Highlights from the last batch of film from the Caribbean, developed on Azurite just before departing for the South Pacific

Broke the out haul lol. Mythical level anchorage

A pacific puddle jump with so much to say. We left Panama City with good wind to carry us all the way to Galapagos and left with about 10 other boats. Was a bit rusty coming out of the city and immediately broke a stainless steel dorade cover that a halyard was mounted to which set an uneasy tone out the gate. Was able to repair the cover and seal the holes in the deck with 5200. After we got everything shaken out caught our first tuna (5lbs lol) which set hopes for better things to come. The wind out of Panama was fantastic and we managed to clock a beyond fast 237nm 24hr speed record for azurite while wing on wing in 20+kts. Had really fantastic sailing to the Galapagos. Passed the equator late a night so not much celebrating. After staying south of the Galapagos we decided to change divert course from the other boats and head almost straight south to get to 10 S by the time we were at 96 W hoping to pick up the trades faster and get south of the thunder storms sooner. This added some extra miles for us but really paid off in the end while finding that 17-20kts that Azurite is so happy in. Had to motor for near 24hrs to get through some incredibly light air south of the Galapagos. Once south we found good wind and fishing. Catching ~15lb tunas every night and a 22lb wahoo. Once about half way through the trip we picked up some uncomfortable swell being pushed up from the southern ocean which made for decently rough seas for the rest of the trip. After riding our spinnaker for a couple of thousand miles we finally got over zealous with it and it ripped in half in a 26kt gust. About 5 days out. This was really not great because for the rest of the trip we had a really hard time keeping our big heavy genoa stable for downwind sailing in rolly seas leading to lose your mind level of flapping. Luckily the sail was made by Evolution in NZ and they can get a new one to us in a month or so. The last few days were hard as the rolling and flapping was driving everybody insane and landfall on the Marqueses was very welcome. The pacific was good and had a really well defined beginning, middle, and end that all had different qualities. The challenge for me was more mental then I expected, but I think most of that came from sailing in powerful conditions for most of the trip. The thing that surprised me the most was the smell of islands when making landfall. Thankful for such a good crew. To sum it up in bullet points: -had good wind, went fast -ate well -didn’t sleep much -got better at fishing -got stressed about sails -fell in love -played lots of cards -learned a lot -adore my crew -76 flying fish on deck in one night is possible -My Chemical Romance still slaps -allegedly I fart too much -Azurite is a good boat :) -

Made it to the pacific and feeling accomplished!

Azurite, Fat Kat II, and the Beluga Reefer take on the Panama Canal

Back to Shelter Bay for Pacific prep. Canal transit on the the 10th! Finally got around with getting the asymmetric on the pole to sail it down to 165 twa. Took some messing about to get it happy but excited to have it figured out for the pacific! Caught 1 tuna and 1 piece of trash

Didn’t run aground

At last

Winds finally eased up for us to head to the San Blas. Everything is squared away with our Panama Canal transit and boat is ready to go for the pacific. Going to spend the next week or so exploring the San Blas before we head through

A seriously wonderful trip. Saw sustained winds of 20-26g35kts and seas from 8-10’ with an 8 second period basically the entire trip. Nothing less than sporty conditions. It made for lots of roll and uncomfortable nights but also led to the downwind run of our lives: three days straight of wing on wing sailing at 9-10kts and clocking up to 12.8kt boat speed. We LOVE this boat. Despite the somewhat rough trip vibes remained all time high with a beyond perfect crew. Feeling lots of love and gratitude as we complete such a good trip and get ready to leave the Atlantic. Oh also broke a boom preventer and crash jibed like day 2

Made it back to Antigua for repairs, provisions, and prep work for a sail to Panama later this week! Fish

Raced our friends Outremer 51 Mathilda to Deshaies. A perfect day out :)

Was planning on one more night in Dominica but decided to head out early after a night of absolute mayhem in the anchorage last night. Sailed in 20-30kts absolutely cooking in big seas. Caught a small barracuda out of dominica and released it. Got another fish on the line and ran out of line in no time going way too fast.

