a truly magic sail. With the warm onshore breeze, I can smell the land, like I can really smell the trees, the beaches and the warmth. The boat is moving beautifully on seas that look like they were made just for us. I decide not to wake Josie for her watch.
I think about the people asleep in the towns I am sailing past, I can see their lights in the distance and I wonder if they know we are out here.
I think about my friends and family in Sydney, in that bustling city, I think about what their day would of been like, and realize how different my life now is from theirs. While they know we are out here, they probably would not be able to understand this moment.
I put down my book, and hit play on the stereo. Norah Jones this time. I really feel truly and utterly alive. The anxiousness of previous passages has been replaced by complete elation over the wonder of really being alive and of being privileged enough to be out here experiencing all of this.
Whimaway has just passed us, they look to be heading right out, maybe trying to find the current. I look at our speed, not only are we moving wonderfully before the wind, but we are also benefitting from at least 2 knots of current. I think about calling them on the radio again, curious if they are getting any more current than us out there, but it may wake Josie.

5AM Still sailing beautifully, led down on the deck and just watched the stars for 20 minutes. First light has just hit. Have put the camembert and ham in the croissants for breakfast, will put them in the warmer soon and wake Josie for breakfast.


In planning this trip I had expected to enjoy the pretty places we would see, the islands and the beaches, the reefs we would snorkel and to have fun meeting the new people we would meet, however it was these quiet but magic moments on my sailboat moving easily before the wind and the moon that I had not expected.
 
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#6 ·
On this site I think we talk too much about fixing the plumbing and not enough about the cruising experience itself. BTW, there are some good cruising pictures in the Cruising Liveaboard section on Cultural Aspects of Cruising.

One of the nicest parts of cruising is sunrise, in particular if the moon has been down. It is like the world gets bigger all around you.
 
#8 ·
Awesome post, Chall - beautiful and well told.. I could 'see' it all.

Someone mentioned the sunrises... my fave was one early March our son and I were delivering his new-to-him boat from Tacoma to Vancouver. We were heading into Georgia Strait just before dawn (after transiting the Snohomish Canal under a full moon) when the sun began to rise behind us. At exactly the same time the moon was setting, huge, full, and bright orange on the bow. I was alone on deck and nearly woke the boy, but he'd just finally gotten some sleep...

It's a magical world at times..
 
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#9 ·
Great post/thread.

I can totally relate to this.
My sweetheart and I we sailing from Stuart, FL to Miami overnight and the trip started off uncomfortably for her. The wind was supposed to switch around to the West but took longer than expected, so we beat/motorsailed for a long time into the waves. This was her first overnight trip and I really wanted it to be a good experience.

The wind finally switched around 3am and I was able to shut down the engine and enjoy a fabulous beam reach under a clear sky full of stars. It was simply magic. It is one of those moments when you feel like nothing can go wrong, nothing matters much, all your worries just vanish.

She had been asleep below for a while when the sun came up over the Bahamas, with just a few burned out storms left on the horizon which it gave it such a beautiful three dimension effect.
The boat was sailing perfectly on autopilot, doing about 6 knots in the 15 kts Westerly breeze. All the condos from Ft Lauderdale and Miami Beach were visible on the right, all lit up. At that moment, I felt the same way you did, looking at the buildings, thinking of the people inside, probably still asleep in their comfortable beds, and all I could think was that I wouldn't trade places for anything. I could visualize someone on their balcony, drinking coffee and admiring their gorgeous view as well, noticing our boat out there, and possibly wondering what it must be like to be on it right now.
I felt more alive than ever. What a magical place.
I put on some music, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole Over The Rainbow, it was perfect, it is often my relaxing morning music when I get up. I couldn't stop smiling. It gave me what I call a FRAMP (a facial cramp from smiling too much... Good stuff. I hope everyone has at least one in their lifetime).
The music gently woke up the Admiral as she had said she wanted to see the sunrise, and she came out, admiring what nature had blessed us with. We sat there without having to talk for a while, listening to the music and the sound of the boat gently cutting through the warm water.
I kept looking at the buildings in the distance and wondering how many folks would get this. I mean, you can tell the story a million times, but unless you sail, there are certain feelings that just can't be explained.

Thank you Chall for starting this thread, it made me smile and feel alive.
 
