BIRAC 700

The following is a collective effort with each of us contributing a paragraph or so.

(Care to guess who is responsible for each paragraph?)

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Ohana making the most of light winds.

Last time you heard from us we were writing from the sunshine and crystal clear waters of the Bahamas, now 650 miles later we are in the Chesapeake, back in Hampton, start line of the Caribbean 1500. During our passage we experienced the wonders of the sea, enjoyed various types of entertainment, took necessary safety precautions, and ultimately re-engaged with hustle and bustle of life in the United States.

It was awesome for the six of us to sail along at 6 to 10 knots and realize that we were alone, really alone. On the first day out as we headed on the course of 10 degrees magnetic, we slowly lost sight of Wild Horses, a boat headed for Block Island. As it disappeared over the horizon we did not see any other boats until we saw land about three days later. The quiet of the VHF allowed the sounds of sailing to become more pronounced. The rhythm of the waves lapping on the side of the hull combined with the chatter of kids singing or playing games in the cockpit became the ordinary. This alone time was precious to all of us. It allowed time to create, think and be together.

Sure we might have be out in the middle of nowhere and it might have been amazingly beautiful, but still we needed entertainment besides staring out upon the endless waves. Some of the more absurd methods of passing time included stacking dirty dishes into towers or concocting schemes to rid ourselves of two little, annoying, stick wielding brothers. (The Nintendo proved helpful in this regard.) More sophisticated forms such as listening to audio books, or playing Yahtzee also took place. Also a good amount of time was spent discussing and debating a whole range of different topics. We renamed unpronounceable jelly fish and convinced Josie to compare everything to the Carib 1500. Our passage was dubbed the Birac 700. “Birac” because it is “Carib” backwards, and 700 because the length of the “Carib” was rounded up, so we did too. On the last day of the passage it was calm enough for a treat, so the four kids hid up in the front cabin and watched movies. All together the days and nights passed quite rapidly.

Though much of our time was spent just hanging, we also had responsibilities that had to be carried out each day. Each morning Dad would start the day by listening to the weather the single side band radio (SSB), which is like a Ham radio. This was at 6:30 a.m., an hour later, he would turn the SSB back on and check in with Chasseur and Stolen Hour (two family boats we have been cruising with and were making a similar passage to the one we were.) Together, they would discuss the weather, give their lat. and long., and talk about anything else of interest such as fish caught or a malfunctioning engine. A similar conversation would take place at 7:30 p.m.. These conversations added a nice bit structure to our days, especially since the only other thing that had a definite time were our night shifts. For night sailing, we split the night into fourths. Catherine was in charge from 8 p.m. - 11 p.m., then Dad took over from 11 p.m. - 2 a.m. Mom had the 2 – 5 watch and I was on from 5-8. During night watches we would listen to music, and look at the stars or sunset or sunrise. Every 10 minutes or so we would check our position on the GPS, look around for lights on the horizon, and check on any change in the direction and speed of the wind. Day watches, which the four kids covered, were a little different. In the day time there would always be some one else up in the cockpit with you, so if you had to quickly down to grab something you could just ask someone else to cover for you for a bit. Since the weather was nice we did one man (or woman) watches, but if the weather were to have turned sour we had a plan for doubling up the watches. These watches not only gave structure to the day but gave us a time that we had to be up on deck and got to see some amazing stuff.

We saw an assortment of animals during the passage. The first time we saw a Portuguese Man- of-War we thought it was a plastic cup or floating trash. After many more passed by, some close to the boat, we knew that they were jellyfish. Later on during the passage we heard the trolling line zipping out. We knew we had a big fish. After a long fight, we finally got a huge mahi-mahi aboard. We watched as its vivid green and yellow slowly changed into dull silver. Two days later, Mom spotted some dolphins and we all rushed up to the bow to see them play in our bow waves. A few of them would fall back a bit and then surf a wave until they had enough speed to jump – some spinning, some flipping, some arching – the looked like they were showing off. The beautiful blue water and all these wonderful animals made the days quite entertaining.

As we got closer to Virginia, the sights changed. We saw fighter jets dropping flares out of the sky. We saw cargo ships, huge masses of metal that carry containers on their decks. We also saw seven fishing boats that were going out to the gulf stream. We were definitely getting closer to civilization.

Initially, we thought that it would take about five or six days for us to make the passage from Marsh Harbour to Norfolk. With favorable winds Saturday afternoon through Sunday and with the three-plus knot push from the gulf stream, we arrived off Cape Hatteras late Tuesday night. We motored through the calm weather on Wednesday and passed into the Chesapeake Bay by eight that evening. As we dropped the hook for the night it seemed clear to all of us how far we had come since the fall. The trip odometer had crossed 4700 miles and we had at least one experience to go with each mile. While we still had over a month and a half before our scheduled return home, this passage highlighted the confidence and camaraderie that had grown among us, something even more precious than the photos and the memories that we will be bringing home as well.

Fresh fish for dinner!

(and breakfast, and lunch, and dinner again)