(Dana)

Part I. January 21st

You might think that since we have owned sailboats since 2007, that I would consider myself a sailor. False. I continue to learn, but the actual act of sailing is still not intuitive to me. When I was a kid, the only sailing I did was on friends Sunfish on Locust Lakes in the Poconos. Then, the primary goal was to overload it with teenagers, tip it over to go for a swim, then hang on the centerboard until we could right the boat. Super fun but didn’t really hone my sailing skillset. I was in it for the swim.

For the past 18 years, I have been trying to learn to sail. I kept meaning to go to offshore sailing school, but life always seemed too busy. I love managing our boat for hosting guests and exploring the Caribbean and Maine; as Emma says, logistics is my love-language. But I have deferred to Greg on deck. I have seen him choose a course, bring the sails in/out, trim, and dock thousands of times. But I have not forced myself to do it on my own. Which is one of the main reasons I was apprehensive about this circumnavigation. I was excited about the global destinations, but I was worried about the journeys in between. I knew that I was going to be outside my comfort zone a lot.

When we traveled the world in 2010 with the kids, we talked about getting outside of our comfort zone. Sure, traveling for a full year and experiencing the range of cultures was beyond our suburban Massachusetts town, but realistically, jets, trains, and hotels were squarely in our standard comfort zone. This is different.

On our first crossing from Antigua to Isla Providencia, I really wanted to pull my weight on my 2-5am (and 2-5pm) watches. Afterall, the whole point of sharing watches is that everyone gets to sleep. But there I was on the first changeover to my watch and not understanding what to do if certain things happened – wind direction shift, wind speed change, squall. Not just generally what to do, but exactly what to do. I kept trying to apply data analysis to what I was being told, rather than just having it be intuitive. Super frustrating. Outside my comfort zone.

The shorter 2-day passage from Isla Providencia to Guna Yala (aka the San Blas Islands) in Panama landed me outside my zone once again. The boat was pitching, which is the motion I have the most trouble with, so I felt icky. We were heeling at an angle that made sleeping difficult, and waves kept tossing spray on us, providing a fine coating of salt water. If this is what the year was going to be like, I wasn’t sure if I could do it.

Thankfully, I am not in this alone. Greg has been relentlessly kind in helping me through these spots. Alex and Greg continue to teach me what I need to know about sailing. And Ellie is a ray of positive, knowledgeable sunshine who happens to create healthy meals to settle my unhappy stomach. And women who have already completed the rally assure me that this will all soon feel more intuitive.

My goal… continue to push the boundary of my comfort zone so I find myself outside of it less often. That will be a good measure of success on this adventure.

Part II. February 21st

Update... I found another comfort zone challenge for me… waiting. During our time in Panama, we identified a few things that required fixing before we headed around the rest of the world, including our freezer, a seacock (a through hole in the hull, so something that needs to be waterproof), our bimini, and our pulpit (the structure at the front of the boat). The various projects delayed our departure from Panama by about 5 days. We had various work teams onboard including Ivan and David, our freezer magicians. And we had to pull the boat out of the water overnight in a nearby marina.

Waiting has never been my strong suit. Waiting for things that are out of my control are even harder. Waiting and missing out on a planned stop is my nightmare. Micky, one of the captains, said, “yes, on a boat, you just have to get used to things being out of your control.” Another area for work for me. I was ready to work on sailing. I was not ready to work on this. This is hard.

When she’s not floating, you’re waiting.

Part III. March 12th

We left ahead of the fleet because…off the wind on this heading lie The Marquesas.

We have started our longest passage without land. ~3000 nautical miles across the South Pacific from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. No stops. No anchorages. Just ~17 days of routine. As the only night owl and one who can sleep in two pieces, I have volunteered for the graveyard shift. Here’s my daily schedule:

2-5AM: Watch – Monitor wind, sails, boat traffic. Gaze at stars and moon. Do 200 squats + 5-min abs. Contemplate life.

5:30-8:30AM: Back to sleep

8:30AM-noon: Coffee, work

Lunch

Read or play games (group is trying mahjong tomorrow)

It’s Friday the 13th. Of course it broke.

2-5PM: Watch

5:15-6PM: Workout (if conditions allow). Ideally a 30-min Peloton cardio workout.

Dinner

Hang out with Greg on his watch

8:30PM-1:30AM: Sleep

17 days is outside of my comfort zone. But I am learning to embrace that discomfort. Let’s go!

Part IV. Friday March 13th

No Mahjong. Something important broke and requires immediate addressing and fixing. Sigh. Learning to live with the uncertainty. To be continued…

Comfort Zone

The Canal