Just 15 days before the long journey.
So many questions…
Will it rain? Will it be warm or cold? Will I like the waves? Will I see any whales? Will the stars keep me company at night?
I am very excited! Just 15 more days…
Solo faltan 15 días para mi travesía.
Tengo tantas preguntas…
¿Lloverá? ¿Tendré frío o calor? ¿Me gustarán las holas? ¿Veré alguna ballena? ¿Me harán compañía las estrellas en la noche?
Estoy muy entusiasmado! Solo 15 días más…
We are two weeks away from departing on our voyage and reality is now really setting in. Until now all the planning and preparation work seemed somewhat academic , as if we were doing this on behalf of someone else. Furthermore, every time I found myself daydreaming of the journey I had this image of wonderful high-pressure systems, good weather, everything working smoothly, and whales swimming along side us. La, la, la…
Spent a week in Newport fixing tons of things from the shakedown voyage, talking with the crew that brought the boat from Spain, not having my wife Kristi or the kids nearby, and suddenly the voyage doesn’t seem so rosy anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still extremely excited about the whole thing, but a good serious dose of reality sets in when you go try on GoreTex off-shore foul weather gear. Now I have a picture of low-pressure systems, high winds and soaking waves, things breaking, missing my family. Blah, blah, blah…
I’m certain we will have a little bit of everything. That is the nature of these trips. Coming home from Newport and seeing my two precious kids running to hug me was awesome and all I could think of, was how on earth am I going to be away from them for three weeks?
I predict some sappy blog entries in the future. You’ve been warned …
We now have a third and final addition to the crew. An old family friend, José Manuel Aguilera will be joining us on the journey across the Atlantic aboard O’Comillas. I’m certain that José Manuel is the only person my father and I would agree to have joining us on a trip of this nature. So welcome aboard José Manuel!
Enjoying skippering O’Comillas
Unai the captain of the shakedown voyage with Dad.
Another way to have the sailboat cross the Atlantic is to ship it in a yacht transport. We are doing it the old fashion way. Sailing it…
Sun sets in Newport while O’Comillas rests…
It is now after 10pm in Newport and this is the first time since Dad and I got here that have we been able to stop working on something and rest. We are currently listening to some classical music. Dad is reading a book and I’m blogging.
We have been fixing stuff left and right. I should be saying port and starboard, but I guess that doesn’t sound quite the same. What is this fixing all about? Well, since this is a new boat that was purchased in Spain we actually had a very experienced captain sailed the boat from Spain to Newport. As expected during the first voyage of any sailboat, things break and this is why it is often called the shakedown voyage. We are now about 85% done fixing things and what remains will be addressed before we depart.
In terms of things braking, it seems things have not fared better back home as blogged by Kristi at K Pasa!? Maybe Kristi is right and she is emitting some kind of magnetic field that breaks things, or maybe just perhaps maybe, I actually do something around the house once in a while 😉
The captain and crew of O’Comillas for the shakedown voyage, three in total, were all from Spain. This shakedown voyage was indeed a shakedown. O’Comillas went through very rough seas and over 50 knots of winds and handled very safely. The boat reached just over 20 knots surfing down the waves. This is very fast indeed for a cruising boat and the crew was very happy with her performance.
A more typical performance is about 9 knots which we have done consistently in the past two days of sailing here in Newport with winds around 18 knots. O’Comillas is indeed a very fun sailboat to sail.
We have put a few photos of the past two days of sailing in the Photo Log.