Transatlantic, December 2021

Transatlantic, December 2021 - January 2022

January 18, 2022

We made it!
Santa Cruz de Tenerife —> Bequia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines

2,657 nautical miles
5.5 knot average
20 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes
3 jars of lingonsylt consumed
60 PG Tips tea bags steeped 13 passage presents
So many audiobooks and real books
Countless sunflower seeds for President Periwinkle

How do you recap over 20 days at sea on a 44’ sailboat with the same four people? To start, it went remarkably well. The kids matured in ways that we didn’t expect, Hans and I worked together seamlessly, we were all kind and generous to each other, and we all gave each other grace when someone was having a bad day. Daily naps were necessary, candy was rationed, and the food was exactly what we needed. (Except we didn’t buy enough eggs and butter! I’ll write a food post later.)

The days blurred together as we expected. Our bodies were tired from the constant need to maintain balance and from the lack of solid sleep so we had low expectations for daily activity. On calmer days we were busier—making water, washing salt out of the cockpit, small loads of laundry in a bucket; on blustery days we listened to audiobooks and made easy meals. The kids had active days where they played together and they had quiet days where they did their own thing, mainly art activities for Matilda and listening to audiobooks for Freja.

Our average speed was slower than I had hoped for, 5.5 knots, but, on the other hand, the motion on the boat was generally comfortable. We had a week of stronger winds, blowing 25-30 for a few days and 20-25 for a few more and we averaged 6.5 knots. But the motion on the boat was intense and you had to always be holding on to something.

Positive Waves surpassed our expectations. We had a few electronic glitches and the very exciting moment when the automatic fire extinguisher discharged in the engine compartment, but besides those pesky problems, the boat performed beautifully. We felt safe and comfortable.

We made landfall a little after 11 at night on January 15 and our friends on Artemis buzzed over in their dinghy with a beautiful platter of tropical fruit. We spent our first day ashore, drinking rum punches and eating food that we didn’t cook on dishes we didn’t have to wash. It was glorious. So far the Caribbean is living up to the hype. The kids are happy, the water is warm and clear, the fruit is amazing, and everyone is friendly and welcoming.

I tried taking a picture every day of the passage to document daily life on a transatlantic.

12/26/21:The nervous and excited crew of Positive Waves, moments before casting off the docklines.

12/26/21: Kissing and hugging the ground before leaving.

1/26/21: Here we go! Caribbean or bust!

1/11/22: Both kids read all the Magic Misfits books and then gave us mid-ocean magic shows.

1/10/22: dinner.

1/9/22: Tuna!

1/6/22: piano practice. This kid. This boat. It was literally blowing 30 knots when she was up the vee-berth practicing. Running downwind, the motion was comfortable, she had her sea legs, and piano practice continued.

1/6/22: Halfway cake!

1/6/22: Making the frosting; Freja using the frosting kit that Matilda bought her for Christmas.

1/6/22: Maxing and relaxing in the cockpit.

1/6/22: Sparky trying to troubleshoot our AIS. It stopped transmitting. Turns out it's a software update on Furuno's end so we need to wait till landfall to get the update.

1/5/22: Night watch scene.

1/5/22: Matilda with a flying fish that found its way aboard in the middle of the night.

12/29/21: glow stick party!

12/29/21: watching a movie in the cockpit

12/30/21: burgers for dinner. Delicious!

12/30/21: mid-ocean grill master

12/30/21

12/31/21: mid-ocean swim

12/31/21: lure making workshop with Hans

12/31/21: staying busy down below

1/2/22: Freja got very involved with fishing, and loved reeling the fish in.

1/2/22: cockpit hangout

1/2/22: Freja made amazing pretzels for a midday snack. (I caught her mid-blink in this pic, sorry Freja!)

1/3/22: sushi prep

1/3/22: mahi sushi! YUM.

1/5/22: Sunrise.

1/6/22: Making the halfway cake, and also my standard posture for galley work. One leg up so I don't fall.

1/11/22

1/11/22: sunset magic show

1/11/22: running downwind with the code zero poled off the boom. It's not a downwind sail, but Hans made it one! This set-up enabled us to sail in 12-15 knots true wind, making 5.5-6 knots.

1/12/22: bread making. The kids used an old hippy bread book from my childhood and made bread sculptures.

1/12/22: showing President where we're going. He was totally fine on the passage. We did some basic cage cleaning and he seemed unaffected by the motion.

1/13/22: our sargasso mermaid, sharpening a pencil in true boat kid style.

1/13/22: Three weeks at sea, managing a boat and two kids, and we still like each other!

1/14/21: My morning watch buddy. Matilda is our early bird and being at sea didn't change that. She woke up at sunrise every morning and we kept watch in the doghouse together and sat in the cockpit to watch the sunrise. I used the time to teach her how to keep watch. She's very proficient and comfortable with the AIS and radar and we let her keep watch for an hour or two each day. She is begging to do a night watch alone. Not yet kid, but one day.

1/14/22: the rewards of sunrise. Squalls were most common about an hour before sunrise and an hour after, which meant Matilda and I often saw rainbows with our sunrises.