Peter and Ita

I just got off my watch shift. The wind is peaking at 35knots (knot~mph). We're cruising between 6 and 8 knots. The sky is lightly cloudy and the sun peeks out on occasion. We just tacked and are getting the wind from the other side as we go up a river. While I'm disappointed that we're not heading out into open ocean this is fucking awesome. I think we can get this baby pushing almost 10knots if we get the sails all the way out. Peter likes to play it safe. Can't blame him.
When I first talked to him on the phone and even when I met him I thought he would be a bit difficult to get along with. He's in his 70s, he has a grandson 10 years younger than me, his hearing isn't that great and we have to repeat ourselves on occasion, he's also the exact right amount of chill. Things he should be worried about he worries about, when things need to get done now he says they need to get done now, when something needs to be said he says it and I've never seen him make a mountain out of a molehill. Peter is incredibly easy to get along with. He's living off his pension working at proctor and gamble. I'm not sure what he did but it involved a lot of traveling and he has a vast knowledge of the politics of soap. This is his third boat. He tried a 1 hull boat once and immediately went back to a catamaran. In the end all that matters is that I trust him, and he makes a good captain.
Ita is a lot more outgoing. She does most of the talking at the dinner table. She is much more friendly, she, I assume, is a good bit younger. Ita has been sailing for quite a number of years on this boat trip alone the two of them, with help from random crew, have been to the east Indies, crossed the Atlantic, been around the Caribbean. She makes great sandwiches though Dinners are in a very English/Irish style: potatoes and mayo are the staples of dinner. She has two modes, as far as I have seen. She is either friendly and conversational or insanely overconcerned about everything. Her worrying spans from things that are clearly overly obvious, and therefore need to be pointed out loudly, to things that can not possibly be a problem unless the rules of physics suddenly change and everything we know about everything is wrong. These things also need to be pointed out loudly. This makes following instructions a little difficult. When docking for instance, Peter will sit at the helm and tell me to do what actually needs to be done, he'll say it once and wait for me to tell him I have done it. Before I can follow these instructions however Ita has already given me a different, set of instructions three times from 5 feet away. When Peter realizes this is going on he will calmly restate the correct instruction and only at this point will I be able to ignore whatever inconsequential thing Ita has me doing. This has a number of side effects. 1) I look incompetent, 2) Ita feels like the world is against her, 3) Peter needs to deal with her at night when we're out of earshot (though our hearing is a bit better than his). She hasn't said anything to Jessica or me personally but I get the feeling he is unsatisfied with crew who don't know how to do everything already, as this is what she is accustomed to. I would say that I am concerned about getting kicked off the boat but this morning she was looking into plane tickets from DC to Ireland. We haven't been officially told anything but I think that she won't be making the trip across the Atlantic with us. To an extent I'm not sure it has to do with the boat or us but rather it sounds like she has been stressing about some happenings at home and it's possible that she's just overly tense because of this. However it is equally as likely that she is merely bluffing. I guess we will find out when the time comes. I don't however foresee it just blowing over and everyone just pretending that nothing happened.
Due to the weather we're following the inner-coastal for what looks like 3 more days until we hit the Chesapeake Bay. Then, it is no longer an option and after we leave it I think the plan is a relatively straight shot to Long Island.

The Inner-coastal

Even when I was still in St Augustine I heard people talking about the inner-coastal and the outer-coastal. I initially assumed these were terms that talked about how far off coast the boat was sailing. Either following the coast close to land or going well out to sea. This is not entirely correct. The inner-coastal actually refers to a very thin and relatively shallow channel of water that runs along the coast but is actually inland. If you go to google maps and look at the eastern shore of NC you will see what I'm talking about. This is what we have been following since we left Southport. The wind has been coming from the north the past 2 days and while it brings a cold breeze that is almost unwelcome it also relinquishes us to motors only. We have not opened a sail since that first night.
The thousand mosquito bites that cover my body are slowly fading away. A new menace has come around to be annoying. Biting gnats, they dont bother with any anesthetic nor are they fast or efficient or stealthy, their power is in their numbers. After a while, once thousands lie dead, mashed into your skin, you just don't care about stopping them and just let them bite you.
Peter is in no rush. When we were sailing we just had a jib out. The wind is blowing at 25 knots from right behind us and we're cruising along at 6. He wasn't expecting to be going that fast and was surprised to see us get to our destination so early. I am anxious to unfurl the sails and see what this baby can do, but maybe not on the first day.
As I write we make our way up to Swansboro NC. Ita (I spelled her name wrong last time) is getting frustrated as the depth here is not what it should be and we have just hit the 2nd sand bank today. I hope today marks the end of our inner coastal adventures. I'd rather be nauseous but at sea, I'm stocking a stack of pills anyway and want to get accustomed to it already. The ship is decked out with all the gear. All I have to do during watch is adjust the course a couple degrees to the right or left. I don't even touch the wheel.

