After 12 days, 2 hours and 1662 miles, we completed our journey from St. Thomas USVI to Liberty Landing Marina, NJ. Just David and I sailing Ithaka.

All began quickly. Our friends, Maggie & Bill left on Tuesday and we began our passage preparation, with the planned route to Bermuda and then, when the weather was auspicious, on to the US East Coast. We had an appointment to have our rigging checked on Friday, April 22nd and wanted to be prepared to leave any time after that when we had good weather conditions. When we spoke with our weather router, Charlie, on Thursday he thought that the earliest that we might be looking at leaving for Bermuda was the following Thursday, April 28th. And then, we should be prepared to wait for up to 2 weeks for a good weather window to travel from Bermuda to the US since weather tended to be unsettled this time of year off of the East Coast. And we did have a wedding in NJ on May 20th that we would love to attend.... So we spoke further with Charlie and he thought that all looked good to head out the next day, Friday, directly to the US, without a stopover in Bermuda. However, we should be prepared to stop in the Bahamas, Florida, or South Carolina if conditions became unstable.

Instead of about a 7 day passage, this would be 12-15 days. So, we conferred, and decided to head offshore. We would leave after the rig check on Friday and aim for Norfolk, VA.

Only the two of us, on the boat, with whatever we have on board to manage a 1500 mile passage. A bit scary. No need for suspense - I will begin with the concluding sentence. We did great! I had been worried that I would be really anxious about sailing and navigation decisions that I needed to make when David was asleep. I could always wake him but I was mindful of the importance of each of us getting as much sleep as possible when we were off watch.

Fortunately, we didn't have any really extreme conditions, but we did have squalls, big wind shifts, thunderstorms, navigation questions, and I did feel confident enough to make these decisions without waking David to get his input. Yay!

Our schedule was alternating three hour watches; I was on 0100-0300, 0600-0900, 1200-1500, and 1800-2100. We were good about making sure we took some time to sleep when we were off watch during the day and slept as much as possible off watch at night. On watch, we listened to our downloaded Spotify playlists and audiobooks - I listened to Master & Commander Series and Trevor Noah's autobiography, completed crossword puzzles, and enjoyed the world around us, both day and night. As we moved north, David noted that the Big Dipper was now above the horizon for the entire night.

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I tried to identify seabirds, watched some dolphins play at the bow, and saw a fin that look suspiciously like a shark. And, some watches, we spent our entire time adjusting the sails and our course.




I loved the 0600-0900 watch. David slept and I enjoyed rich, strong, Caribbean coffee and watched the day begin.

Then I wrote our email to our weather router, Charlie, which got longer and more off topic each day. I attribute this to only having David to talk with/to for so many days. When he woke, we read the Charlie's weather email received daily on the Satellite phone and then David downloaded additional weather.

From this information, we set our waypoints and sailing strategy for the day. We typically ate lunch and dinner together as well. We conferred on all decisions, with some feeling consequential and not easy to call. With that we kept a wonderful sense of common purpose and cooperation. Even when the situation was stressful and the decisions difficult, we worked well together (maybe focused by a clarity that we totally had to get along well!). I will miss this sense of easy connection and shared purpose as we return to the regular adult demands of our world.

Food was very important on our passage.



Time was spent, a lot of time was spent thinking about what we would eat and then, later, what we thought about what we ate. We had some great dinners - black bean quinoa bowl with avocado, snow peas, and grape tomatoes garnished with fritos; pulled pork, grated carrots with freshly baked rolls; butternut squash soup garnished with pepitos and freshly baked pound cake. But I think that the most important eating opportunity was on our late night watch, when time moved more slowly. I would spent the first hour deciding what to have, then when to have it, and then what I thought about it. My favorites - granola, yogurt, honey; peanut M&M's. For David - chex mix; pound cake; protein bar.

Before leaving on this passage, I had been thinking about this trip as a kind of final exam for our year, reflecting on the development of our skills and confidence over the year, with this passage being a challenge that I thought would test many of these skills. In fact, it did, and I have to say we passed with flying colors. We sailed in both light and heavier wind. Used all of the sail configurations we had tried throughout the year, close hulled, down wind poled out jib, Code 0. Navigated around at times confusing traffic as we headed up the east coast. Dodged thunderstorms using the radar. Evaluated fuel usage to decide to stop at Cape May. The extra credit question came around 0430 our last morning. I was on watch and a thick fog descended I think when we were around Atlantic City - I couldn't see past the bow of our boat. I turned on the radar, got out the fog horn, and kept a close anxious watch. David joined me around 0700 and we continued up the invisible coast, monitoring traffic and closely following our course. Nearby but out of sight, we rounded Sandy Hook and moved in toward New York Harbor. Shipping traffic increased, including a container ship closing in behind us. We moved to the edge of the channel. Finally, after passing under a misty Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the fog began to lift so we could confirm our route and see the shipping traffic.


With normal breath returning, we motored near Lady Liberty and then into Liberty Landing Marina. We had definitely passed this final exam.


A true bittersweet full circle. On a passage, all is concrete present tense or near term future. We are acutely focused on this experience of wind, ocean patterns, clouds, sounds, smells. And the feedback is immediate - the wind shifts and the sails luff or the boat heels; wave height and direction can rock the boat dramatically and uncomfortably. We cannot forget our smallness in the presence of the vastness of the sea and sky. And, strangely, at the same time, we felt strong, capable as we navigated this world without evidence of other people - days without seeing other ships or even jet trails above us, slowly making our way to our destination. David and I shared this purpose and this gave us a clarity and focus in our relationship. We rarely squabbled on the passage, clear about our dependence on each other and our relationship in order to navigate. I hope that I can carry this focus - connection with the world around me and clarity about the interdependence with the people around me as I return to this land-based life.