#10 ·
I can't wait to get out on a nice overnight passage with the stars out and then watching the sun rise on the horizon. So far the only overnight passage I've experienced was going across Lake Michigan in a thunderstorm with 35 knot winds which just dissipated into dreary gray skies the next morning. :( Interesting night though.
 
#12 ·
The first overnight passage I ever did was wet cold and utterly miserable. I was also completely petrified, it is true what my mama used to say.....the dark does make things just seem real scary.

I seriously thought about beaching the boat, hitting the Epirb and getting a ride with the rescue boys towards a nice long shower. Golfing perhaps seemed like a far more sensible pastime.

I think it took me several overnight passages to get to the point where I actually could enjoy it........and warm balmy sailing under clear skies certainly helped.
 
#13 · (Edited)
The first overnight passage I ever did was wet cold and utterly miserable. I was also completely petrified, it is true what my mama used to say.....the dark does make things just seem real scary.
Impressive honesty! :)

In my case, I stupidly wanted to show I could do yachtmaster work at the chart table at 2 a.m. in rough conditions just before we crossed the shipping channels of the English Channel. I did it, and then fought sea sickness for the next eight hours, including when doing a major tack that threw half the crew out of their bunks (to safely avoid three tankers and container ships) and doing a drenching pre-dawn head sail change on the foredeck.

I regret that I haven't had much of the star-filled skies "at one with the universe" syrupy music with the wake filled with phosphorescence type of night sailing yet... (Okay, maybe I don't.)
 
#14 ·
I think Chall, me old china plate - you've got there. However I can tell you now that after a few years, you'll only record the weather, wind, boat speed, course etc - the rest you'll have stored in your memory.

Later, you'll remember the sound of dolphins breathing, and talking, and you'll know the course is true by the feel of the swell under the boat.
 
#24 ·
However I can tell you now that after a few years, you'll only record the weather, wind, boat speed, course etc - the rest you'll have stored in your memory.
I hope not; my biggest regret from my first 2 boats is not keeping any log, let alone one that is log/journal. Now I try to write down how I felt and what I thought about. I've always been a bit of a writer, so I'm sure that's part of it.

I think Steely Dan makes some good cruising music.
 
#16 ·
Dawn can be very liberating if it has been a stressful night - crappy weather, traffic, making a landfall - especially combinations of the above.
 
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#17 ·
I really enjoy sailing at night. One of my favorite moments was on a sail from Ustica (a beautiful island by the way) to Sardinia. There were three of us and we were doing single watches and, during my watch at night, dolphins were rushing the boat beam on. The bubbles and bioluminescent trails were incredible almost like live torpedoes. Fantastic!
 
#18 ·
I love night sailing. Working the bow at night is scary - but really fun...at least in the relatively minor conditions we were in (20 knots and 5-6 footers). I could see where it could be terrifying though.

Even so, the stars, the dolphins, the phosphorescence, the sounds, amazing. The unlit oil rigs...not so much.
 
#19 ·
Does overnight racing count?

I don't have any long passages, but I have two races, 55 and 80 miles respectively. Two vastly different experiences:

Eastport to Solomons, Md. on my 3.75ktsb. We were immediately left behind at the starting line and raced alone all night. The sky was crystal clear, and the moon was full and bright all night long. On each tack, the running lights illuminated the foot of the jib eerily, but the water was a beautiful silver. There was only one commercial ship all night. The heavily tilted and inactive Sharp's Island Light loomed over us like a sleeping sentinel at one point. The pink and orange dawn arrived, illuminating James Island, pine trees and pelicans. It was gorgeous.

Governor's Cup (Annapolis to St. Mary's College) on a C&C 35MkIII

In this race, we were in the middle of our competiton all night. It was an ugly, upwind pounding the entire way, with no moon, under a sky of hammered lead. It was somehow comforting to have the running lights of our competition nearby, but it was always nerve-wracking when they'd tack in front of you and their black sails would blot out what little ambient light remained. There were phospherescent jellyfish in the water, that when the hull slammed down, would flash brightly as they slid down along the hull. Dawn brought Point No Point, Point Lookout and the St. Mary's river. We fired up the oven and cooked this delicious cream cheese and sausage breakfast pastry as we raced. Best fed crew in the fleet. :cool:
 
#20 ·
Being on watch at night is a wonderful thing if the conditions are right. Some of my best memories from the Navy are of starry nights watching from the bridge. They mirror my first moonlit night sail on Puget Sound sailing from Everett, WA to Port Ludlow on my Catalina 27. The beauty of a sunset and the peaceful easy feeling of sailing along in the dark is wonderful, but the shipping traffic in the Sound keeps you attentive and ready for anything.
 
