It is Sept. 16 at about 9:00 a.m. Seychelles time (we think we are still UTC +4).
For those of you who have been following our position on seahike.com, you know that we have been underway since about 2:30 p.m. on the 14th.

We had a fair amount of rain and squall activity the first night, which made for bad sleeping and comfort conditions. Well, I (Cindy) slept like a baby, but I always do, so that might not count. We think the seas were about four meters the first night. They were predicted to be 2.2 meters at seven second intervals yesterday, which is probably about right.

The first 24-hour period we measured, we sailed 133 nautical miles (nm). We have reached the point where the winds will be a bit lighter (10-15 kts) for a couple of days.
We have been sailing to the wind, so our track to the east side of Socotra, our first waypoint, is not straight. All by design. 🙂

As for sailing conditions thus far, the boat is a rockin’ and a rollin’ and one needs to hold on tight when walking. We even have to secure items as we would on a monohull so they don’t end up on the floor in the saloon and galley.

We finally mounted the radar to the mast the day we left. Spike, the skipper on the boat next to us, helped out quite a bit. Jason mounted the bracket, which was probably the hardest part.

I went to the top of the mast to check things out and take pictures of the current state. I also helped to run a pull string through the mast at the level of the spreaders to facilitate pulling cables through the mast in the future.

Michael went to town to buy a fishing rod on the 14th. Cost 4,800 rupees. The three of us combined efforts to load the fishing line onto the reel yesterday. Jason has been in charge of fishing. We will let you know when he catches something. (See the “when” not “if” – positive thinking.)

Speaking of fish, we’ve found six or seven flying fish on our boat. I guess they want to join us.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Cindy had an opportunity (poor Michael had to meet a guy who was working on the boat) to see a few of the other islands in the Seychelles. Here are a few pictures.

We have been encouraging our friends and family members to follow our blog, but they patiently (?) reminded us that there is no current content. We are about to recify that.

We have a boat! Her name is Seahike. She is a 2016 Leopard 40 catamaran. We bought her in the Seychelles, where she had just come out of charter. We’ve sailed on this model before and knew that we liked it and could easily manage it between the two of us.

So, here we are in the Seychelles. We initially came out in late May to see the boat, be here for the survey and take her out for a sea trial. We’ve been here this time since September 1. We’d hoped to leave for our next destination tomorrow but we have a few more boat repairs that need to be completed, we need to install the radar, and we still need to obtain clearance from the Seychelles government.

Our friend, Jason Kuhlman, will arrive later today and will be joining us on our first passage. More on that later, but suffice it to say that our initial destination is the Med.

So now you are up to date on our current situation. We plan to submit several posts talking about how we got to this point. Watch for those to drizzle in as we find signal.

We arrived at the marina on a Thursday. Arriving at a marina is always a happy day, no matter the day, month, or hour. In this case, we were embarking on a four-day sail.

We (Michael’s daughter and fiance, and Michael’s sister and her long-time friend) had an adult beverage, put our supplies on the boat, and ate dinner at the marina. We then played Cards Against Humanity and drank some more adult beverages before retiring on 37′ Clear Air.

The last time Michael and I sailed alone together was on a 23’ Hunter on the St. Croix River in 2015. Since then, we’ve been sailing with groups as crew or as captain (Michael) and admiral (me). We love sailing with others, but we were nearing the end of the 2018 sailing season with no further sailing plans. (Recall that we do not own a boat at this time.) I suggested that the two of us sail for a weekend on the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior.

Michael & Cindy with 2014 “Bliss” 34′ Jeanneau Sailboat

If you’ve been reading our blog, you know that Michael and I have nearly identical sailing experience and training. Early on, we agreed that he would take the role of captain so that we could charter bigger and bigger boats. Having done that for the past three years (and achieving our goal of chartering the types of boats we want to sail in the places we want to go), we agreed that it was my turn. Continue reading →

Our most recent adventure in the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior, consisted of sailing with three Katies (plus me, Cindy, made four) and their partners. For those who don’t know, a “Katie” is an individual who works at St. Catherine University (St. Kate’s), or is a current for former student of the same.

Six of the eight of us boarded Chat Eau, a 2010 Lagoon 380 catamaran, Thursday night. We chartered Chat Eau from Superior Charters, Bayfield, Wisconsin. (This was the second time Michael and I had sailed Chat Eau. We sailed in September 2015 with two fabulous women.) The other two crew members were scheduled to join us the next morning.

2010 Lagoon 380 “Chat Eau”

Toward the end of our first happy hour on the boat, it was clear that more hard liquor was required. We texted Greg and Claire (the two set to join us Friday morning), asking if they could bring a big bottle of rum with them. They informed us that the liquor stores were already closed. We were therefore quite surprised when they arrived at 8:00 a.m. with a bottle of rum. Apparently it is possible to purchase rum at 7:15 a.m. in Wisconsin. Remember that. Continue reading →

For some reason, the land keeps moving. Hee hee. It is just our bodies adjusting to living on the land instead of the water.

The end of this marvelous voyage causes us to reflect on the impact sailing has had on our lives these past few years. We have been so fortunate when it comes to sailing and the people we have met. We have learned from every experience.

Sailing has, in short, enriched our lives in ways we could not have imagined. It has brought us closer together and provided us with meaningful experiences and memories that will last a lifetime. Continue reading →

Land ho!

Michael spotted Madeira during the last hour of his 2-5 a.m. watch. He came to our cabin at 4:50 to grab the camera, as the sky was a beautiful shade of dark pink. I was already awake, since my watch began at 5:00.

Madeira Island

We were still 35 nautical miles from our waypoint, but only about 17 nautical miles from the closest point of the island. Continue reading →

We started the motor during my (Cindy’s) watch: 2:27 a.m., to be precise. The rest of my watch was pretty boring and I was getting sleepy, so I decided to try to remember a movie title starting with every letter of the alphabet.

Why? Because Michael and I are creating a list of TV shows and movies that aired/showed prior to 1990. Yulia and Kirill told us that they didn’t have access to such entertainment until political changes in Russia allowed it in about 1990. Continue reading →

Today is our penultimate full day on the Atlantic for this voyage. We will reach Madeira sometime early Sunday morning, likely under the cover of darkness. Hard to say for certain cuz we are, you know, sailing.

Kirill and Yulia

Yulia and Kirill are hoping they can get the engine (that died early in the voyage) looked at in Madeira. After Madeira, they have about 1200 nautical miles to go to reach Corfu, Greece. Continue reading →