“Things Got Choppy”

We headed out of the Fox Hill dock area, and motored our way through the channel. I HATE having anything to do with the motor. I don’t mind handling the rudder for short periods of time, but the motor is more responsibility then I wish to take on. I should not be in charge of handling anything that can possibly cause me to panic and crash our sailboat. And sink. This is relevant later.

Once we cleared the channel, Brian raised the sails. For some reason, the main sail wouldn’t go all the way up. But, it was breezy, and we had no problem catching the wind.

There were wind gusts up to 20 mph, and certainly created excitement on our part. We saw dolphins, not just swimming, but playing in the water. Or, maybe they were eating fish, also a possibility, as Brian explained to me. I knew that, but I’m my head they WERE PLAYING. That made our afternoon.

With the 750lb keel dropped, we sailed across the bay. Or, you could say, we were tossed about like a piece of cork. I had taken a pill for motion sickness to avoid feeding the fish over the side of the boat.

It wasn’t working. 🤢

I decided to see if I felt better by trying out my new boat bed.

He had bought a queen memory foam for the bow and a twin for the galley, cutting them to size. Here’s a picture of us putting sheets on the mattress and trying it out at home. They worked fantastic, making sleeping in the boat tolerable.

There was stuff everywhere, from all the tossing about. I had to clear the short path to the bow, and even our 5 gallon water bottle had fallen over. The water pump was off the top, pouring water INTO the boat. After setting it on the floor, I attempted to mop up what was right in the path, while yelling to Brian that the water spilled. He replied, “okay” and stayed focused on his destination to fish.

I crawled in and turned around so my head was facing the correct direction this time. I’m new, okay? Certainly makes more sense to put my head away from the bow. It’s a tiny place to sleep, but I called dibs.

Instead of having a table, we just kept it down as Brian’s sleeping area. He’s about 5 feet away from me at night. He snores, but in my bed, my head is at a toilet, separated by a thin, plywood panel. I’ll take the toilet. It doesn’t smell or snore.

After about an hour into the sail, I came back up and asked how much longer until we got to where he wanted to fish. His answer wasn’t what I wanted to hear, as we still had about 2 plus hours, to go.

He asked if I wanted to turn around and warned it would be “with the wind” and even choppier, but much faster then completing the sail across. “Yeah, back is good.”

And, it was decided.

He goes below to visit the potty. It’s portable and works great in the boat. We did take the door off the bathroom. It was annoying and unnecessary. You have to “back in” and it’s much smaller then on an airplane or bus. The walls flex as they are only attached at the top and bottom and they waves at time caused me to brace myself as best possible, without busting down the walls.

If we have guests, they’ll have to get used to the idea of no bathroom door. Also, that clothes are optional. But, that’s later in my story. 😱

Brian comes back up and said “yeah we do need to turn around. I could tell by his voice it had nothing to do with me already deciding we were turning around. What’s up I asked.

He said “there’s some water in the boat and I’m gonna have to check that.” I said, “baby, I told you our water bottle fell over.” He answered, “Oh yeah, that’s right. That’s really, fucking good we’re not taking on water. I was concerned.”

I just didn’t have words.

We turned, and the sails filled with air. God said “let’s have some fun with these two idiots out in their little sailboat on the bay” and off we went. 9 mph doesn’t seem fast, unless you’re on a sailboat, tilted to one side, and asking yourself, “Is this fun?”

Yes, it was crazy fun. I like that excitement. I didn’t feel we were in any danger, but it was rough. He decided to motor back, to try for more control. That helped, but the motor is tiny, only 5 hp. It was enough.

We finally reach the calm area of Back River and dropped anchor for the night to fish and sleep. It was very peaceful, and I liked just laying on the seat area, looking up at the stars and chatting. Around 11 pm, I went into the cabin and brushed my teeth. It was time to sleep.

Stay tuned for my next post of, best time every waking up on a sailboat soaked in sunshine. Could also be called, my first time waking up on a sailboat soaked in sunshine. But, I’ve settled for Part 3- Nude Sailing Morning.

Thank you for reading. Would LOVE and APPRECIATE new subscribers to my blog!!! COMMENTS are awesome here, or on Facebook. Feel free to share. 🙂

~P.

One of my best friends, Leslie, is on a European vacation of a lifetime, and part of it on a sailboat. Brian has talked me into retiring on a sailboat, if it’s big enough and sea-worthy, in 9 years, I will go.