Here is a summary of my (Chris’) delivery trip bringing the boat back to the Chesapeake Bay from the BVI. The trip took 11 days with 10 of them being consecutive, nonstop sailing.

For those who are geographically challenged (I was) here’s a map:

Synopsis from my (Chris’) notes:

25 June 2024

I’m exhuasted. After 1.5 days of working with Captain Jen and Bob. Not because they aren’t great people, but because there is so much to learn and do. I’m well informed, scared, comfortable, eager, anxious, excited, a little upset about the expenses, wondering what the hell we’ve gotten ourselves into and how we’re going to do it, but ok.

Last night in my ‘cubby’ bunk I almost had a panic attack from claustrophobia and the whole ‘I can’t do this thing’. But I didn’t. I sat with myself and let it be. And it became ok. Thankful for my meditation practice.

I started bonine today. I’ll take another for at least the next few days and they want me to taper off and see how I am. Tomorrow we have a few things to buy (of course), settle up for the slip fees, maybe get our real liferaft from Helen, and head off to West End BVI. Oh, first we’ll pump the (supposedly) empty black water tanks and fuel up (almost full though). There we will anchor out and ‘live’ at anchor for the night. The following day we will leave!

I’m nervous but eager to find out what it is like. Boy, I hope I like it and want to do this and can help get Kathleen and Wren safely cruising.

26 June 2024

I wonder what kind of cruisers we’ll be. I wonder if I’ll be ‘that’ into the whole lifestyle or if I will be a ‘person who is cruising’. I don’t even know what that means except to say I still want to be me, and I don’t think me is defined by sailing. Or maybe I’m not defined by sailing, yet. Or maybe I don’t even know what’s up, haha.

I feel good about things, though. I don’t really like the expenses and hope it’s not like that for a long time or at least that there are breaks in it and we’re not bleeding money for a long time or all the time. It’s expensive. I get it. But more than I thought.

The delivery, the seriousness of it, is really about us going 100% all in. Accounting for every possible issue. I guess because it’s a journey through the open water and not a coastal trip close to shore. I will be ok if I have to puke and be seasick around Bob and Jen. I’m learning a lot and they are very kind and gentle. I couldn’t ask for better.

I’m taking my bonine. OK not drinking. Sleeping ok. Wish my head worked for peeing at night, but. . .

Tomorrow we set sail for the first time but only briefly or maybe for the whole trip. We’ll see!

27 June 2024

I kind of can’t believe how many things have ‘gone wrong’ thus far. Now, I know boats are boats and have lots of issues. They are always breaking down. Break Out Another Thousand. But I had no idea.

I can’t believe I didn’t bring more tools. I can’t believe I made so many assumptions that are so wrong. I can’t believe I thought I might actually be able to do this myself or with Kathleen.

I am learning so much, but it is all the hard way. Trying something out only to learn that we don’t know how to get it done on this boat. The systems are familiar to the captain and Bob, but each boat is different. They are struggling, and making their own mistakes, trying to make the boat do what boats do. The unfamiliarity is costing us time and money. Big time. Big money.

Today, although we have managed the batteries ok, we broke the roller furler on the genoa. Now we hope to get Helen’s husband, Tim, to help us fix it (for pay). And because the genset battery is now dead (not sure what happened, but might have been user error). Also, the winches are continuing to ‘stick’ in the on position causing a very dangerous runaway furl situation.

We can get a new genset battery. Hopefully, Tim can help us fix the roller furler (I think I could fix it but don’t have the tools). We hope the battery bank is ok. If the genset works, I think together we can figure out the watermaker. But when will we leave? The weather is also coming at us. (Note. The ‘weather’ was hurricane Beryl, which we quickly got ahead of).

It’s kind of the perfect storm. In two days we will be in a REAL rush and time crunch. Which is a place you don’t want to be on a boat. This is when you get in trouble and gamble on hopes and wishes.

And it sucks because now I’m in a hurry. I’ve been here almost a week and I’m itching to get going.

