Sailing again at last!


With our newly shortened mast and new lines, Steve and I set sail for Lighthouse Point, FL (just north of Fort Lauderdale) on June 2.  Based on the weather prediction we thought we would have to motor the whole way, but the wind was better than expected and we were able to sail without motor assistance for about 6 hours.  It was wonderful to have the wind in our faces and the serenity of traveling under wind power. 



I was at the helm during the early night-time shift.  The seas were incredibly calm and the view of Port of Palm Beach as we cruised past was beautiful. (Sorry for the photo quality...my intent was just to show how glass the sea was the day before the season's first tropical storm arrived.)



Steve wasn't so lucky, and the wind and waves picked up and rain began sometime after I went to bed. We arrived safely at the Hillsboro Inlet the next morning around 7:30 am as planned and had Starry Night docked and prepared for the tropical storm that afternoon.  The storm itself was a non-event with hardly any wind at all.  There was quite a lot of rain but nothing worrisome since we live in our own "ark".  :-)

We plan to spend the summer cruising up the eastern seaboard of the US but before we head north we are having some additional upgrades installed:  additional solar panels, lithium batteries and a new hardtop over the helm to replace the current canvas bimini. We're hoping the new solar and batteries will allow us to live completely "off the grid" and greatly reduce our need to run our generator.

The complete installation will probably take about 3 weeks and then we'll be ready for our journey! 

 





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