Toe Rail Cleat Hitch

A cleat hitch is nothing more than a clove hitch tied around a cleat. Just as a Sampson Post Hitch is a clove hitch tied around a Sampson Post.

If you have a perforated toe rail, you can use this trick to tie a cleat hitch anywhere on your toerail, whether you have a cleat available or not! 

All you need to do is picture the toerail as a cleat, and begin from there. Now, the end that runs towards our dinghy painter is coming off the wrong side (the current switched and winds didn't) but I'm sure you won't make that same mistake.

Simply lead the line through the toerail and back along the side of the toerail just like you would make the first pass on a cleat. Then instead of going under the horns, you simply pass the line through the perforations in the toerail. The last step is a bit different, as you don't twist and slip over the horn, instead you have to pass the bitter end through the knot. 

If you picture it as tying a clove hitch on your toerail, you will easily and securely be able to attach any line at any point of your vessel. 

Our First Bahamian Sunset

Getting to the Bahamas took us a bit longer than it would take someone with a motor. We left April 24th at 11pm and arrived in West End at 3pm on April 26th. The winds got light and the Gulf Stream was pushing harder than expected, so we took longer to make it there. 

While the 10 hour journey took us a day and a half, the sunset on our first night there was worth it! It was a calm day, we went swimming, relaxed in the hammock, and then watched the sun paint the horizon a glorious orange. 

This is what we were looking for when we set sail for the Bahamas, and we found it on our first day there. 

Last Watch of the Night

My favorite watch schedule to be on is the last one of the night. This means that your watch usually ends at around dawn, and you get to watch the sun rise up from over the horizon. The colors at that time of morning are so intense and the blues never seem bluer!

Everything seems still and calm while still in full motion of the sea. The sleepiness I was beginning to experience just fades away as the sun rushes in and wakes me up. This will have me up as early as possible (usually around 4am) so that I get to enjoy the entire day and feel tired by the time sunset comes around. I get to reef down and let someone else take first watch. As I lay down during the dark hours of the night, I know that tomorrow I will once again get to enjoy the majestic wonder of dawn.

Nighttime Sailplan for Innexperienced Crew

When you have new crew on board, you are never certain about their abilities and judgement. Some will talk a big talk to make you think that they know what they are doing, but these kinds are all talk; and totally clueless at the helm. 

There is a huge difference between "knowing how to make a sailboat move" and "knowing how to sail". When you have new crew who can move a sailboat and will talk it up a whole bunch, you will want to try them out and see what they really know before putting them in charge of a watch cycle on their own. 

Some of the issues that will come up during nighttime watches is the need to reef, and the ability to hold a course. Sure, when you are inland, you can sail all you want until the weather turns and just drop the sails at that point. In the ocean, it is not that simple and storms can produce much more powerful waves out at sea. 

High winds and tall waves will make it harder to put in a reef, especially in the dark on a moonless night. To avoid this problem it is prudent to reef down at sunset so that if something comes up unexpectedly, you are already reefed and ready for it. 

Reefing is great because it makes the mainsail smaller, but it still involves the boom. If you have inattentive crew at the helm, they might not notice that they have veered from course and about to jibe until the boom comes crashing over. Repeated powerful jibes can damage and destroy your traveler as well as damage the metal of your spars. It is best not to do this! 

To avoid this problem, at night, we simply fly the trysail. It is small, our smallest sail and sail of choice for powerful storms; so we couldn't possibly reef down any further. It also negates the use of the boom. This means that if your new crew, or tired crew is not paying attention, a jibe is merely the flopping of a tiny sail with little load on it to the other side. No loud crashing or stress on your gear involved. 

Deep Blue

Water is a magical compound. It ebbs and flows, always moving and changing. No matter what form it takes, I am always mystified by deep blue water. 

I wonder about what lives down there in the column right beneath our keel. What is swimming about or resting? What is growing on the bottom? What does the bottom even look like? 

Deep blue water makes me wonder about the depths that we are merely skimming the surface of.