On the good news side, I didn’t feel seasick at all and we went right out and started working in the bumpy, but very small, seas and maybe 15 knots wind. I felt fine on Bonine.

I’m still scared to go, but I’m so ready. That’s kind of a cool side effect of all these problems. But I am exhausted. By the end of the day I am super pooped. Mostly from the close contact and constant communication. I like these people a lot, but I still need my breaks. Not getting them now is ok. I think once we get going that will improve.

Oh, and starlink would defintely be a game changer for trouble shooting, sourcing parts, etc. No doubt. Totally worth it. At least at this stage.

And the stage is interesting. I guess what I’ve learned is that a boat delivery like this, so long and potentially in the open sea, is like a real quick shakedown more than just a delivery. They don’t get your boat and go, they prep it to THEIR standards. CAPTAIN standards, which are likely higher than mine. It will be interesting to see how Kathleen and I do it. Will we maintain this level of rigor, or take more chances?

Either way, the boat is going to be better off for sure. I will have a good idea about what to do next. I will be a more proficient cruiser, have more confidence, and captain my family boat. I can also help Kathleen and Wren get up to speed more quickly.

It’s easy to get down and I felt a little negativity slip out tonight, but only once. Laying down for 10 hours is going to help, despite the heat and lack of air conditioning. Hopefully Tim shows up tomorrow. . . .

28 June 2024

Today we woke up to good news. Helen and her husband, Tim were able to help solve two of our issues. Tim repaired the furler in less than 30 minutes and was a super cool guy to boot. As the primary caregiver for their two young kids, he and I have a lot in common. They switched out parent duty and Helen returned on her dingy to realize our genset battery issue was just a loose ground connector. Generator on!

We then moved on to fixing the watermaker, which Helen assured us we could do (spoiler alert, we could). With some remote help from Captain Jen’s husband, Will, we popped off a quick disconnect on the water return and bled all the nasty pickling agent (biocide to protect the membrane) out of the system instead of into our tanks! If it had been just me, I would have missed this totally and fouled our tanks.

Once we figured out the quick disconnect trick, we pretty much had the whole watermaker figured out and working. We capped off the tanks filling at a theoretical 30 gph, which was the minimum this system will do. I need to get some spare parts to have on board, but I’ll be this system will produce more than 30 gph at the cost of clean seawater, genset time, and diesel. AMAZING! And, we won’t have to be miserly with water, showers, or maybe even washing clothes! Although we won’t test the washer/dryer this trip and clean clothes in buckets.

We then checked out of the BVIs, which was fun and we used the dinghy. We will do this whenever we leave one country to travel to another. We motor-sailed (not quite enough wind to sail, but enough to let the sails assist so we run the engine(s) at lower RPM) over to St. Thomas USVI and anchored out, putting up the main and screecher/gennaker on the way. Though the screecher looks rough I think we will use it a lot on this trip.

We anchored, had burgers and fries again, and will provision a bit, capped off our fuel tanks, and will check in to the US tomorrow before we head out to sea.

I love my wife and daughters for conceiving of, supporting, encouraging, and supporting this trip. I am still a bit scared but the also more excited. I’m starting to see how we can do this.

I’m sure there will be more bad and even worse moments, perhaps tomorrow, but I am ready.

And while Helen wasn’t able to pick up the life raft in time to switch them out, this day was a victory.

1 July 2024

Saturday we checked back into the USVIs at the ferry station where Kathleen, Wren, and I came back through after our trip to view Two Fish. We had a super wet dinghy ride back to the boat, rinsed off the salt (I should have worn old clothes), and prepped the boat for departure.

Around 1 PM EST, we left for the US. And we are already cleared in because USVI = USA! We are taking a direct route toward Southport, NC -ish. Captain Jen mostly helmed the boat the first half day and the only issues we encountered were an unfurled genoa furler, which Bob went on the bowsprit and reset, and the port engine overheating. Not sure about that second one. I inspected the impeller underway and it was fine.