Waiting on parts for a repair in Antigua for a couple weeks so decided to head down to Dominica. Sailed out of Falmouth in the dark in a light drizzle and got squalled on for a bit. Got the kite set for a nice run down to Guadeloupe. Motor sailed through the wind shadow. Came into the acceleration zone in a stiff 20kts on the beam and had an excellent sail into the evening

Trip to Saint Barths for New Years with a stop at Île Fourche. New Years on Saint Barths is a must do stop for us. Absolute wild experience. Saint Barths is really beautiful Photos developed and scanned on Azurite. Portra 400, portra 800, HP5

Send or be sent. Catch up on tracks from late last year

Surf died in Hull Bay. In CA for a few days waiting for a new water maker + friends. Had to beat up wind when rounding to the south of the island. Happy sails happy boat. Also getting better at splices!

Film developing and scanning onboard Azurite! Whenever I mention to people that I do all of my own film developing and scanning onboard I always get asked if I have a darkroom, so I thought it would be nice to share some insights into my process. So there is no darkroom BUT I use something called a film changing tent that allows me to work with the film and load it into developing tanks in total darkness. They are kind of a giant pain to use, especially when it’s really hot and humid out. The rest of the developing process is done on the countertop with no need for darkness. The things in my craft I struggle with the most on the boat are water consistency and temperature. You normally want to use distilled water which I do not have regular access to (or is not worth buying in bulk I guess). We are currently working out a new water maker for Azurite and I’m hoping this will at least get the quality of the water consistent. High ambient temperatures are also difficult to accommodate for, as working with higher temperatures changes development time and can change some of the characteristics of the images. I find it to be a very rewarding experience to be able to develop from the boat. It makes turn around time for rolls significantly faster and the overall experience feel more integrated into my life.

Had an excellent 11 day stay in the BVI hopping around and relaxing. We went backed to the customs office to get an extension and were promptly told we had to leave immediately. The customs officer at Jost Van Dyke mistakingly check Azurite in for two weeks but only checked all of our crew in for a single day, meaning we overstayed our welcome by 10 days. They were very nice about it and we decided to head for St John. We will spend about a week here getting some repairs done and US stuff ordered, then heading through the BVI again on our way to St Martin!

A truly epic sail from Bermuda to Jost Van Dyke. Day 1&2 where perfect conditions: spinnaker, fish on the line, long rolling seas. Day 3,4,5: sail through 8-12’ seas on a beam reach in 25g30kts of wind they said. It will be fun they said. It was brutal. Off the hook rolling for three days straight. Regardless though it was an amazing trip 1564nm from Newport to the BVi with a 2 day stop in Bermuda. Only broke a few things! Feeling accomplished and ready for some relaxing days ahead. Regardless though made killer time and felt fast Also came across a Saildrone in the middle of the night!

Newport to Bermuda was difficult and rewarding. My first time captaining a boat on a big offshore sail. First Gulf Stream crossing for everybody on board. Followed weather routers advice and never found the downstream gulf current and suffered for it with 10’ breaking waves in a very confused sea. Had lots of sea sickness on board which through or watch schedule out the window. Probably slept a total of 12 hours. Regardless though of how hard it was I learned a lot, kept crew safe, kept the boat safe, and the only thing that broke was the coffee maker(RIP). I feel very accomplished and am excited to continue on. In Bermuda for a few days for some much needed rest and looking to jump south on Friday.

Back on Azurite after a really nice month and a half away from her. Fishing up our last projects this weekend then heading south to catch up with all the friends!

Everything from sitting in a channel waiting for a puff of wind to carry us forward 10’ to sustained 8kts boat speed. Casco bay is really beautiful. Pierre and I are the kings of light wind sailing on 26 ton boats

Busy

Nice day with Pierre just playing around with sail configurations. Beat out of Portland harbor in ~17kts with staysail and full main, and can actually tack the staysail properly. Headed northeast on a beam in about ~12kts of wind. Still trying to figure how to get the draft of the main set properly Ran down wind in pretty light air wing on wing. Finally cruised into the harbor under spinnaker. Overall quality sailing

Some nice light wind sailing all day. Little bit of spinnaker. Little bit of stay sail. A whale or two. Portland until Saturday.

