Missing: The Crew of Zephyr

Well, not really...but in terms of blogging, yes. So...where have we been? Think that Johnny Cash song "I've Been Everywhere" 

"I've been everywhere, man.

I've been everywhere, man.

Crossed the desert's bare, man.

I've breathed the mountain air, man.

Of travel I've had my share, man.

I've been everywhere."

We've been to Boston, Eastie, Harwich, New Orleans, New Castle,Waterbury, Duxbury, Provincetown, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Scituate, Osterville, Katy, Baton Rouge, Bar Harbor DC,Warren, Westport, Woods Hole, Annapolis and...now...good 'ole Kit-ry Maine! Home! 

I'd love to say we'd sailed all those places,it would be quite incredible if we sailed to Katy, TX, but we did sail to a lot of them. This summer was full of change some good and welcome, some not so good. We enjoyed amazing times with family and friends and even had a 4th of July escape in our "Land Yacht" OJ to the Vermont mountains - thanks Hurricane Arthur. 

Our Land Yacht is a great backup plan when a Hurricane ruins 4th of July sailing plans

There is so much to write about like our great weekend sailing trip to Salem...

Or our sweet view of the Boston skyline from our summer slip in East Boston...

Or the many nights spent with a cockpit fulla friends, tunes on the stereo and laughs...

Or our eventful summer cruise to Scituate - Provincetown - Duxbury and beyond where we lost the dinghy in a blow and got towed TWICE! 

A very happy captain sailing his very own boat into Duxbury Bay

A TowBoat US membership is the best thing money can buy! The story of the two folks towing us is for another time.

Or our sail north to Portsmouth when we lost the dinghy - once and for all...

Zephyr's arrival into Little Harbor as seen from Sea-Celia, it's like the heavens were welcoming us back home

And I will write all about these different summer adventures especially since my view out my window right now is of a frozen tundra, complete with ice caking all trees and my cockpit full of an 1" of ice. I like to relive our happy summer times to help me get through the endless Maine winters. 

Basically, the take-away is that in mid-September we sailed back north to Portsmouth/Kittery and we couldn't be happier with our decision. Overall, Boston just was not our cuppa tea. The marina we chose wasn't ideal for living aboard. The constant and vicious wakes from all the boat traffic made for a VERY uncomfortable and constant roll while in our slip. Zephyr would take the waves and wakes on her starboard beam and then would continue to violently roll back and forth for 4-5 minutes The commuter ferry boats start around 5am and from 4-6pm it was also VERY rolly, then on the weekends, it was virtually impossible to be aboard comfortably without getting tossed around the boat getting bruised up. It's probably a great marina for those weekend warriors but for us liveaboards who cook aboard, shower aboard and sleep aboard day in and day out it's just not doable.  

Take a look at our neighbor's boat to get  a good idea of daily life

Add to that, that about 6 weeks into living in Boston, we also started getting very homesick for the lifestyle the Seacoast provides. We missed walking into town for dinner, we missed taking Toby to gorgeous Seapoint Beach on the Maine coast, we missed trees and trails and wild and natural spaces. We missed local foods, local beers, small markets, gastropubs, smoothie stores -- you know the yuppie stuff. Apparently, we're yuppies and we're just fine with that! We missed the simple, quiet, relaxing lifestyle that the Seacoast provides. I mean there's a reason there's a mass exodus from Boston every weekend in the summer to Portsmouth & Kittery- it's vacationland! The Seacoast is where we called home for 8 years and there is something quite wonderful about the people and the life we've built here. 

Once we thought of going into another winter aboard, we couldn't imagine not having the great community of friends (more like family) we made at Badgers Island Marina. That sealed the deal to head north (but really though - who winters in Maine!?) The decision to move home was not a hard one to make, even with the commute Tim now has. It came down to where did we want to be when we weren't working? Where did want to wake up on a Saturday morning? Who'd we want to surround ourselves with to survive another harsh, cold New England winter? 

Living on a boat isn't the easiest lifestyle choice and so it becomes really important that the world outside the boat is comfortable, easy and relaxing. If we'd cast of our lines for points far south and were leaving on our cruising adventure I think it would've been a different tale but because we're still tethered to land for work, family commitments, life, we just simply wanted to be 'home'.  Until we are cruising full-time and have the ability to sail onto a new port whenever we want, it's vital that we like the port we're in. It's no different than picking the neighborhood where you're going to buy a house. 