I did a lot that half day. I trained on doing watches (we take turns helming the boat so others can sleep and rest = watch). I slept. And we just had a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I showered off. Because Bob needs a CPAP and 110-volt power for the delivery, but the battery bank is compromised so we ran the genset. This also means we can have air conditioning at least while Bob sleeps. It’s ok because we planned diesel for this.

The next day I ran my watch and we made more water. Conditions were ideal with following seas on the aft starboard quarter, 15-20 knot winds, and around 7 knots boat speed. We made some time, gaining maybe 50 miles between the first half and full day. I got a little sunburned at the helm on my right leg because that is the direction of the sun but I’m ok. I made spaghetti and it was just ok. Got enough sleep but was still tired.

Captain Jen graduated me to my first solo night watch 10 PM – 2 AM and it was easy because conditions were so good. I feared we were losing winds and this morning at 6:30 I woke to the starboard engine turning on so I assume this is true. There is a hurricane behind us so we have to at least do 5 knots. I was hoping the ideal conditions would last but knew they would not.

Today we will try to assess the port engine overheating. Thermostat? Bad guage? Getting that back up would be victorious. I wonder what sort of squalls and high seas and winds we will encounter on the second full day and first day of my birth month?

2 July 2024

Monday? (hard to keep up with what day it is) was another good day. Port engine issue was just coolant which I topped off with Bob. All engine issues seem to be related to recent fluid changes and air in system. Remember to bleed and check everything after oil/filter/coolant changes to make sure engines are running right before proceeding. Another victory and learning opportunity.

I made massive egg, bacon, and cheese wraps for breakfast. Cooking is ok. Boat motion, even in these fair seas, is a trip and no joke. Passage making with family will be something I hope to work up to rather than thrust into. Easing in and baby steps seem to be the key here. I think it is almost critical, and at least very important, to experience things as slowly and mildly as possible, at least at first – for K, W, and others I mean.

My shifts were unremarkable. We talked a lot in the morning and into the afternoon and had a smallish lunch. I took a hot nap and awoke to make dinner. I didn’t feel that hungry but I killed Captain Jen’s mahi curry recipe and it was delicious so I ate more. I thought I had a squall but my night shift was, again, unremarkable. I was tired and slept from 2-6. I’m back in bed because Bob turned the aircon and genset back on and my next shift isn’t until 10.

I’m a little anxious about actually moving on to the boat. On the one hand, we need to get going to rip the band aid off. On the other hand, it would be nice to, again, be able to ease on instead of leap. But in this case I think leaping is not a safety issue so probably where we should push. I’ll have a little over a week, almost two weeks, to get it all done. Not enough time but we’re going to have to make it work. Just when I think I can do it I remember we have pets. . . . .

Captain Jen thinks 4 months is not enough time to shake down the boat and get used to things. That would be the time we would be heading south. We are going to have to have a solid plan and a lot of spreadsheets to make that happen. I think if we can spend a lot of time on projects and repairs while also making time to work on simple living and comfort things we will be ok by then.

What I really hope is that Yankee Point works out and can address their projects while we’re at the beach or shortly thereafter. This is a big ask and having men on the boat while we’re living on it will suck BUT we can also divide and conquer. We’ll still have the van for awhile (forever? I love my minivan) and can spend time off the boat getting things we need and even staying with friends if necessary. Maybe by the end of August we can have addressed a lot of the things we want to do.

August is going to be hard as far as temperature and humidity, though. Maybe we’ll be able to do overnights and stay away from bugs. I want to have the marina for all of August, at least, and hope Kathleen agrees. I don’t know if we need to haul out, yet, but certainly next year. Need to make that boat project spreadsheet!

So, yeah. Using the marina as homebase and to tie onto while doing the more major projects will be awesome. Then we can ‘play’ at cruising doing overnights, day trips, and some longer passages even up the Bay. Once we ‘master’ those things we can try to shoot north and shore hop toward cooler temps and less buggy areas in September. Ideally, we can spend Sept, Oct, and Nov more North and play at coastal crusing and be ready/confident/experienced enough to head to Florida Dec 1 or so.

