Transatlantic: Day 19 [Day 40]

Today is July 26, 2018 and the most magnificent thing happened: Dolphins.

The winds returned and we began sailing rather quickly, fast enough that we were comfortable under full sail without much effort and yet the seas hadn’t built yet so we were moving along at a relatively flat attitude. Out of nowhere I begin hearing the sounds of dolphins as they jump out of the water to survey the world above the waters edge. They approach the cockpit where I stand up and begin filming them. They seem to like this and we have found that if we do not make a big to-do over their presence at this point, they will then just swim along to somewhere else. If we do this big to-do, they will then move up to the bow and begin bow riding us!

To make this moment even more special, we were moving along under full sail at speeds over 6 knots! The dolphins in the past seemed to get bored with us and basically float along in front of the boat as if offering to give us a tow if we threw them a line simply because they felt sorry for how slow we were moving. These dolphins got to have fun bow riding us! We were moving and they were kicking!

Dolphins are one of the most awesome parts of blue water cruising. It doesn’t matter the weather, the conditions, or your energy level; when dolphins come around, all you want to do is watch them play and stare in awe at the awesome display of grace and agility that a dolphin embodies.

As the sun began to get low on the horizon (and the dolphins probably got a bit tired) they departed us and we were once again all alone out in the middle of the ocean. The closest mammals in this part of the world came to pay us a visit and check in on us, but now they have gone back to their world as we skim the surface of an alien world where we are merely visitors who have already sent in our mark from far away (plastics).

Sunsets out in the ocean are always beautiful, and one of my favorite parts about being out at sea. The clouds block out the sun but the rays come peering through in splendid form, reminding you that you are an insignificant observer in this incomprehensibly large universe.

Transatlantic: Day 18 [Day 39]

Winds have sort of returned. We have enough to keep our sails full, our wind steering on course, and the sense of movement through the water, but not at any real speed that you feel your direct attention is needed at every single moment.

This kind of slow and comfortable sailing is actually my favorite. Nothing happens fast, nothing is really important, and everything is easy to handle. The winds are light enough that full sails can still be managed without the aid of a winch, but you have enough wind to keep the sails full, even when moving through the seas. The winds are also too light to actually create large seas so the boat doesn’t actually ride up and down waves. Instead, it just looks impressive as the bow slices through the waves and the water parts around the front of the boat. It looks really good but it’s not really that impressive of a feat.

While out in these conditions, a whale surfaced near the boat and Maddie was able to get a picture of him. At first glance, I thought it was a Minke Whale because of the size of the whale, as well as the size and position of the dorsal fin. Once we made landfall and had access to literature on whales, we now strongly believe it was a Northern Bottlenose Whale.

You can sort of see the beak of the whale under the surface of the water in the picture above. In the picture below, you can see this weird hump on the head which was characteristic of a Northern Bottlenose Whale as well, and not a feature of the Minke Whale. The whale surfaced around us a few times and it felt truly magical. Here we are out in the middle of the ocean and the whale decided to surface next to us!

The whale could easily see us at the surface and chose to reveal itself to us at that point. It could have easily surfaced far away from us where we might have heard it but never seen it. It could have also surfaced once and then dived back down and out of sight, but instead, it remained near us for a few minutes, watching us as we watched what it was doing.

Today was absolutely magical! We had enough winds to feel like we were being productive, and then we saw a whale out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! We are as far from any whale watching tour possible and got to see a whale in their natural environment, where they spend most of their lives, in the deep blue.

To top the day off with an extra special amount of magic, the moon rose while the sun was still up.

I know this will sound childish, and even after studying celestial navigation, I still feel that the sun belongs in the sky by day and the moon in the sky by night. On moonless nights, I feel like if something vital is missing; likewise, on days when the moon is out I find myself looking at the moon and thinking: “You aren’t supposed to be up there yet!”

Every time I see the moon by day, that childish thought rolls through my mind. On the flip side, that thought makes me notice the features in the sky!

Transatlantic: Day 17 [Day 38]

As promised, the winds returned. Our little break from sailing was much needed as we were a bit tired from all the watching and movement of the boat. Just the act of sitting in a sailing vessel is strenuous as you are constantly moving your core to maintain yourself straight and steady. Sleep is not as deep because you are listening for the on watch person should they call out for you to assist them.

Having a break in the middle was actually really nice because it let us recharge and regroup. We ate, we rested, and now we were ready to go once again.

With the winds back, we were moving along quickly at our old pace, covering more than 100 nautical miles per day.

Friends on shore were giving us coordinates for where the wind is located, and we had plenty of time to play with the symbols on the screen.

The skull and crossbones is the location of a Hurricane, the windmill is the waypoint where the wind is located (based on weather routing software), the little boat is our Australian friends who left Bermuda a few days before we did and were a few hundred miles ahead of us as a result.

This little map is the closest thing we have to an electronic chart of where we had been and where we are going. You can see the marks as we traveled down the coast of the United States, some of the points off of Georgia were “far out to sea” in our opinion at the moment. Now when we look at this map and see how we just rocketed away from the shore and shot straight out to sea, we begin to wonder what we were thinking.

What changed in our minds that let us point directly away from land and head straight out towards an empty horizon? We have charts and know that land is out there, but what about the first explorers who were setting out blindly? They had no idea what or where land was located, and simply ventured out over the horizon to lands unknown.

With all this knowledge, we were still scared to actually let go of land and head out to sea. Now we are out in the middle and not even thinking about looking back. We are cruisers and we are crossing the ocean; the best way to do that is to head straight towards your destination!

Transatlantic: Becalmed in the Middle of the Atlantic

Imagine being out in the ocean without a diesel motor. Imagine that you don’t know when the wind will come back. Imagine that you are in the middle of the ocean. What would you do?

Wait!

Wind will always come back, in the meantime, you can just relax and eat a good boat cooked meal!

We were becalmed for a few days and drifted along with the currents in what looks to be the rough shape of Texas! We did drift backwards some, but then regained some of those miles when we drifted eastward again.

In that time, we celebrated my birthday, watched marine life float by, and enjoyed not worrying about anything!

You always picture the ocean as being full of waves, but the truth is, it is very peaceful out there; you just have to get the weather right!

Being becalmed with an electric motor might sound like a death sentence, but it isn’t that bad. The winds will return and we will once again continue sailing. In the meantime, we are forced to relax and rest because movement and weather are out of our control. We are at the mercy of the elements and when they say, we can then do. Until then, we just have to wait for the signal to go.

Transatlantic: Day 16 [Day 37]

My birthday was yesterday, and the lack of wind continues.

The rest from the race across the ocean was nice, but we are now rested and ready for some wind again.

Maddie has a bit of a melt down because the voyage is supposed to take 18 days (roughly) from Bermuda to Faial, Azores, and we have no wind, no motion, and no idea when the winds will return. To top it off, we are still 800 miles away from the Azores, so if the wind comes back right now, we will still be looking at another 8 days of sailing to make landfall.

If the winds came now, we would be making landfall in 24 days instead of 18 days. And, that was if the wind came right now, but we don’t know when it’s going to come, and that part was hard for Maddie as Day 18 was fast approaching.

After a good cry to vent her frustration, we were able to relax and enjoy the sunset. The tranquility of the ocean would be short lived and we would soon have wind again.