Winds of Change

We think Taia is ready and so are we. We're going to start sailing as soon as we come back from Pittsburgh. And things will change for all of us.

Up until now we've been at a marina. We still had a car. Life was still easy. When we come back from Pittsburgh, we won't have a car anymore and our daily routine will change.

The plan is to sail the Chesapeake Bay and get to Norfolk, where the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) starts. We'll motor through the ICW (you can't really sail much because it's pretty narrow) and eventually get to Florida. Along the way we might do a couple of offshore overnight hops to gain some experience.

We think we will be sailing an average of 5-6 hours a day (weather permitting, of course). There may be days where we don't sail at all, though,  if we want to check a place out or wait for better weather. As we go, we will need to keep track of a few things:

1. Weather conditions. Monitoring the weather and what mother nature throws at us is going to be a constant in our lives from now on.
2. Tides and currents. This is, probably, one of the biggest changes for us. Having only sailed in lakes before, we never had to deal with any of these.
3. Water depth. Taia's draft is 6 feet. That means we need at least that much water or we run aground... This was never an issue for us in Lake Huron. Chesapeake Bay is shallow and so is the ICW. 
4. Bridges. We'll need to cross under a few bridges on our way to Florida. That means we need to know what the bridge clearance is (Taia's height is 62 feet) and then contact the bridge operator to request an opening.
5. Traffic. There's a lot more boat traffic here than what we are used to in the Great Lakes. I already started reviewing all the rules of passage I learned a while ago!
6. Route planning. Every day we'll need to plan where we want to go, check if the weather conditions are suitable for that trip and find a nice and protected anchorage to spend the night.
7. Water consumption. Taia has 2 water tanks totaling 300 gallons that we use to drink, cook, bathe and anything else that requires water. We have been measuring our consumption and we believe that will last us about 2 weeks. At that point, we will need to go to a marina and re-fill our tanks.
8. Diesel. Taia has 2 tanks totaling 130 gallons. We still haven't measured how much that will last us but with the new tank level monitor we installed it will be easy to know when we need to drop by a marina for a refill :)
9. Propane. We have two 20-pound bottles of propane that we use to cook or barbecue. As soon as the one we're using runs out we switch bottles and start looking for a place to have the first one refilled. Each bottle should last about a month.
10. Electricity. We have 10 batteries, totaling about 1000 amp hours. Once we start sailing, all our electricity will come from that. So we need to watch it. We have measured our consumption and we think we're going to be using about 250 amp hours a day. Fortunately the boat is equipped with a battery monitor and a diesel generator to charge the batteries. Once we get to Florida we'll install solar panels to reduce our diesel consumption.

To prepare for all this, we have been doing a lot of research. We have bought the latest electronic charts, paper charts, and guides. We also follow a few blogs written by people who have cruised the areas we'll be visiting. We also talk to people that have done this or are about to do this. 

Another change that is happening is the goodbyes. As we prepare to sail south, we are forced to say goodbye to people we have met in the last year. With some of them, we have became very good friends. Some of them we'll see again in the islands of the Caribbean. But it's never easy to say goodbye. I really hate farewells. But, hey, I'm already used to them. After all, 13 years ago, I migrated to Canada...