We can spend all of December heading south OR go quickly. We’ll have to assess where we are at that point.

The stars are amazing. Flying fish on deck is funny, but sad. Cooking aboard is hard but doable. We haven’t done much ‘living’ otherwise. Deliveries appear to be a different breed. Just sleeping, eating, attending to biological needs, and getting in your watches. I have been learning a lot and thinking a lot about how to download all of this to Kathleen and Wren. It’s a lot, but totally doable. Safety first, systems second, comfort (safety) third.

Oh, and I did not take Bonine today (Monday) and was fine. So I did 2 day before, then 1, then 2 the day we actually left, then one a day until today.

Tuesday afternoon was also uneventful and more of the same and not in a bad way at all. Same seastate, winds, and speed over ground (SOG). Doing quite nicely. Bob calculates our average speed thus far, over 3 days I guess, to be 6.5 knots. That’s 1.5 more than our minimum of 5. Best I can tell that means we’ve already gained a day off the total.

We are not quite 1/3 of the way through. Earlier we hit 450 NM of a 1400 NM trip. Just about 1/3. While it’s hard to imagine two more of those legs, it also seemed pretty easy. I’m sure boredom and restlessness will kick in at some point. I will have to take more breaks and get more alone time as that comes up.

Captain Jen thinks the joker valve on the master toilet is leaking because we are using more water than we should be. I think we used 30 gallons in less than a day when it should have been more like 15 MAX. So we shut the water supply off to that toilet and will be filling the toilet with saltwater from buckets and then flushing as usual. Good solution! I’ll need to rebuild that head later.

Also, the head in my bathroom flushes normally. Survey and brokers thought the tank was full and not emptying, but the tank reads not full, the valve is open, and it flushed. Hmmmm. Worst case would be the holding tank seals leak and it’s full now, but the guage isn’t reading correctly. At least that is the fear. But why and how is it flushing? I’ll get brave eventually and start peeing in it. In fact, Captain Jen said I should.

So, yeah, I fear boredom and not getting enough alone time, and also the dead zone ahead where we’ll be motoring full-time for days AND going slower. That’s not going to be fun. But maybe, like I said, I’ll figure out how to get some more alone time in my bunk. When the aircon is on!

4 July 2024

July 4th way out in the Atlantic Ocean. That’s pretty cool. Haven’t seen land since last Saturday or 4.5 days ago. Maybe it’s not that long, and it doesn’t really seem like it is, but it’s a first for me!

Wind died yesterday and we have been motor sailing. I got a little testy about Captain Jen saying we ‘needed’ to put saltwater flush on this boat so we’d have both, but I think that’s normal and we recovered. I just got stressed by the more boat work mention. Plus, it’s been difficult to talk about mostly only boats and cruising. Bob and I have had some nice conversations about family and financing and the future.

We are almost halfway. At the same time it seems like nothing and that there is a long way to go. I like passage making. I think it would be awesome with Kathleen and Wren, and another kid or friends. It’s boring and soothing and exciting and interesting. In this case, and probably in every case, it is purposeful. It is a long prepped execution of a thing and that feels good.

How will I feel over the last half? Surely the curiosity and eagerness will wear off. What will that leave? Will there be complaining and dis-ease over little things (or big things)? And if so, why exaggerate the suffering? Why place your attention on that which you know to be undesirable and even harmful? I am trying my best to see clearly the ‘bright side’. I am trying hard to employ my mindfulness education. To see this as now, and to let the future and past be those things.

Here, on the boat, especially, it is now. It makes no sense to permit the wanderings outside that narrow and truthful void. Beyond now is pain and more suffering. And once invited, those things can overtake, can’t they?

I had an idea in meditation about an article to write. Something like, Do you remember the curiosity of your youth? Something inspired by the memories of what it was like to be curious and innocent and naive. Moreso, to ponder whether those states of mind might benefit us as adults. To think about what happened and why they went away. To speculate about what that state might do to someone suffering as an adult. Can we look at life like that again?