And really...Let's face it the Farrells are just not city folks! 

So we're the prodigal Seacoasters whom have returned. The summer away gave us great clarity in what it is we want in the next steps of our life and it helped to solidify for us where we're meant to be. It helped to clear our vision so we could reimagine what the next phase might look like and gave us a chance to really take an honest look at our feelings, hold them out in front of ourselves and explore them, own them. It gives us a chance to slow down, take a deep, long breath and realize - we've got it real good. It's time to soak it all in rather than just keep planning and dreaming away today. So that's what we're doing soaking it all in, feeling very grateful we have a lifestyle that allows us to try on new things and return if they don't fit, grateful we have family and friends who support all our choices and grateful we have eachother. 

Stay tuned...until then, if you need us we'll be living inside a bubble in the mighty, freezing waters of the Piscataqua! 

Today 12/8/14 - THE BUBBLE ERECTUS! 

The Usual Chaos of Living Well...

Somehow we'd imagined our life aboard as being entirely different from land life, and though things are different, from the daily chores to the sounds and smells, life is still life. There's still a lot of life that goes on whether we're floating or still. That means life commitments, job commitments, house/boat guests, life events to celebrate...overall, time spent off the boat living life. One of our favorite quotes to describe our lifestyle is by poet Robert Lowell, "The usual chaos of living well."  And living well is exactly what we've been doing these past couple weeks.

Carrie from Texas comes to stay aboard in torrential rains! 

We haven't gotten as much time sailing as we'd like, no thanks to the torrential rains & 40 degree temps of Memorial Day weekend, we have been having a wonderful start to the summer. Full of laughs, visits and celebrations with old friends, happy hours with new friends, special times with family and adventures in OJ, the orange bus. If we can't be adventuring in our sailboat we can at least adventure in our other love, the VDub! There's just something about slow rolling around New England in a VW bus...

We found enough sun to visit Seapoint Beach in Maine, Carrie's never been to Maine!

Jill, Meggie & TK, also known as the 3 Musketeers at Notre Dame Academy

Meggie and Seth got married in Scituate on Memorial Day weekend. Fantastic catching up with Jill's old friends from high school & celebrating a wonderful couple! 

Wouldn't be Jill & Tim without some funny photo-ops 

Memorial Day Monday was spent 'straight chilling' on the bow. The sun was shining, the breezes blowing and we just laid about the boat doing nothing, answering to no one, enjoying the sweet life of living aboard.We hit some golf balls at the range, had some late afternoon beers at The Green Bean with some boat neighbors and took a long walk with Toby at sunset. Perfect kick-off to summer! 

Our neighborhood sure is glorious in the waning light of day...

Following the cold and rainy Memorial Day, in classic New England style, the temps rose 50* in less than a week and ushered in HOT and HUMID weather! It was pushing 95 on Friday! Lo and behold we discovered that Zephyr has a working A/C system - WHAT?! So we may not have had central heat all winter but we'll take central A/C! We took a fantastic dip in the Wentworth pool and sipped on frozen pina coladas Friday afternoon before hosting some new boat neighbors and friends for happy hour. 

The heat arrived just in time for a trip to Newport/Portsmouth, Rhode Island to celebrate Kate and Andrew's wedding. Tim grew up with Kate and her brother Tom was Tim's best man at our wedding. Rather than spend tons of money on a hotel we chose to get a campsite and park the bus for the night. The adventure to Rhode Island was a bit worrisome, you see, an air cooled bus + 95* heat + Boston traffic can make one very nervous...

But OJ rallied through and we made it just fine to our wonderful little patch of forest in Portsmouth, RI. Getting ready for a formal wedding out of the back of a VW bus at a campground is so much fun because of the sheer irony! 

We clean up pretty good! 

The wedding was GORGEOUS! In a mansion on the shore of Narragansett Bay. It brought back fond memories of our fantastic week sailing those waters last summer and elicited more planning and scheming for future trips! The celebration was so full of happiness and love CONGRATS KATE & ANDREW! 

The dudes on the grounds of the mansion 

 

Kate was a GORGEOUS bride - why she chose to include us 2 jamokes - not sure! :) 

The "Tim and Funny Portraits" series continues...

A flashback to another time at the Glen Manor House 

Gorgeous tablescapes with a fantastic backdrop

The adventure home in OJ had an additional two passengers/friends who ended up camping with us the night prior - I think they just wanted to experience the awesomeness that is rolling in OJ. 

