Momentous Times

It feels like this whole year has been a long string of momentous occasions. We wrapped up our land life by selling our house, our cars, and most of our stuff. We said goodbye to family and friends in Canada. Then we moved aboard, worked hard to get the boat ready, and, finally, after so many years of dreaming and planning, we started cruising. A string of momentous occasions. A long string filled with excitement, stress, sadness, happiness, achievement, frustration, and every emotional colour under the sky.

Today we gathered momentum for another momentous experience: we got ready for our first overnight passage. It's a tiny passage by anyone's standards, only 160 nautical miles. Nothing more than a sneeze for the old salts, this passage will be etched in our memories forever. We are ready to make mistakes and learn from them. Tomorrow we take the first tangible step to becoming mariners.

We picked our weather window carefully. So carefully, in fact, that we'll probably motor the whole way through. There's very little wind in the forecast.

The plan is to exit Charleston harbor at 0600 tomorrow morning and maintain the necessary velocity to arrive at the sea buoy to St. Mary's Inlet no later than 1300 on Tuesday.

Luck, as always, will plays an important role tomorrow. But we've done everything we can to minimise its influence. Everything is stowed in its place, the life raft and ditch bag are easily accessible, jacklines and tethers are ready, spirits are high and anxious at the same time.

You can wish us luck regardless. It's always good to have it as a friend.