Also, if we have the memory of curiosity, is that not like having done heroin or nicotine? Aren’t we essentially in withdrawal from how great it felt to be a kid. Like our friend Kevin Armstrong said of someone who is an addict. They have felt as good as a human can possibly feel. Well, I ask, haven’t we all? Isn’t that youthful exuberance for life the feeling we want to get back? Isn’t our consumerism, habits, and addictions us seeking that state of mind again? Don’t we all want to feel like that? And isn’t mindfulness the pathway home?

Today has been slow. Hardly any wind. Complicated seas. Storms that just didn’t produce much wind or rain – so I guess they weren’t storms. Lots of slooowww motoring into waves. Not bad, but not great for gaining ground.

I read a bunch of Gabor Mate’s “The Myth of Normal”, though, so all is well. We are past halfway, but is that halfway to Hatteras or halfway to Lancaster (Yankee Point)? I don’t know.

Given the consistency, I am not doing much as far as muscle memory. There isn’t much to do but turn the motors on and off or turn the boat 5 degrees with the autopilot. Not complaining, just thinking about doing this with K and W.

Tomorrow we’ll cap off the diesel tanks from the jerry cans we brought, which should be interesting. Potentially messy but let’s hope not. We should have more than enough diesel and with the watermaker, way more water. The joker value leak has us pouring seawater into the starboard toilet, but mine seems to work. We have plenty of water, we just don’t want to leak it out of the toilet. Way more than enough food, too. Unless something weird happens, we should be fine.

Not sure what will happen as we near our destination, but it looks like it could be stormy. We may arrive at night. Another day or two of the doldrums and things will change, I’m sure. It would be nice to get some wind and sail to that point, but it could be that we continue to motor in bouncy seas. No big deal.

5 July 2024

We got our fireworks! I woke to my 10 PM – 2 AM shift to a very bouncy bunk. Because I have been overestimating the intensity, I figured it was another fluke and when I got to the cockpit things would be calm. They weren’t. It was intense 25 knots gusting to 30. Some rain. Not a storm, but a low-pressure system throwing off lots of wind. Captain Jen had the boat with sails out and all I had to do was maintain course to dump wind. It was an easy sail, but intense and intimidating. I learned a ton managing the autopilot up or down 4 degrees for about 2 hours. I could feel the low pulling us as the wind clocked around from North to Northeast but we were able to pull away toward calm air.

6 July 2024

Pretty uneventful day. The front/low pressure from the night before became a calm and fairly windless day. Sunny. A bit cooler. Enough clouds to keep the sun down. It was a good day. I napped twice, as has been my habit as of late. I sleep after the 10-2 AM shift, wake to meditate around 6:30, and go up for coffee. I hang out until my next 10 AM shift and watch til 2 PM again, having lunch someone else makes. Today it wasn’t nearly as hot, so I was able to sleep a bit between 2 and 5 when I prepped for dinner.

I am not learning as much but my confidence is growing. I like the boat and find it more familiar. I anticipate what to do with the sails in response to the wind. Delivery is such a different mode than cruising, and being with non family is much different than being with my loved ones. I am weary from all the cruising talk. Thankfully, Bob talks about family and investments enough.

I don’t want to build our lives around the boat. I want the boat to be a vehicle (literal) for our lives. Maybe that will change, but I want the center to be us and our travel experiences. The boat is our home. Not sure exactly what I mean, but the future will tell. I don’t think I want sailing to be my career, but that may change.

In generally, I am open to change. Maybe I will learn to love conch, for example. Maybe I will want to eat from the sea more. Now, I find the idea of fishing to not line up with the goals of this trip, which are to delivery the boat and for me to learn the boat and pick up what I can that will help our adventures. If we fish, we’ll figure that out.