Danielle, Matt & Toby Post-wedding snoozing in the back of the bus - Toby was all partied out!

Deluca and Timbo bus posing in East Boston - thanks for riding along Del!

So though we might not be getting as much sailing in as we'd thought we would we have been soaking up this special time with family and friends. In the not so distant future we'll be off cruising in the Caribbean and we won't have the opportunity to rejoice in all these special moments and celebrations and I know we'll be sad to miss them. So from now until we cast off the lines for good we'll be playing the balancing act that is life and loving every second of it, in other words, living very, very well! 

A Stormy end to 2012

I'm not sure what the old adage is for December, I know April showers bring May flowers and March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb but since we're in New England I'm going to venture to say no adage truly fits anyways. The adage for our first December aboard is December winds bring sleepless nights & nervous frights. The past 2 weeks brought lots of good cheer, holiday celebrations, family time and LOTS OF WIND, SNOW & COLD. Within a week we were slammed by two big storms. One wasn't even named and it was BAD! The other was a 'classic New England Nor'Easter'.

The first storm struck on Friday, Dec. 21st. The winds were directly out of the south/southeast which means the winds were funneling up the river and churning up the waters of the Piscataqua. The winds and waves caused our boat to "hobby horse":

Though when a boat does it it's not nearly as fun as a this 2-year old. It's more like the boat CRASHING back and forth and every time your heart ends up in your throat and you question the strength of those nylon dock lines. For whatever reason our boat got the brunt of the waves and wind. 

This video was taken earlier in the day on Friday and doesn't barely do it justice. For the first time since we've moved aboard both Tim and I felt a bit queasy and seasick. As you can tell from the video, Toby wasn't digging it either. We left the boat for a while (saying our prayers to the dockline gods), had lunch with old friends who were in town, did some food shopping and when we returned around 3pm things had progressed far worse than earlier. 

Our boat stern is marked by the smaller mast after the white wrapped boat

The waves were MUCH bigger and were crashing up over the docks, slamming on the stern of our boat. Tim and I were SOAKED from waves almost sweeping us off the dock as we ran down to check lines. It was too dangerous for Toby to go down on the docks and we had some laundry some do (and for full disclosure, we weren't too keen to go back aboard a hobby horsing, crashing boat) we took refuge at a friend's house who was away on vacation (Thanks Needles!). All ended up OK. The docklines held, the boat was ok and our neighbor Toralf clocked wind speed at 45 knots. It's still amazing to us how our 'neighborhood' can go from frightening, dark, unsafe one day to calm, beautiful and peaceful the next. 

Our boat is on the left with the 2 masts of lights

We enjoyed a wonderful night of wine & cheer with our boat neighbors the night after the storm. Amongst them they have over 35 years of liveaboard experience. They wanted to know how things were going for us on our first year living aboard and we all laughed at their first year experiences. Our neighbor Tim said, "you wouldn't believe the stupid stuff we did our first year - don't worry, you'll learn!" It was fantastic to share our stories with them, get roused for bailing in the storm, get advice, tips and laugh about it all. 

Christmas was spent with our families down in South Shore Massachusetts, it was lovely and very special as we don't know where the seas or life will find us next year. It was full of great, utilitarian, boat gifts, including a wrench set, head treatment and a grill for the stern pulpit (SWEET!). 

No sooner did we arrive back aboard then we were walloped by a Nor'Easter. Luckily the winds were coming from the Northeast (hence the name) and so the hobby horsing did not occur this time. But the winds were STRONG and the sound of the crashing halyards and the wooshing through the stays, the jerking of the boat off the docklines is just too unsettling to sleep. The three of us clocked a max of about 20 minutes of sleep that night. We were at the ready for any lines snapping or fixes that might need to be made. This we're told is pretty typical for boat life so we are anticipating many more sleepless nights. 

We were proud of ourselves for riding out our first Nor'Easter and allowing the fear to come in and deal with it. We awoke that next morning tired but victorious in our own resolve to continually gain more comfort with our boat, with our dock lines (till one snaps) and our own capability to handle whatever might come our way. 

This week is the first bitterly cold period we've faced. Last night it was down to 9 degrees. We were still warm and toasty aboard Zephyr thanks to our little heaters and a new electric blanket. 

