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Lexington - Captain Bob: 3/15/17. 10*. 4'. south. 119*. 58' west. Living on a sail boat



So what is it like being on a sail boat for a 3,000 mile passage? First of all, consider space. The boat is 46 feet long but that is tip to tip measurements for selling boats. It is 13.5 feet wide on the outside at the widest point. Here is another good saying, "boats shrink when you put them in water". You can buy a nice big boat in the show room and it looks perfect. Put it in the water and try to put all your stuff and all your friends in it and it will appear to have shrunken by 50%. We have a forward berth for two people, stern berth for 2 people and two can sleep in the saloon on the benches. When you have two in the saloon then that area of the boat stays pretty "lived in". We have two heads (bathrooms). One head has a stand up shower. We have a galley which is for one person to operate out of. We have a navigation station that is used as a desk of operations for the boat and it is where I set when doing the radio roll call and trying to learn something. The cockpit i
s the best place in the boat. It is usually more comfortable and breezy. There is a fold up table. We have most of our meals in the cockpit.

For our routine, we have a watch schedule. This it the times each of us is designated to be in the cockpit making sure every thing is running well and we are not going to run into anything. Watches are 3 hours long at night and 4 hours in the daylight. That is the time you have a responsibility. The rest of the time you may sleep to catch up on sleep lost on watch or to rest up for and up coming watch. One watch is 2 pm to 6 pm. It is the most common time for people to take a nap. Radio call is at 6:00 pm and we eat after that. Sam is well prepared with stored music, movies, recorded talks etc. In the afternoons he plays a lecture on the civil war for whom ever wants to listen. We get our own breakfast which may be just coffee, have a light lunch and then have a hot dinner in the cockpit. A lot of the remaining time is used to read, study, answer email and make these post. Sometimes we will have a little discussion but usually a very light subject like the kind of boat
someone has.

So does this sound boring or relaxing to you? I have not decided myself. For sure a 3,000 mile passage is not as much fun as coastal cruising in Maine in the summer. We will have time to coastal cruise so to speak in the South Pacific islands. Probably the best way to look at it is that it is many long runs for a bunch of short slides. Most significant sailors say the World Arc is too fast I.e. Have more slides and less runs. The problem is that you can not just go a little slower. You have to contend with season, weather patterns and storm seasons. If I had to choose between 1. Being on a strong well equipped blue water boat. 2. Being with an expert experienced sailor-captain 3. Being in the right place in the right time of the year. The I would choose being in the right place. Therefore if you do not want to do a 15 month circumnavigation, your next choice is a 30 month.

That is all for now
May fair winds fill your sails with good decisions!
Bob

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