Some folks have asked why I'm not on board Centime for the passage. It's a good but complex question. A bit about my recent journey:
I enjoyed our sail down from Portland, Maine immensely. Living on board with Dennis was awesome, we had great adventures and we met amazing people. I was very optimistic when we took off in the Caribbean 1500 on November 11.
During the first small attempt to make the crossing (when we had the initial minor engine overheating issue) I felt great as I sailed us in circles. I kept us off very tight shoals in tricky winds - by myself - while they did a super job of fixing the engine.
I was fine in the second larger attempt up to the Gulf Stream as we rocked and rolled and bounced though bigger winds, bigger waves, rains, and bigger engine issues (which are now truly fixed).
And, I was quite good on the third attempt into the Gulf Stream. In fact I took it in stride when all of a sudden water was pouring on my face and I looked up and one of two solar panels had flipped 180 degrees through the canvas dodger into the cockpit, maybe a foot from my head. (It's now welded and heavily bolted down.)
It was coming back to Beaufort, just south of Cape Hatteras, where my attitude adjusted slightly.
The area around Cape Hatteras is known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" partly because it juts out closer to the Gulf Stream and you can sometimes get nasty currents and weather. We crawled back, just south of Hatteras, at 2.5 - 3.5 knots against strong currents and wind blowing on the bow. We were aware that a major front was driving towards us at about 55 miles per hour. By early evening the Coast Guard began issuing warnings "Securite, securite, all vessels should seek immediate shelter from extreme weather, intense lightening and tornadoes. "
As I began to prepare for possible lightening strikes, putting our portable electronics in the oven for protection, battening down the hatches... I started to think that the impact on our youngest son, of us not making it, would be devastating. He's had a bit of an uneasy road lately, choosing a difficult college and path. The mom instincts kicked in and I began to question how much risk is appropriate when I want to be available for our kids.
Questions on risks and parenting were spinning in my head as we limped in at 1:30 am, skirting lightening patches. These thoughts continued for days ahead as we planned our next moves.
Then during Thanksgiving week my son got a bad batch of food poisoning, with pain so strong he went to the hospital. Somewhere over the weeks of repair it became clear that I wanted to be available on the home front at this instant in time. It also became clear that there were very experienced crew ready and available to join Dennis, and that Dennis dreamed of making the crossing and did not want to ride the ICW or skirt the coast this time around.
Dennis was awesome in his support. The boat, crew and captain are now in great shape and are doing very well. I felt relieved about the decision. And importantly, my son is now much better.
I love to sail and will have many many opportunities to do so in the future, however this was not the time for me. I will track Dennis every step of the way down and will fly down on Sunday to cheer him in.
I am so fortunate to have a great husband and kids and the support of so many good friends.