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Confessions At Sea: The Calm After The Crazy (Sailing Across The Pacific)

Nikki Wynn

Nikki Wynn

— 4 min read
Confessions At Sea: The Calm After The Crazy (Sailing Across The Pacific)

The sense of tranquility is palatable, as if the sea gods crafted the perfect opening passage to welcome us. I gaze out at the horizon and half expect to see messages written in the clouds. “We’ve been waiting for you, dolphin parade ahead”.

It feels like the calm after the crazy, with the crazy being the past couple of months.  The various boat projects, broken bits, bureaucracy, mishaps and hold-ups were starting to take their toll on our mental state.  Our normal stash of optimism and positivity was steadily being depleted.  Little did we know; a fresh supply was waiting for us less than hundred nautical miles West/Southwest.

Drunk on over-saturated sunsets, confessions start flowing.  The realities of boat life, stress and relationships come spewing out like an unkinked water hose.

I suggest a drink in hand, squishy chair under your bum and feet propped up before hitting the play button on this one.

I have no idea what it was like for you to see that, but for me it was syrupy sweet.  One of the unexpected surprises of sailing is night watches and video diaries.  We get to see a side of each other we wouldn’t otherwise.  Kind of feels like I am listening in on a private conversation between friends.

I don’t know the rules on quoting yourself, but I made this statement when we said goodbye to Kate and it still applies here.

sailing and relationships

I’ve never had a “this feels like a choke hold” moment with Jason. But that doesn’t mean stress doesn’t work its way into our relationship.  IT DOES!  The problem with filming ourselves is we don’t have a camera man around to film when we’re in the thick of something.  So, it’s not likely we’ll ever capture one of our disagreements.  In those moments, we’re focused on what’s most important, which is the situation itself and oursleves.

We’ve been so focused on the ever growing mountain of tasks, we didn’t leave time for, well…anything else.  The weight of our Ecuador Visa’s expiring wasn’t helping the situation either (we could have applied for an extension but that would just mean more bureaucracy, money and time). We got caught up in our own daily grind.  No cubical or rat race needed to live in a bubble, we create those ourselves.

Finally setting out on the adventure we had been laser focused on was a release.  Couple that with favorable seas, clear skies and infinite breathing room…and we’re in a state euphoria.  The open ocean can be a paradise and days like these make us feel we could just keep sailing forever.

pacific ocean crossing views

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Captain’s Hour  (AKA Sundowners)

A while back we read a book about heavy weather sailing where the author provides a good case as to why one should have a Captain’s hour during passage.

The author writes “I encourage a glass of wine, rum, or beer at Captain’s Hour, to help people relax and sleep.  A few days without sleep can be debilitating and can not only ruin your enjoyment of the passage but also impair your ability to make sound decisions when conditions deteriorate.”

We decided it was a great idea and started the tradition aboard Curiosity on our sail from Panama to Ecuador. Captain’s Hour brings everyone on board together, to relax and discuss the days events.

Coconut Oat Bread

Bread Maker: gonewiththewynns.com/product/expressbake-breadmaker

Settings: 1.5 lb loaf size /Basic setting #1 / light crust

Add wet ingredients first, dry ingredients next and yeast last.

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 2 cups of white flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour  (Don’t have coconut flour?  Pulse unsweetened shredded coconut in a blender)
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons yeast

Gear Used

Sailing Report

To see our full travel map with interactive pins, click here: gonewiththewynns.com/map

sailing across the pacific tracker

We use our Garmin InReach to track our sail and send updates to family & Patreons. We take a screen capture every day at 5:30pm, because that marks another 24hrs logged for our sail across the Pacific.  It’s a fun way to follow along in real time and hear what’s happening on board.  This video covered April 24 – 26, 2018.  Here is the screen capture from April 26th.  The little dots share real-time trip info and the little message pop-up is us writing to the people following along from sea.

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