I don’t want to get excited, yet, but we could arrive at our destination Monday. That’s 2.5 days. If we maintain 5.5 knots we will likely do so. That would mean only tonight, Saturday night, and Sunday night for my last sleeps before arrival. I have so much to do to prep, but I hope to be able to do everything I need to prep to leave the boat for two weeks or so by my birthday. I can rent a car one way to Abingdon and be home in time to pack and mow before the beach! That would be ideal. Secondarily, I could stay with the boat until Saturday and rent a car or have eva drive us straight to the beach. I think time at home would be a better use of our time, though. Plus, it could be time for K and I alone while Wren is at sailing camp.

One or both of us will have to get Wren Friday, and if I’m home by Wednesday, we could just go to the beach from there. Except for mom and dad. We would want to leave from Abingdon Saturday. Maybe we’ll have to drive separately??

Tomorrow we should start to see more action. We should even get into the Gulf Stream, which will be amazing and add a 3-4 knot boost to our SOG. That’s crazy. Winds are from the SE and current so should not be an issue with sea state. Sat and Sun ought to provide a lot of new experiences and excitement.

No gulf stream yet as of Saturday afternoon, but we did get DOLPHINS! Spinner dolphins and a mom and calf. The calf showed off and did two leaps in the air for us. I had one of those sailing moments. Am I hooked, now?

I will have maximum 11 days to prepare the house and move to the boat. This does not include the day we leave for the boat that we can actually finalize packing the van (hopefully just the van) and hit the road. By that time the house needs to be empty and the grass maybe mowed, but I’m not going to kill myself to get that done.

The major trip is going to be renting a truck and making a 2-day round trip to Nashville. It won’t take but a few hours to load the van, a few to unload, but it will take 12 to drive there so two days. Probably get the van one morning, load it up, head to Nashville then unload and return the next day. Might be a bit we can get done that second afternoon.

So, that’s really 9 days. During THAT time we need to get rid of a lot either on Marketplace (might be too late), Faith in Action (but furniture?), and the dump. The girls’ furniture, the couches, etc. will suck to throw away. Maybe those go on Marketplace the week I get back and I can coordinate to sell when we return to Abingdon? That’s tight but worth a shot maybe.

The next most time consuming thing will be boat trips. I estimate we will need to make at least one (maybe two, hopefully not?) round trip from Abingdon to Lancaster prior to the final trip over. On this trip we will take as much stuff (a van load) that we know we’ll need. Clothes, kitchen stuff, tools, etc. This will help a lot with what is leftover at home. On this trip it would be really good to spend some time on the boat and at least do the pet net if not more projects to get it ready for us. Ideally, then, we make the final trip with the last of our stuff. Probably more clothes, toiletries, shit we didn’t think about, etc.

So that’s another two days leaving 7 for the work. It really is doable. But tight!

8 July 2024

We made it! We had really good conditions as we neared Cape Hatteras and the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Of course, that means we had no wind, so we motored the rest of the trip. It was cool to wake up on the last day and see the Boulevard at Virginia Beach from 4 miles off the coast!

The Gulf Stream gave us a slight push, but it still took forever to motor our way across the Chesapeake Bay tunnel and into the Bay itself. We would have to passthe York River and Mobjack Bay before reaching our destination in the Rappahannock.

A little before dinnertime we made it to Yankee Point Marina near Lancaster, Virginia, our final destination. We were all quite surprised that the docking situation was not as expected. Instead of traditional marina slips, Yankee Point consists of a main dock with pilings for tying up. This meant we had to back into a very narrow area surrounded by large posts. Not easy after a long trip in an unfamiliar boat!

Captain Jen did great despite a wonky reverse gear on our starboard engine – could the props need grease? Not the surprise you want at the end of a trip! She was able to get a 22.5′ wide boat into a 30′ piling slip with only one engine backing up properly. What a finish.

The dockhands and owner welcomed us. We all enjoyed an endless hot water shower and a good night’s rest. The next day Captain Jen and Bob got an Uber to the airport and I settled into the reality that lay ahead.