My longest crossing to date is behind me. We left Carrabelle, FL Sunday morning at about 11:15 AM and arrived in Clearwater, FL Monday at 12:30 PM, just over 25 hours dock to dock.

The first afternoon was lovely sailing. I didn’t know Bud took this picture, but I had the helm for a couple of hours while Bud fished. He caught a Spanish mackerel. It was a beautiful fish, and big enough to keep, but Bud thought they tasted oily so he released it. He did a great job of landing it, too. He didn’t have his net with him and we were motor sailing at about 6.4 knots, and I wouldn’t slow down. I felt our mission was to get to Clearwater, fishing was secondary and not to interfere. Bud managed to reel it in and then grabbed the leader line and brought it aboard.

There was enough wind to just about fill the sails, that’s why the engine was running, too. The sails added a knot or so to our speed, which meant we could take it easy on the engine. With both sails up we were hand steering, our new autopilot still isn’t adjusted well enough, and though it will generally keep a course, it wanders enough to mess up the set of the sails.

As evening came the wind dropped, we hauled in the jib and revved up the engine a bit. We had the preventer on the main, which keeps the boom from moving, so we were set to sail through the night without getting out of the cockpit. Even in this nice weather, our rule is with only one person on deck at night they are in the cockpit, in a life jacket and tethered to the steering pedestal. I took the first night shift (at my request). I was going to have Bud take Matey below but he seemed so content next to me that we just brought up his blanket and he stayed there wrapped up. He is always tethered (and in a harness, not a collar) when we are moving.

With just the main up we ran the autopilot. It wandered a bit but held the line just fine and was so much easier than hand steering all night. For my first shift I couldn’t believe how physically comfortable I was. I was sitting on the ugly green cushion, in jeans, a short-sleeved shirt and my windbreaker. There was a gentle breeze blowing in my face, but I was warm. I concentrated on enjoying every sensation I could. I watched the stars come out, I could see the milky way. It took everything I had to keep at it for the four hours or so until Bud took over. At ten, Matey and I went below. At 3:30 AM I gave up trying to sleep and got bundled up even more and took over for Bud. By now, we were sitting backwards under the dodger out of the wind. I had added a sweatshirt, my foul-weather jacket and a hat. Matey came up and he was wrapped in his blanket under the dodger. I’d get up every few minutes and check around and check the instruments. The conditions deteriorated towards daybreak. The wind picked up a bit and the direction wasn’t as favorable. The seas got a bit lumpy. Again I was very physically comfortable and now I was more mentally at ease. I figured it wasn’t going to get worse than this and it was fine. It didn’t seem like such a long time until the sky got light (at about 6:20 AM) and Bud came up at about 7:30 and took over. This time Matey didn’t want to come down, so he stayed sleeping in the cockpit. I went down into the cabin and actually slept for an hour and a half.

Probably the hardest part of the whole trip was the last 10 miles to the marker at the Clearwater Pass. It was mid-morning, the sun was right in our eyes, and there were crab pots everywhere. We both stood watch for two long hours, completely exhausted, but on alert. We’d watch off to the side for pots and then follow the line into the glare of the sun and try to pick out the pots right in front of us. When we spotted a close one Bud would take the boat by right near it, knowing another one wouldn’t be right there to tangle in our prop. But we hit no crab pots and made it in all right. The whole trip was about 154 nm, so we averaged just over 6 knots for the trip.

As we were tying up, the marina guys asked me how the passage was. “It was really nice”, I said, “and I hate sailing at night.” They said some of the power boaters that came in said it had gotten uncomfortably rough for a while. “Not in this boat”, said I.