As we welcome 2013 we are so grateful for this opportunity to live a less ordinary life, we're thankful for brains that are like sponges constantly open to new things and learning new ways of living, we are proud of what we've learned so far, we are excited about the future of this dream and...yes, we are dreaming of tiki drinks, beaches and warm summer breezes filling our sails! :) 

Life Aboard - the first 3 weeks

 The other night we realized we'd been living aboard for over 2 weeks now, today marks 3 weeks! We moved aboard in Portland and haven't looked back. Little by little the boat's become a home. We've done a lot more purging, giving a lot more of our "stuff" away (all totaled there were 8 trips to Savers AKA Goodwill including the return trip we had to make when we mistakenly gave away a box that had all our winter mittens, hats and gloves - wishful thinking?). 

We held onto a few select things here and there to move aboard to make the boat comfy and feel like home and the other night as we settled in we both said, "we love our microliving life - this feels like home!". Today we bid adieu to our old land based apartment "The Dupe" and the new tenants were already moving in. It was bittersweet but like I've continually said throughout this process - you have to let things you love go to make room for new things to love. 

So I thought I'd give you a little taste of life aboard our first 3 weeks. It's been FULL of visitors - from family to friends to co-workers to fellow boaters. Everyone wants to see this new boat of ours. Some come to investigate to see the how he*l 2 adults and a dog could possibly fit, some come to check out the design, some come to sit on the aft deck rum in hand and soak up the lifestyle. It feels awesome to have such incredible support for our dream out there...thank you to all who have come aboard and shared our happiness with us! Now, you all have to promise to come back in February - OK? OK?

Capt Tim & first mate Toby

Capt. Molly at salute!

A Sunday afternoon Pizza Party with The Farrell Four

Madeline & Mommy in the cockpit

Commuting to work - not bad!

The walk home from work

Our new "front" yard off of our aft deck

Our new neighborhood

Moving "stuff" aboard - where will it all go?

The weather board by the marina office

A typical boat scene - Tim in the engine room, Toby lounging on the bed

Toby lounging on the bed - again. 

Happy Toby in the Sun

Hanging in the cockpit

Life Jacket - he acts like a weirdo when he's in it

A little tour of the boat set to Guns 'N Roses - is there any better soundtrack? This is for Catta!

We've made a lot of updates since this video

So tonight's our first night aboard without anything else to do (i.e. move out of our old house, work commitments, visitors, etc.) and it's raining...Oh Well! We have a full cockpit enclosure that we'll be rigging up so happy hour in the cockpit will still happen - besides we have been gifted A LOT of rum the last 3 weeks, it's got to be enjoyed :)

TGIF EVERYONE! 

Anniversaries & Firsts

Today, September 18th, is our 2nd Anniversary. Thinking back to where we were and what we thought for our future life 2 years ago is so interesting. I was STILL in graduate school and inching closer to graduation. We had taken our first real step towards this dream of moving aboard a boat by looking at our first potential boat on Labor Day weekend before our wedding but the reality of the dream was not yet close to clear. But we were excitedly joining our lives together forever and our dreams became intertwined.

Our wedding was perfection - Home grown and so full of love. A tiny chapel in the woods and BBQ in the backyard complete with pies rather than cake. In our vows I vowed to Tim that I'd never stop coming up with crazy ideas like buying Volkswagen buses or sailing to Fiji. I vowed I'd never stop mixing life up with him and building stories we could tell our grandkids. So far, so good. 

At our reception my brother Pete gave us a toast and gifted us two books: 

"How to Sail Around the World" and "The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat". He told everyone in the tent about our plans and it was in that moment that the reality of our dream came into focus a bit more. All those who were there, who love us, now knew we were on a path and it was up to us to follow through - thank you to Pete for giving us that much needed and greatly appreciated accountability. As Pete says, "You've got one life, Live it." We love you more than you'll ever know Pete, thanks for being our first and best supporter. 

And now here we are today, September 18th, 2012. We own our dream sailboat, we have moved aboard, already faced some technical challenges (i.e. water and lights), had many a laugh and thanked our lucky stars for our safety plus had a nice rum drink or two with friends and family aboard. And now tonight we are facing our first, real New England storm moving through. I came into work today to this alert from the local news station:

Issued at: 3:27 AM EDT 9/18/12, expires at: 12:00 PM EDT 9/18/12

Wind advisory in effect from 6 pm this evening to 6 am EDT Wednesday, The NWS in Gray, Maine has issued a wind advisory, which is in effect from 6 pm this evening to 6 am EDT Wednesday. 

Winds, south 35 to 45 mph with gusts over 50 mph. 

