What do we do on a 30 Hour Passage

Some passages seem to go faster than others, some seem slower, but there is a mix of tedium and excitement that can be hard to understand if you haven't experienced it. Sailing at night is kind of cool, but mostly boring. You can't really see much if the moon isn't out and usually the autopilot does most if not all of the driving.

Matt getting "quiet" time.

During the day the ritual is pretty normal .... we are sailing or reading or playing cards or eating or cleaning the boat up after eating. Once darkness sets in then we end up being a lot more conservative and we setup a watch system -- Marina and the girls up to Midnight, Matt and the boys until 04:00, then the girls again until 08:00 then we all straggle along during the daytime again.

One of the things that keeps us on track is our log-system. Setup in advance of the passage it predicts where we should be when, and then we fill in the blanks to make sure that we are regularly checking the engine, writing down our position, and documenting what we are seeing. 

Keeping energized with Coke!

What to do? Some of us read a book or two, others watch a movie or three. Chelsea chose to sun herself for enough hours to make her very tan back turn red -- again. That girl loves to lie in the hot sunshine and tan. She's co-opted Jessie who will lie in the sun with her cousin for hours, reading, chatting, listening to music and generally hanging out.

Fun along the way.

 Ross and Hayden played a number of video games -- or maybe it was the same game the whole time -- charging up the computer for a couple of hours and then playing for a couple of hours.

A nap to prepare for night watch.

Marina and I each finished a book, wrote a bunch of blog posts, an etiquette manual for future guests of Tara, talked about our plans and generally just enjoyed each others' company.
At sunset, we all gathered at the back of the boat and watched the sun slip under the western horizon.

Photo op just at sunset...

Sunset...she's half gone.

The night of our passage -- July 20/21 was a new moon -- meaning that there wasn't a moon at all. When you are 100 miles from the closest land and there is no moon, it is dark. Funny enough some of the stars and planets were bright enough to enable us to see...they are amazing when there are no city lights to dim them. At night, other than the 15 minute checks -- Radar, AIS, eyeball, and the hourly motor checks, -- we talk, and the boys devour junk food at an amazing rate, and the girls played UNO. Also during the evening was a big phosphor display in the water where soft-ball sized globs of blue phosphorescence welled up in our wake. It made Ross excited enough to come wake me up so that I could witness it. Until midnight we were the only vessel within 50 miles ... by 3 in the morning we had crossed several vessels -- most of them transmitting AIS coordinates, some, like us weren't.

I'm gonna stay up all night!! (This is BEFORE his shift).

Our closest encounter was about 2.5 miles away with another sailboat -- doing about the same speed in the opposite direction. I wonder who left Castellammare del Golfo for Arbatax Sardinia and met us half way at 3am this morning? I hope they have as good a time in Sardinia as we did.

Sunrise!!

We noticed it was getting lighter right around 04:00 and watched the horizon get brighter and brighter until the crescent of the sun emerged right on time at 06:05am, at which time Chelsea, Marina and I were still up to enjoy. Because there is so little else to do, appreciating a sunrise or sunset seems like a milestone worth observing. Marina, Chelsea and Jessie altered course to avoid a fishing boat and they too saw a sailboard that looked like it was on it's way to Sardinia.
Here are some photos of what we do on a 30 hour passage....

Oh...no surprises here...

Chelsea's "borrowed" cabin from Ross.

Heyyyy...I'm not at the helm...woo hoo!

I brought a book, I guess I should read it.

OMG...my tan HAS to be good when I go home.

OK...I like the Nook.

What?

I'll sew...that's something new to do!

Chatting on the lee side.

Skipper making sure all is well.

Singing...who cares how loud!

When Marina woke me up at 9:00 I was hopeful that we would be past San Vito Lo Capo on Sicily and making our way towards a 10:30 arrival at the Club Nautico Castellammare del Golfo. Not quite right -- landfall at the marina looked to be early afternoon as we were not able to aim into the waves and wind.

This photo of the instruments shows how far off the wind we were...almost 40 degrees. We hoped when we got past the point the waves would abate and then we could power directly into them.


I am a little sensitive about running the motor too hard. It needs a service -- I could hear the RPMs drop a 50 RPM or so every minute or two -- this means the filters are getting clogged. I have spares and will change them along with the oil in a service at the marina this afternoon (assuming we ever get there).
We were about two hours off our destination and running into smooth seas without any sails up -- powering directly at the marina.

There it is!

Further down the coast are some fairly high mountains and some villages or hamlets cut out of the shore accessed by roads carved into the steep hillside.

Time for bubbly...we made it to Sicily!