#21 ·
Or first time sailing in the dark was interesting, and uplanned. We had just purchased our new, old boat and where moving it down the Puget Sound from Port Townsend to Olympia in October. We planned to spend the fist night in Kingston, which we should have gotten to just before dark. A few hours out, the engine over heated and died. This was my first inboard engine, so it had a lot of systems I was new to. We put up the sails and beat into a 20+ knot head wind in a bit of a chop and let the engine cool.

As the sun went down, we where sailing at night for the first time on a new to us boat in waters we weren't familiar with in conditions that where as bad as we had ever been in (although they weren't really bad, just unfamiliar) and with our 2 young daughters on board.

At first we were a bit terrified, but after sailing for a while we stopped (mentally) and took stock. We could see just fine due to the moon, stars, and/or city lights. We could see all the ships and ferries around just fine. We had charts and knew where we were. We could sail just fine and could easily maneuver out of anyone's way. We found a spot on the chart we could sail into and set anchor if needed, and we had a radio if things got way to out of control. Sure, it wasn't as planned, wasn't as comfy as we hoped. Sure it was cold and miserable in October in the PNW, with no dodger, lots of wind and spray coming over the bow. But we where safe, making progress and had a plan whether the engine worked or not.

After this mental break, we both really looked around and enjoyed the unique experience we had never had before. It was beautiful,the city lights, the moon and stars, the ships slipping by in night, the wind pushing the boat along to a safe place for the night. Life was good. I'll never forget that night.

As we neared Kingston, we fired up the engine as I had not been able to find anything wrong, and figured we could at least get into the harbor before the engine overheated again. We made it in just fine, the engine never overheated again, I suspect we sucked some kelp or something up against the water intake, which came off as we sailed.

We got into port about 11pm, found a slip and tied up of the night. The girls where both asleep down below and as my wife and I hugged on the dock, we felt like conquerors, heroes, on top of the world, like we could do anything. We had faced adversity, overcome obstacles and brought our boat, and our family safe into port. That's a feeling that isn't unique to sailing alone, but is not common in most people's lives these days and like someone said before, it's not something you can explain to someone who doesn't sail or at least who doesn't do something similarly as crazy. Normal people just don't get it when we tell the story. All they can say is "Wow, you call that fun?!?" Yes, yes I do.

The next day we sailed from Kingston to Gig Harbor. We stopped on the way at Blake Island to let the girls run and stretch our legs. As we where leaving, we where talking to some folks there who couldn't believe we where going on that day, as we wouldn't get in until after dark. "It's OK" I said, "We enjoy night sailing..." like we where experts now. We had been into Gig Harbor many times on our last boat, so entering at night didn't bother us there.

We've come a long way since then and have had several all night passages since then, perhaps I'll write up more about those later.

Thanks for this thread and all the stories. I've enjoyed others experiences, as well as the prodding to remember and reminisce about my own.
 
#23 ·
In my earlier 20 I did two transatlantic trips and one inparticular was just an awesome experience I would like to have captured in a bottle. We were 6 days out of Falmouth England on a broad reach of about 15 knots in a large Baltic when I came topside for the 2-6 AM watch and when I finally settled in The beauty of the night sky, being all alone in the universe 6 days from any land over came me for hours. hearing the hissing of the boat through the water trailing a phos[phescent wake with only the light of a wanoing cresent moon made me really small and understanding the miracle of my being where I was.

Even now 35 years later I can close my eyes and go back to that place...I will never forget it

Dave
 
#26 ·
One of my best memories of night sailing happened about 10 years ago as I was sailing down the Cheaspeake. Sundown happened about several hours before and I was enjoying the peace and solitude of the night with the gentle breeze as I made my way toward Solomons when all of a sudden a bright light shown on the cockpit from astern. Why was I not more vigilent in keeping a watch for those freighters and barges that travel the bay? As I looked astern expecting to see the outline of a fast approaching ship to my relief it was the full moon rising. Wow....what a sight.
 
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