Sailing Positive Waves

The resplendent nature of Maine was hard to leave, but Hans had a flight out of Philadelphia on September 22 and we also wanted to spend at least a few days in New York City on our sail south. With that in mind, we weighed anchor in Southwest Harbor, Maine on the Tuesday after Labor Day and set a direct course for just north of Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod. Roughly 120 nautical miles away, we planned to sail past P'Town at first light and keep going through the Cape Cod Canal and see how far we felt like going. We had great winds for the one night passage, actually much more than forecast, and passed the cape at dawn, almost exactly 24 hours after we left Maine. As we were sailing in Cape Cod Bay toward the canal, Matilda yelled that she saw dolphins "or something big" off our starboard beam. We all looked and definitely saw some movement, and then briefly saw at least two fin whales glide over the surface of the water, breathe, then go back under. Chilly sailing in

Damariscove Island We divide our life into different time increments. In the short-term, it’s split into 6 week blocks: the time when Hans is not working and we’re actively cruising. Where should we go and where will we stop for his next work stint? Our geographic progress is made in starts and stops based on that schedule. In the longer term, our time is split into seasons: hurricane season, winter, summer. In the long long term, we look less at time and more at geography. Where do we want to go? If we sail for the south Pacific, when do we transit the Panama Canal? We have little say over our long long term schedule. Because of weather patterns, there are certain months to transit the Canal, there are certain months to be in the tropics, and there are certain months for ocean passages. We’re no longer living on a 3-year plan or a 5-year plan, but more like a solid 6-month plan with various not-yet-decided options for the following 6 months. But I know where we’ll be in February, 2024