Well that was one for the books 😅 Aruba to Colombia is known to be one of the more dangerous passages. Unfortunately we are in the middle of windy season and only had a small window where the winds ‘quieted’ down to 20-25 kts. So 4 of us boats set off together. Overall, it wasn’t a bad sail. Uncomfortable. Big seas. Big winds. Relentless rolling. But nothing we couldn’t otherwise handle. The final night of the passage was where things got bad. As the winds started to gust up to 30 kts, we went to reef our headsail. That’s when realized the furler was completely jammed. There was no way to fix it in that moment, so we had no choice but to sail with the entire head sail out. From 2 AM to 5 AM, massive gusts would roll through, turning our boat up from the pressure and intensity. In that position we were sideways to the massive waves, and they would hit our boat on the side, knocking us over. We would get hit so hard that our lifelines dipped into the water and we were fully perpendicular. When we finally arrived, the chaos wasn’t over yet. We still couldn’t fix our furler so we had to drop the head sail in the middle of the bay. A fishing line got wrapped around our propellor and our engine cut out right as we were pulling into the marina. By some twist of fate, Mother Nature sent a breeze that gently guided us into a slip with no problems, and we managed to tie up. Very happy to be here in Colombia (first time in South America!!), but I would not ever want to do that sail again. Experiences like that give you a whole new lease on life. I’m so proud of Adam for his captaining skills and for Blu for being an absolute unit throughout it all 💙💨

Are there still fish in this ocean or what? I’m getting nothin out here. NOTHIN!

After enjoying Christmas in Bonaire we’re heading west towards Central America.

We had 3 days of beautiful downwind sailing while buddy boating with our friends on Miocene. Highlights include catching a giant sailfish, seeing UFO’s, and hitting 11 knots while surfing a big wave. Happy to finally be in the ABC’s ✊.

About to make our big trip to the ABC’s with our good friends on Miocene. We’re departing from Grenada and keeping 50 miles north of all Venezuelan waters to avoid pirates. There have been reports of boardings and attacks recently in these waters so we will be vigilant.

Doesn’t get any better than that. Full moon, zero swell, and 12-15kts consistent winds. Looking forward to meeting up with all our buddy boats here in Trinidad.

We bought the boat in Grenada, sailed her north all the way to Annapolis, and now she’s back down to where it all started.

Great sail, but also a tough sail. Close hauled for 2 days in heavy seas. Proud of us and proud of the boat. She held up well and powered through some tough conditions. We saw up to 30kts sustained passing Dominica. Made it in one piece.

From Bahamas to St Martin.

Fantastic weather window for a 2 day motor sail into the wind. Low winds and low swell. It was almost a perfectly straight line from Punta Cana to Jost Van Dyke. We caught ourselves a tuna and a huge barracuda. All in all, a pleasant sail.

A tough sail. Close hauled and waves crashing over the bow the whole time. We didn’t sleep much at all, but we arrived to Cap Cana Marina safe and sound. Enjoy this timelapse of us backing in not once, not twice, but thrice. Cap Cana doesn’t put numbers on their slips.

4 days of close haul sailing through the Antillas Mayores and into Samana Bay. Our weather window could not have been better. Winds enabled us to sail non stop for 3+ days heading south east. At night we had a full moon lighting the ocean around us which made the night shifts feel safe and enjoyable. When we were passing north of Haiti a small speedboat passed by off our bow in the middle of the night and came within 100 meters. My cheeks clenched with enough pressure to form a diamond but thankfully they kept heading north towards Turks. Not a lot of luck with fishing. We hooked a Mahi but lost it right as we were bringing it into the boat. Demoralizing. I’ve decided to get more aggressive with the gaff. This has been our longest continuous sail to date and we’re thankful to be happy, healthy, and safe here in the DR.

Close hauled most of this trip. Very grateful to have been able to sail instead of motoring directly into the wind. We will wait here for a good weather window to keep heading east towards the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴

Perfect sunset ending after a calm sail down the Exumas island chain.