Sailing the Pacific

After a nice easy day sailing, we both thought the night would be the same, we were WRONG.

I saw several rain clouds indicated on radar, but they all disappeared or steered themselves around us; only one hit us. Since we had been through a lots of them, I had it under control, even when Kirk woke up at the end of his rest, I told him that he can wait inside until it passes, no need to get him wet too. I was pretty proud of myself.

But during my second shift, there was this one, I kept my eye on it hoping it will goes around us just like the most of them. But, no, it got closer and closer. I only had time to close all the hatches but no time to put my raincoat on. Wind speed went from 10 knots to 30 knots in seconds and wind direction changed from 150 to 30 degrees. The boat heeled severely and woke poor Kirk up. Half asleep, he got thrown over to the other side of settee and hurt his forearm. Nothing major that needs medical attention, but it hurt. The whole squall last about 5 minutes, I was soaking wet, cold and shaking.

In a way, it was good that this happened and nobody got seriously hurt or equipment damaged. We just add this to our experience box and learn as best we can from it. No training class can prepare us for many of these experiences.

The squalls should be getting lesser and lesser as we get closer to Hiva Oa and we are looking forward to that!

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Vessel Name:	Crystal Seas
Vessel Make/Model:	Taswell 43
Hailing Port:	Lewes, DE
Crew:	Kirk and Crystal
About:	We met in 2014 and have a common love of exploring the world. Both of us have traveled quite a lot but vacations don't really give the opportunity to get to know a place and the people. That's why we thought it would be better to sell everything and live on a boat! And that's what we did... [...] More
Extra:	We live this lifestyle not because we are adrenaline junkies wanting to climb mountains or some other extreme activities. Surely there are people like that in this sport and we have nothing against that. It's just not us and it's not what motivates us to deal with the compromises, uncomfortable [...] passages, and effort or this lifestyle. Crystal and I both have a passion for travel and experiencing other cultures; seeing things from a different perspective. That is the underlying motivator. But, of course, there are other ways to do what we are passionate about. So why sailboat? Our sailboat is our home and we get to move our home, with nearly all of our earthly possessions, to a new country whenever we desire. Are there any other ways to do that? Maybe an RV but that has geographic limitations. A sailboat does not because most of the Earth is covered by water. Also, there are some areas of the world (a lot in fact) that are not so accessible by land. These are the areas we want to see. Places like the Sea of Cortez and the South Pacific islands. Sure you can fly to place in these areas, but you will only see a resort which does not expose you to the true culture or geography. Sailing is not for everyone and we are not even sure it's for us! There are times we are ready to sell the boat and move back to land but just then, we are presented with some of the most glorious, pristine sights on the planet that most never have the opportunity to see. That keeps us going. We gave ourselves 5 years to try this and re-evaluate things to see if we continue. We are two and half years into this and still we have doubts sometimes. Maybe those doubts never disappear; we don't know yet but we'll let you know when they become more than just doubts! More
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