Breeze On

In this time of the coronavirus pandemic we are all advised to practice social distancing. It is very easy to practice social distancing on a boat. In fact, during more normal times I find living on a boat a little too isolating and make efforts to connect with other people. Right now, I am very grateful to be living on Breeze On and feel quite safe from the virus. When we arrived at Homer Smith Docks in Beaufort, NC we had already decided to avoid using their restroom/shower, laundry facilities, and courtesy car. We also decided to avoid walking downtown and and prepare all of our meals on the boat. We would purchase food only if we got really desperate. We would go out for short walks everyday on residential streets. Last night, however, George read that the town of Beaufort has issued an order that transient boaters (that would be us) are not to leave the marina property. So today I limited my walking to the docks at the marina.  Although we feel safe living on Breeze On we will...

We left Fort Pierce three days ago at noon. As we motored down the fairway we waved goodbye to Karen and Hugh from our sister ship, Trekker. They were preparing to have Trekker trucked back to Canada.   I have already mentioned seeing the missile launch from Cape Canaveral, it was quite a treat.  Once we were in the Gulf Stream we moved right along. We saw just two dolphins this time and they weren’t interested in playing with us. I was surprised to see a laughing gull circling our boat when we were 100 miles offshore. I presume it was hoping we had some fish scraps to throw overboard. The trip went smoothly until my watch last night. The wind was forecast to be 17-25 kn, gusting to 32 kn.  It was actually in the upper 20’s  to low 30’s with gusts as high as 38 kn. The seas were big, too. A large wave hit us once or twice during a gust and heeled the boat until the rail was in the water. Although those conditions are too gnarly for my tastes I always believed that Br...

Shortly after we left Fort Pierce yesterday we began hearing announcements from the Coast Guard about a missile launch from Cape Canaveral. The launch was scheduled to take place at 2:57 pm and all mariners were advised to keep clear of the flight path. We compared our coordinates with the ones given by the Coast Guard and we were in the clear. The launch time came and went without any sighting of a missile. We didn't know if it had been postponed or we were too far away to see it. Finally, an hour and a half later I spotted it. Although I saw many of these while growing up near Cape Canaveral in the 60's, this is the first we have seen from Breeze On. We are moving right along in the Gulf Stream on our way to Beaufort, NC. Last night and this morning we were sailing into a northerly swell with wind chop coming from all directions. It made for an uncomfortable ride but the waves are finally in sync and coming from behind.

We are back on the boat and preparing to cast off around noon. I have made the casseroles and put them in aluminum loaf pans, prepared the cockpit ice water thermos, and boiled eggs for our nighttime snack. (We also have some delicious honeybell oranges given to us by my uncle and his partner that are our favorite nighttime treat). George downloaded a route from FastSeas and we entered it into the chart plotter. George has cleaned the cockpit and retied the lines to make it easier to cast off.  We have a three-day weather window so we are planning to go as far as Beaufort, NC. If for some reason we can’t make it that far, we do have other options. Ever since we started sailing Breeze On we have kept a log book. Every two hours—it used to be every hour—we write down our coordinates, boat speed, course, wind conditions, and other brief notes. I often wonder why we are doing it and if it would ever come in handy. Well, it has come in quite handy for this trip. Last year at this time w...

You may have noticed that I am not especially motivated to write a blog post if I am not on the boat. Sorry about that. It has something to do with not having the appropriate cues for writing. Anyway, we are back on Breeze On for a few hours after spending the last 3 1/2 weeks visiting family and friends. We have had great visits, but as the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed we have changed and limited our interactions. We are washing our hands (thoroughly and for 20 seconds) many times a day, getting takeout instead of eating in restaurants, and eating mostly at home. We are avoiding going out as much as possible.  Our original plan was to, in about a week, begin looking for a weather window to start heading toward home. Marinas are starting to close, however, so we are concerned about getting fuel and being limited in where we can stop. We hadn’t planned on putting jerry cans of fuel on the rail for the trip home but we have decided to do that in case we have trouble finding fuel ...