An excerpt from our 2 week trip around the Hawaiian Islands.
- I’m hoping for lots of smooth, sunny days with plenty of sun screen. But there’s also the rainy, gusty winds at night in pitch black. We’ll be changing the sail size when fronts pass through or anytime the wind changes. Imagine you’re all cozy in your slim berth with the hammock netting keeping you in place as the boat is heeling 25 degrees. It’s pitch black and you hear “all hands on deck!” You grab your headlight (which you’ve learned to keep next to you) and start throwing clothes on. You notice it’s raining out, so you grab your foul weather jacket and jump up on deck to help reduce sail. It’s Able Seaman A’s turn at the helm, so he steers as B and C step up to the boom and start wrestling with the main sail. B releases the halyard four feet at a time, which slowly lowers the sail, pausing long enough for C to flake the bottom part of the sail in place on the boom and tie it off. The boat is rising and falling with a funny shake of its ass once in a while ensuring your muscles are always working to keep balance. After the lower section of the sail is tied off, C can step back down into the cockpit as B ties off the reefing line, tightens the halyard, and we continue on with less sail area and a smoother motion through the water. We can now go back inside, take off our sopping clothes, towel off, and climb back in bed for a few more hours of sleep before the next watch. (Or until the next sail change, which may very well be in 20 minutes.)
- The stormy, wet days won’t be too scary or dangerous. They’ll just be uncomfortable and break into our sleep once in a while. I’m predicting 90% of the time will be easy, with times of intense hard work when we least want to do it.
- Also, remember we are out at sea with no doctors. I have a book called, “Where there is no doctor” and a basic medical kit so we can take care of ourselves for most things. But if there’s a broken bone or something we would have to call for a nearby boat to help us out, but if there aren’t any, we’d have to splint it and stabilize the person ourselves. So be careful in your movements around the boat. There’s a sailor’s creed, “Have one hand for the ship, but always keep one hand for yourself.”
- This is a big trip and will be an amazing adventure, but I just want you to know what to expect. If everything sounds good, let’s do this thing!
This is a good example of what the sleeping berths are like. The lee-cloths keep you snugly in place while heeling 20-30 degrees.