Excellent light wind sailing followed by smashing into the wind for 3 hours followed by excellent light wind sailing into the harbor. This is your reminder to just put your headsail up sometime and puts along at 4kts. Spent most of the day with Oyster 66 Lili. Nice day

Picked up parts this morning from Billings Diesel and Marine in stonington and got my engine running thank goodness. Picked up the hook pretty quickly after that and made a break for Rockland. Chased some fools down and made them unwilling participants in a race. I could never let those random people who are trying to cruise and have a nice day go faster than me Rockland for who knows how long as I gear up for the sail to Portland.

Stuck in Stonington with the engine down. Lessons learned about fixing stuff that ain’t broke. I decided to clean my injectors yesterday morning while in a lovely but relatively risky anchorage. While reinstalling the injectors the banjo bolt for the return line on cylinder 4 sheared (I swear I didn’t put that much force on it 😶) We were anchored at Hells Half Acre and was about 100’ from the rocks. With the swell coming in from Ernesto I was uncomfortable staying there with poor south east protection. We needed some help moving the boat and chased down some folks we had met the other night at Valley Cove. Chris from S/V Starlight helped us push the boat out of the anchorage and around the corner to a safer place with more room. I was low key shocked with how well the 25hp dinghy was able to push all 57,000 lbs of Azurite. So we are stuck outside of Stonington for hopefully just a few days while we get replacement parts. The lessons I learned here are don’t work on critical systems in stupid places unless absolutely necessary and the dinghy is a powerful tool. This is your reminder to add spare banjo bolts, crush washers, an injector, and a high pressure rail to your engine spares kit.

Short trip. Peak Maine

Finally left Acadia to start the trip south. I really enjoyed spending the last month there and getting to know my way around. Met lots of cool people and hope to make it back someday.

Some recent film from Maine. Developed onboard Azurite. Being able to do all my developing on the go really is special and I’m so happy to be able to do it

Engine fixed thanks goodness. Light to medium conditions. Mostly up wind all day. 8.4 top speed. Raced two other boats casually and had fun with it. Thinking about swapping the North 3Di Genoa and trying the Evolution carbon inlay Genoa. The 3Di is so good on upwind and beamy points of sail. Like incredibly actually. But it’s just not great downwind and doesn’t feel versatile enough to be a good cruising sail. I’m just not comfortable enough to fly the A2 asymmetric at night or above 20 kts. I really feel like I have a great sail plan other than missing something for broad reaches in heavy conditions and at night - maybe the other Genoa might be better here. If not, dare I say I might seriously consider getting an A4 asymmetric to fill the gap.

Left Bar Harbor in very light conditions and cruised downwind with just the main. Wind picked up to high teens and got the boat under full power on a beam reach making 8.5kts. Was amazing. Coming into the set of islands decided to put my sails up. She is just to big for me to maneuver under full power in tight spaces. Proceeded to loose my engine entirety. Got the main sail and stay sail up in 20kts. Sailed into the anchorage. Dropped hook and sails at the same time. Kept my cool, could have cried. Epic first solo sail

Maine is an absolute minefield of lobster pots. Good sailing. Motored for a long while. Saw 1 whale, 1 shark, 7 dolphins, and infinite loons. Maine is beautiful and I’m happy to be here

Saw some whales. Sailed some boats. Drank some martinis

A day with almost everything. From surfing down waves with the spinnaker dodging crab pots at 10kts to whales to reefed-main-rail-in-the-water beating upwind in 25kts to completely misjudging what the anchor situation would be like in Provincetown and having to find a place to anchor in the dark in a stiff breeze. Really getting comfortable sailing the boat in strong conditions and finding the right balance in the sails. Not much is more satisfying then seeing that 1 degree autopilot angle while moving 7kts. Did I mention we saw a whale? :)

Found amazing wind right out of Newport harbor and was able to make sustained 8kts of boat speed on a beam reach flying the staysail and Genoa. Had 30 minutes of this the wind just died. Motored a lot then sailed slowly in 7-8kts of wind. Still a beautiful day and happy to be on Nantucket for a couple of weeks. Recorded this GPX files on our ships chart plotter

We do all of our own film developing on Azurite! Let me know if you have film you want processed!!

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