A change of pace: May 9th

It's 4pm and I'm watching land disappear on the horizon. Peter, the captain reads a news paper while Jessica chats up Eta as they watch the helm. I am pretending not to be a little sea sick. There has been a quick change of pace between these last few days and it is most welcome.
It all happened rather quickly. I had talked to Peter on the phone a few times though always briefly and I was never sure exactly what to make of our interactions. He was always brief and to the point “we'll be here on this day come down and we'll see if we get along.” We met in Georgetown SC. “We'll be the only catamaran on the dock.” They were. We shared a brief introduction. We were informed of the rules we needed to follow, nothing I have not heard before, and the departure time was set for 2:30 the next morning. The boat had to leave the dock at noon and we anchored ¼ mile away from the dock in some muddy water. Eta prepared a nice dinner consisting of roast beef, potatoes, and some other things. No complaints. In the morning we wandered around Georgetown for an hour and then we were off come 1:30, learning to do what we needed to as we went. Peter and Eta are both full of patience. I was fine about 2 hours into the trip and then I made the mistake of going down to the berth. It was hot and muggy and in about 15 min I went from completely fine to “I need to get out of here fast” I popped an anti-motion sickness pill and managed to get some air and some sleep up top and was ok until after dinner, which consisted of shrimp in a cocktail sauce and some bread and salad. It looked like a sangria off the side of the boat a few hours later. I made the same mistake in an effort to get warm clothes. Lessons learned. I felt much better for the duration of my watch, which lasted until 10pm. I slept well.
In the morning, before the sun was up, I was woken up to help dock the boat. I went back to sleep after.

It has been mentioned to me that I should keep a sailing log. I'll start on it after I finish this. I'm at the Southport NC marina today. I'm not sure where I'll be 2 days from now. :D

St. Augustine

As I've mentioned in most e-mails I'm not taking the trip on this boat. We also convinced the captain that he and the boat are just not ready to go right now. I have some promising prospects that I will mention next time as far as other trips go. But first I'd like to write a little about St. Augustine.


It is a tourist town as one of the oldest in the US. This, as I understand, is the only reason people come here. But they come in huge numbers to the tourist area that the dock we're staying on is very close to. Jessica and I have spent many days walking around it trying to figure out what is so exciting and all I can say is don't come here for any reason.


Dock life is very interesting. The people on the dock are awesome. The most awesome of whom know everything they can about their boat, have done most of the work on their boats themselves. They are a wealth of skill and information and interesting lifestyles. On the boat across from mine is a young couple with a kid who live on their boat because it's cheaper than living anywhere else. They have also made a commitment to never stop traveling and don't believe having a kid should stop them from living life. Talking to them is a sheer joy. I take every opportunity to hang out with them.

Docked adjacent to my boat is an older guy with longer thicker hair than me. He knows a lot about everything. Used to be in a biker club has interesting stories an wise insights. He cleans the bottoms of the boats for spare cash. It seems like incredibly difficult labor. Owns a cat.

Farther down is a former finance guy who lost everything but his boat. He's happy every day I talk to him.

Down some more is a guy who has his own company and a strange life story. One day he decided he wasn't happy and got rid of everything he didn't need, moved to a boat, got a new phone and didn't tell anyone the number. Now he has couch surfers stay on his boat all the time.

A number of people on the dock own dogs. One guy drives trucks when he's not on his boat. Every boat on the dock is in a constant state of improvement and repair. It's like a house, there is always something to do.

At most times of the evening you can find people either gathering together for some smokes or some drinks in one of the open areas of the dock or on top of someone's boat. Everyone is always invited.


A little bit about my travel companion, Jessica. She's a professional photographer. A large surprise as everyone I travel with seems to think they are but she actually is. Was one in the navy, worked as a freelance photographer at home. She has the same future plans as I. No bills to pay, no job to come home to, just as desire to travel and explore and become a kickass sailor. We get along at least as well as I expected on day one. Whatever comes next we're hoping to do it together.


Early next week I will know a lot more about my plans than I do now. Friday I go up to Georgetown SC to meet a potential captain. If it goes well I'll be sailing toward home soon enough, and then across the pond.