Timing, early this evening through late tonight. (NO SLEEP TONIGHT ABOARD) 

Impacts, southerly exposures, especially near the shoreline (OUR MARINA) and along hilltops, can expect the highest wind gusts. This will down tree limbs leading to some power outages. (GOOD THING WE RUN ON A BATTERY)

Precautionary/preparedness actions,

A wind advisory means strong wind gusts of 46 to 57 mph can lead to damage due to downed tree limbs and scattered power outages. 

So we will secure another couple lines to the boat, add a fender or two, stow what we can, batten down what we can and hunker down for what will be a very bumpy night. Toby will sleep on top of us I'm sure as he'll be very scared and we'll ride out this night and see what Mother Nature can throw at us. There's no doubt we'll never forget this 2nd Anniversary - isn't that what marriage is? Riding through the storms together? That's never held more meaning...

Reasons Why Wednesday: She carried us through the storm

Reason Why #7: She carried us home safe

So here we sit aboard safely in a slip at the gorgeous Wentworth Marina, bellies full after a homemade dinner from the galley, Jimmy Buffett on the radio, glasses of red wine and another "project" in process. Last Saturday seems like a lifetime away but when we stop for a second and think about what we went through the fear still shudders through us. 

Lists, Lists & More Lists

So, flashback: we arrived in Portland last Friday afternoon with the biggest smiles our faces could contain and excitement abounding. We hit up the marine store with lists and longer lists to outfit our boat for the weekend's trip, picked up Jill's cousin Chris, our crew, at the Greyhound station, provisioned our galley and cracked the first boat drink aboard. 

Before stepping aboard our boat for the first time! 

First Boat Drink on our very own Boat - rum & diet with
Portland's Old Port in the background

After some delicious beers at Novare Res in Portland we made back to the boat for a good night's sleep to prep for the trip south in the morning. Around 4am the wind had picked up a lot and Tim went out to secure another line to the dock. At 7:30 Tim's parents and the last member of our crew, Tim's brother Andrew arrived to the docks. The sky was grey and the wind was strong. Fog had come down the Fore River and the outlet from Casco Bay to the Gulf of Maine was barely visible. It was cool and VERY breezy. We listened to the NOAA weather forecast over the VHF radio over coffee - "Small Craft Advisories" were issued for Casco Bay and Saco Bay but it sounded like Sunday was going to be worse so we made the decision to head out - we had the crew, the provisions and the excitement. 

Casting off the dock for the first time in our new boat!

As we left the Fore River and entered the Gulf of Maine we went into a fog bank. A huge cruise ship was appearing out of the fog. Eerily there was no other boat traffic heading out. The waves were choppy and the winds were blowing around 15 knots - perfect weather for sailing our boat. 

Cruise Ship appearing out of the Fog at the mouth of the Fore River

Skies were ominous... 

Portland Head Light in some light choppy waves

We raised the sails and were cruising between and 6-7 knots, already very impressed with how Zephyr handled in heavier winds and waves. The waves were starting to build. The forecast we'd listened to hours earlier had said it was 4-6 foot seas with 10-15 knot winds. At this point it was consistently 5-7 foot seas and the gusts were topping 15 knots. Spirits were high and our boat was handling the heavier seas masterfully. Plowing straight through those big rollers without being turned or tossed. We passed Kennebunkport, our original planned stop over. The Sunday forecast we'd heard hours before had made us think that the next day was going to be worse and so we decided to push on south and try and make Portsmouth by nightfall. Still there were no other boats out and channel 16 on the VHF was eerily quiet. This is when things started to turn... 

A video before things really picked up - Zephyr mastering the 7 footers!

First, our side shroud, one of the cables that holds up the mast lost its pin and disconnected. A screwdriver and some electrical tape was a good, quick fix. The waves built some more, now consistently above 7 feet. The winds were topping 18 knots. We still felt good about making Portsmouth by sunset. Then our mainsail ripped off the boom. It's a self-furling main so there is no "dropping the sail" it must be furled in. The furling didn't quite wrap tightly and we ended up having the sail rip back out slightly as the winds were now over 20 knots and the seas were hitting 9-10 feet. This was not good. We turned towards to shore hoping for a safe harbor in Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, Maine. Fear began to take over on the boat at this point. Waves were 10 feet, the boat was heeling at 60 degrees and as you sat on the high side you could look down from the crest of a wave at least 15 feet to the trough of the oncoming wave. Still, our boat rallied through, never letting her bow get buried or being tossed broadside to waves. She was simply amazing in those seas and winds. Her heavy displacement, lead keel and incredible build proved to us that she is capable of handling most anything Mother Ocean throws her way. 

