Day 40 - 8/4/24
We continue to head west. In a lot of ways the days are lot less epic, but certainly not less beautiful. I can feel the pressure of a schedule again and it doesn’t really suit me. My headspace has been in a place it never has been before on this trip, just going with the wind, taking care of the boat and making sure we are fed being my only worries. After 40 (!) days it’s hard to think of going back to the hustle and bustle of land life. For now though, we still have time and I’m trying to stay in the moment
We moved on, retracing our sail from earlier this month. There are a lot of places we could go, but we loved the Whalesback channels much we just wanted to see it one more time. We didn’t go as far as Turnbull Islands though and stopped for the night in a beautiful anchorage called Beardrop Harbor. Not quite a fjord, but just as stunning. A lazy after of swimming and hanging out and I dare say I got chilled! It was a welcome change!
We watched one boat try to set his anchor for over 4 hours before Richard couldn’t help but try and go help him. His anchor is way undersized but he also wasn’t letting out enough scope. The fellow enjoyed a little rum he brought as a gift but seemed to ignore our advice sticking with his own education that a 3:1-5:1 scope was enough. (It was blowing 10+ down the channel and I’ve always been taught at LEAST 7:1. Richard and I usually lay down 10:1). Our only peace of mind was he behind us. Hard to believe he’s supposedly has been coming here for 5 years.
After dinner Richard called a crew meeting. All of the kids have taken many new roles this year and he decided tomorrow we would all take acting roles one step up. Cory would be 1st mate and take all my jobs as well as company Bert and Danica as needed. Bert 2nd mate and Danica 3rd. I was sitting all smug thinking I may get to boat nap when Richard realized he hasn’t been teaching me new things and decided I would be captain tomorrow. So I will
Be in command, controlling Ciara as we lift and set anchor as well as the sails and steering. Stay tuned.
Danica joining land as we walked Kona one last time after Taps/Lasr Post. She has grown a lot on this trip, and not without some hard days. But today she really started to see how much she could do and seeing her confidence was super nice. She enjoyed scrambling among the rocks and just being on land with us.
Tomorrow is long day. I had hoped only to go about 30nm but I think we are going to have to push another 10 to find a good anchorage with protection from the north as there are winds expected over night. Today ends what i consider the heart of the north channel. The islands and protection will get less and less from here. I’m sad to see it in our wake.
