It’s a great feeling to have more miles behind you than in front of you.
Had a messy night as I could not sleep at all. Robbie took my shift at 3am and I was able to sleep for a couple of hours. I took over his shift
while he slept for a bit. I did the daily email to Stokey the weather
router. His email came back soon after with the forecast:
Winds showing to go more into ENE and increase Sunday during the day to
around the 20 knot mark with gusts to 24
Winds ENE 18 to 21 Knots gusts up to 24
Precipitation 0.0 mm
Current 288 T @ 0.09
Wave height 2.4 to 2.6 m
Prim swell 330 deg T
Wind wave 081 deg T
Our main concern is obviously the weather and then the boat reliability.
We feel we made the best choice, a Nordhavn with the good old John Deere
engine – it hasn’t missed a beat. It’s actually branded a “Lugger” but
it’s a standard John Deere motor marinised by Northern Lights and called
a Lugger. It’s actually a 300+ horsepower engine but is down rated to
173 HP to help its reliability and life expectancy for continuous use,
such as crossing oceans. We really can’t fault it, it has never let us
down. Robbie being a diesel fitter by trade really looks after it making
sure all the services are done on or before they are due and always
keeping an eye on things. The generator is also a Northern Lights and it
gets a lot of use, we have had only a couple of minor but tricky things
go wrong with it and we have emailed or rang Bob Senter the Northern
Lights guy, known as “Lugger Bob” in San Diego. The service we have
received has been outstanding. We will take him to dinner when we catch
up with him.
It’s not a bad life living on a boat. The worst thing for me is not
being with your family, kids and grand kids, and not being able to ring
your friends, and no garden. I just asked Heidi and she said the same.
Robbie says the maintenance is the worst thing, it’s on ongoing worry
for him and it takes a lot more time and energy than he thought it would
do.
Best thing about living on a boat: Robbie – The fishing when you are
catching them, always being on the move and seeing new places and
meeting new people – in style on a Nordhavn. I enjoy the comments from
people about the boat and the continual “ have you come all the way from
New Zealand?”, Heidi – To be out on the ocean with good weather, wind
and ocean for sailing on Stormvogel with time to relax and read a book
with no stress. For me it’s also about the travelling, enjoying the
different cultures, meeting new people and on a nice day, on the ocean
you can’t beat it. It’s also been the challenge of facing one of my
biggest fears – the ocean.
Jennifer 360 degree waterfront view is the best thing, the worst thing
is the motion.
The swell and waves were the worst yet and we had a quiet day catching
up on sorting photos and Peter showed me some photography tips.
Our photo today is in the guest stateroom.
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