Words cannot describe the calm and control that the helmsman, Cousin Chris, exhibited that afternoon. Among the huge waves and winds and whipping main sail Chris piloted the boat with a smile on his face and a demeanor that calmed the crew. As we approached Cape Neddick, York, Maine we received a cell phone call from Tim's parents who'd been following our trek south in their car. They'd run into a local sailor, Peter Hughes, who warned us not to anchor in Cape Neddick. In the waves and wind we'd end up dragging anchor right into the seawall. He urged us to continue on just a little further south to York Harbor. The thought of spending even another 5 minutes in the seas and wind was not something we'd wanted to do but we turned back out, rounded Nubble Point Lighthouse which had at least 75 onlookers who'd come down to watch the giant waves and made for the red nun marking the entrance to York Harbor. Tim's parents said the gasps and the "what are they doing out in these seas" cries from the onlookers at the lighthouse riddled them with fear as they watched our boat disappear behind 10 foot troughs of the waves. Peter Hughes assured them that we were OK and though we were getting tossed around a lot we were going to make it to safe harbor. I'm glad we didn't have to hear the gasps of fear, we had enough fear on board amongst ourselves. 

Chris masterfully guided us into the York River and up the channel and within 2 minutes and a few hundred yards it was dead calm. We truly understood the meaning of "safe harbor". We tied up to the fuel dock at York Harbor Marine and thanked God, Poseidon, Buddha, St. Brendan, the patron saint of Mariners, karma and whatever else we could think of for delivering us to safety. We especially thanked our boat, Zephyr. She was as strong as we could have ever imagined. Her issues with the sail and shroud were user error and a result of deferred maintenance, not something wrong with her. She took those waves and wind and carried us over and through it without once showing any sign of being overpowered. Mr. Perkins, her engine, exhausted himself to give us enough speed to plow over the waves rather than be crashed into by them. Our trust in Zephyr grew exponentially that day. 

Peter Hughes (thank you to the spirits above for connecting him to us that day) spent an hour helping us untangle the mess that had become the main sail. There are a few holes that were ripped, not bad considering that sail flapped in 35-45 knot winds. We'd expected there'd be strips of fabric left. Sailors say that every patch in a sail is a story. We certainly have a good story for the couple of patches we'll have to get. We cracked open the best tasting beers we've ever had, I cooked up homemade jambalaya and as a crew we relived the afternoon, the fear, the exhilaration, the craziness. We commended eachother and thanked God and those we love in heaven who watched over us that afternoon for keeping us safe despite our poor judgment in going out that day. We learned a lot! Small craft advisories = do not go out. Consistently increasing winds + waves = turn back. There are no safe harbors for our size boat between Kennebunkport and York. When there is forecasted waves from an offshore Hurricane = don't go out. CHECK EVERYTHING IN YOUR RIGGING BEFORE HEADING OUT!

Capt. Tim taking her home on Sunday

The next day was drastically different. Calm seas, light breeze and a short 1 1/2 hour sail south to our new home port at the Wentworth. We were so much more appreciative of the weather because of what we'd been through the day before. A harbor seal greeted as we approached the entrance to New Castle and monarch butterflies flew next to us as we turned towards home - It was a perfect moment. We were greeted by our families and friends who were cheers'ing and clapping as Tim came into the slip. We disembarked, hair matted, eyes dry, muscles sore from being so tense for so long the day before. We were different, we felt stronger and also so humbled by what we'd come through. We'd learned the inconsistent and powerful nature of Mother Ocean and the steadfast strength of our boat. We'd also learned a lot about ourselves, we'd cheated disaster, we'd rallied through with many surface bruises from being tossed around on deck but with a strength and trust in ourselves that can only be achieved when you conquer something like we did. 

Coming into Little Harbor on Sunday

 So now we have some fixing to do to our girl - sails to be patched, shrouds to be secured... but it feels like an honor to be able to fix this boat that did so much for us on Saturday. She got us home safe and now it's our duty to be sure she is at her best before we ever challenge her like that again. 

"Confronting a storm is like fighting God. All the powers in the universe seem to be against you and, in an extraordinary way, your irrelevance is at the same time both humbling and exalting."

- Franciose LeGrande