"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
While waiting for favorable weather, we have had a little time to reflect and quite frankly too much time to to share sailing horror stories and talk about the long long list of things that that could go wrong during this upcoming passage. Enough! This quote from Mark Twain that Alan's nephew sent him was helpful in putting aside any doubts and fears we might be harboring.
Monday evening we organized a gathering at the marina’s watering hole for anyone who was planning to cross this week. The skippers and crew of 13 boats turned up (I’m sure my Dad will smile when he reads this as he knows that 13 is my lucky number) and we exchanged satellite e-mail addresses and phone numbers so that we can stay in touch if necessary.
Monday evening we organized a gathering at the marina’s watering hole for anyone who was planning to cross this week. The skippers and crew of 13 boats turned up (I’m sure my Dad will smile when he reads this as he knows that 13 is my lucky number) and we exchanged satellite e-mail addresses and phone numbers so that we can stay in touch if necessary.
The marina gathering place
Most of our ‘mini-me’ ARC is setting off today as is Taka Trois. We plan to cast off our lines towards the end of the morning after a few last minute preparations. We have a sailor’s forecast of ‘fair winds and following seas’ although apparently there will be some large swells at the beginning of our crossing. Hugo Vihlen, a single-handed sailor who set world records by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in two tiny sailboats in 1968 and 1993 once said, "I don't know who named them swells. There's nothing swell about them. They should have named them awfuls" I quite agree!
But we have a the beginning of a waxing moon, so if God gives us clear skies we will have some light at night which is SUCH a blessing and something we rarely thought about as landlubbers. I never thought I’d say this, but over the last few days there are moments when I actually missed the calm and peace one gets under the starry host with a rising moon in the middle of the ocean. Well, I’m certainly going to get my fill of that over the next two weeks!
But we have a the beginning of a waxing moon, so if God gives us clear skies we will have some light at night which is SUCH a blessing and something we rarely thought about as landlubbers. I never thought I’d say this, but over the last few days there are moments when I actually missed the calm and peace one gets under the starry host with a rising moon in the middle of the ocean. Well, I’m certainly going to get my fill of that over the next two weeks!
Catamaran Marina, Falmouth Harbour
So we’re off and God willing we will reach the other side in about two weeks where Alan’s wife, Shelagh will hopefully be waiting for us on the pontoon of the Catamaran Marina in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. Until then, we’re going to enjoy the ride for when all is said and done “there is NOTHING–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Kenneth Grahame from The Wind in the Willows.
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