7 Days at Sea, Our X-Mas Story

Passage from Bermuda to Antigua….big waves and 18-25 knot winds the entire time for 7 full days. Such a sailing adventure! The most common phrase onboard… “I love you. I don’t love this.” referring to the uncomfortable passage.

-We got through it…..ONE day at a time….only losing use of our GPS which displayed AIS (receiving) and one lazy jack line became loose which created a small hole in our sail cover. We ended up with salty water in our tanks due to a missing ‘O’ ring on the water plug (allowing splashing waves to seep into the fresh water). No worries, we had 5 gallons of water in a collapsable jug onboard for this very scenario.

–December 25th was a squally squally Christmas, on the 19th latitude. I blasted the Christmas tunes and we created our own lyrics ensuring to include some version of the word ‘squall’ in every new and improved rendition.

-Friday brought on squalls all night and strong winds in the morning ranging from 26-29 for the better part of the day. Moving around the boat still remained a challenge as each move required precise timing of the boat lunging, you shifting your weight whilst maintaining three forms of contact. As Mike put it, every step through the boat was a new climbing move.

And as uncomfortable of a passage BDA to ANU was….. the entire time there was a little Kirsten in me yelling “Right On! Rock On!!!” I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished and how I handled those lonesome dark scary night watches, how well Mike was as a captain, how well we worked together, and how bomber Gaia prevailed throughout the bounding waves. I’ve pushed myself outside of my comfort zone, I’ve traveled, hiked, biked, and worked my weary wits through endless nights but this passage takes the cake. When you’re outside the safety of the 300 nm zone of the Coast Guard, there’s no room for quitting. Our endurance and strength both physical and mental was tested and we passed with flying colors.Read more