Eighty miles north of Kuaui

23°35’N 160°13’W 00:14 HST 27-Jun-2020 — Today is my sister Linda’s birthday.

When I was a small child, I envisioned myself at age 46. It was the age I would be in 2000, so I was old enough to do arithmetic. I would have a beard and wear glasses. Forty-six has come and gone. As do the beard and glasses. I was a Toronto kid. The future was science and space ships.

The US, sailboats, and actual adult life were unseen and unimaginable. As unimaginable as crossing the North Pacific with a woman.

Tonight is a wonderful first night at sea. There have been occasional light clouds and an eighth moon that just set. The milky way is naturally mistaken for a cloud and if I used the app on my phone I could identify the stars and constellations.

For this trip, Jennifer hired a weather router, who routes us around weather, rather than the reverse. Jennifer works just as hard as if she were routing us to decide whether to follow his advice.

Instead of taking us due north, Bruce routes us west to set us up to grab favorable winds from an incoming low. More sophisticated than anything Jennifer or I would try, and not what the software recommends.

The windvane is working well: silent and energy free. It is different sailing, . The windvane follows the wind. Minute to minute adjustments are difficult and useless. The wind varies in direction slightly moment by moment. Aside from large shifts, we make adjustments on a multi-hour basis.

We poured fifty pounds of ice into the icebox the night before we left. We will eat fresh food for the next bunch of days. The Aleutians are two and a half weeks away.

Jennifer sleeps on the port, leeward side of the cockpit. I write on the starboard side.

The boat is light and as a consequence loud and bumpy below decks. Very reminiscent of sleeping in the back of my parents ’58 Plymouth station wagon driving to NY to see family.

Other sailors who have learned we’ll be north, have contracted us and plan to see us. Each is known by their first names and boat. We are John and Jennifer on Caro Babbo.

We’re safe and sound and on our way.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Author: johnjuliano

One-third owner of Caro Babbo, co-captain and in command whenever Caro Babbo is under sail. View all posts by johnjuliano