The only day with our 1600sqft spin

Clean clear blue water hisses by the hulls as the boat glides at 10 knots, climbing and descending gentle giants of water (thanks Ninni : ) . The wind has been in my ears, through my hair, on my skin, for days now and land nowhere in sight since 8 days ago. I take a last look around at the open ocean and go into the main cabin to get a glass of fresh water.

As I slide the door open a combination of memories brought on by the odor rushes into my tired consciousness. A very dirty bathroom in an Italian train station, a bus in Mexico filled with field workers coming home after a sweaty day, a train car sleeping compartment with six French guys traveling between Marseille and Geneva. The floor of the boat in the main cabin is covered with wet foul weather gear and clothes, legos, soaked chips and bread crumbs. It's a layered mess that no one wants to bother picking up and all of it is ripening in the tropical warmth. "Lets get there" is the motto as 10 to 16 foot waves come at the boat beam on, while we rush in fits and bouts towards, what begins to feel, nowhere.

Good by to the Chesapeake

We kept a pretty good appearance the first four days of the trip. The crossing started slowly with wind off the quarter, light and uneven. We put the screacher and main, when it slowed further we had the spinnaker up but by night fall we were motoring. We motored for two days on a smooth sea without even the ripples of a breath. Rike kept us feasting as the miles went by very slowly while we motored at 3 to 4 knots to conserve fuel while waiting for the wind.

At that point life aboard was very proper, almost out of context from the environment. Showers, good food, napping were the exciting parts of the day. Hours after hours we motored to cross the much feared Gulf Stream which was very placid and forgiving.

On the third night things began to pick up as we sailed against the wind with about 15 knots on the nose, the boat hitting the waves hard. By the next morning the wind clocked to our beam and we sailed wind and waves abeam for the rest of the trip, aside for a twenty four hour period.

Life in the doldrums

As the wind increased waves became bigger and the G forces, slamming and banging became impressive. It took us a while to understand the boat needed speed and that going faster was not only safer but much more comfortable when seas grew bigger. The only problem with barreling down 14 foot waves at 9 to 12 knots, (we hit 17 at one point) is that balance is an issue and sleep is difficult. You get pressed hard while the boat climbs the wave and go air-born when the boat drops. Nothing is easy in those conditions so that cleaning up fell way back in our "to do list".

Keeping the boat going meant sail trim, looking for chafe and monitoring the steering system which was seeing a lot of work as waves threw our sterns around. It also meant that when we entered squall prone areas two of us had to be on watch at all times to reef quickly so that we could carry enough sail to go as fast as it was safe.

The toughest night was 24 hours before we arrived, when seas were a full twelve to sixteen feet, wind 25 to 30 knots gusting 35. All of it was taking us on the side. At about one in the morning Olivier and I had been on watch for four hours when both us of us saw a wave come, grow and grow until it was right on our beam. The boat, which we had slowed because of an oncoming squall was not going fast enough and the wave broke right into the cockpit, taking out the table and surprising both of us.

Moving fast and smiling after a nasty night.

The gist of it all is that a Freydis is a very seaworthy boat, that we never felt threatened by the conditions and that once we dialed in the sail plan for the conditions it was a great ride.

We could not have done this trip as safely as we did without Olivier who has thousands of sea miles behind him, Ninni who was always there to do what was needed and Rike who kept one great meal after another coming, no matter the conditions or how sea sick she was. She cooked breakfast lunch and dinner, baked many loafs of bread as the boat caracoled south, the food giving us a respite from it all.

Anouck and Celine were models of self sufficiency. I barely paid attention to them for the nine days at sea. Celine devoured three chapter books, Anouck one as they looked to Rike and Ninni for entertainment between chapters. They are two little, very proud beings right now because they realize that even if they could not directly help in the sailing, they helped by being able to take care of themselves.

Our weather routers, Commander Weather, were amazingly accurate in their forecast, even in their 8 day projections. All the work we got done before departure was worth every penny and installing the bigger shrouds made me feel 100% about the rig. The Precourt shrouds are a great product for a rotating mast.

The only scare of the trip was the news from Christian, who was 75 miles behind us on a delivery, that a tropical wave south of us had formed. Talk of hurricane surfaced quickly and we realized that we were committed to go south with the the East North East wind we had and the seas we had. There was no going to Bermuda against those seas, even easting would have been difficult and westing was not a great option either. So we had several tense hours until Olivier could call a friend in St Thomas who said the wave was no threat and the report from Commander the next day did not even mention it as an issue.

Aside from that the boat did very well. Nothing broke, even with the demanding conditions we always felt safe. Boats that left at the same time as us in a cruising rally called the Caribbean 1500 and had the same weather as we did ended up with one dissmasting, loss of rudder and steerage.

We have now cleaned the boat, Olivier and Ninni went back to their families, we will be going to St John on Monday and meeting up with Zia.

All these trips require lots of help and that help came in all forms with many people to thank. There is Erik Precourt who sent the new shrouds very fast, the riggers at Atlantic Spars who worked hard to shore up the autopilot and install the new shrouds, Morgan Wells at Jack Martin insurance who worked over the week-end before our departure to secure insurance for us after our insurance doubled their premiums. Then there are friends who came to say good by like Joe and Phoebe, Marie and Scott who made their home ours on our last visits to Charlottesville, or Mark Tamblyn who met us in Gloucester to make last minute runs to the store and Philip and Arabella who took us in in Deltaville.

Then there are those who are keeping things going such as our accountant Roy Cress, who takes care of our billing issues and Coco, Olivier, and Claire back at Blue Fox who take care of the horses better than I ever have.

So, thank you to everyone and to all our friends who have supported us in this and again, thank you Olivier and Ninni, it was great to have you with us.

Celine, Anouck Rike and Claude

Dazed and smiling.