As many who follow me on social media already know, I’ve spent a bit of time in the last year aboard Feisty Girl. This year’s goal was to deliver Feisty Girl to the Bahamas and back for the sweet spot of the spring cruising season and have a great time sailing with friends old and new. While I have more offshore experience than the average dinghy sailor, it was certainly an adventure that put me out of my comfort zone. And apologies to JRR Tolkien for the title, IYKYK.

The elapse time for the round trip was almost exactly six months. The logistics were definitely “not the regular way” as we say, meaning it wasn’t the typical cruiser template, which is basically living on the boat for six months working your way south at a leisurely pace as weather permits, more or less chasing the warmer temperatures, spending the bulk of the time in a specific cruising ground, then reversing the process. The Feisty Girl program had several constraints. Hew did not want to spend that much time away, wanted to mix and match groups of friends and he had to avoid being south of Cape Hatteras during hurricane season. So we ended up doing more of the “paid crew delivery model” where transit time to the desired cruising ground is minimized by taking longer offshore passages.

Perhaps the most important thing, and this is the crux of the Feisty Girl experience, it’s all about sailing with friends. From the first moment I heard about Feisty Girl when Hew came to the Annapolis Boat Show and told me about it, his goal has always been to sail with his friends and by extension create new friendships between friends. He likes his friends so they should also like each other, basically, a transitive property. This was certainly true for me so far on Feisty Girl and this is what ultimately made this experience so special. Well, that and the sailing and the dolphins and the amazing Bahamian blue water.

As in other posts, I’m not going to turn this into six month travel log (if I could even remember all the details at this point – that’s what social media is about), but briefly describe the legs and the personal vibe. The trip to the Bahamas was in three offshore trips. We had planned on the return trip being essentially one long 1200 offshore trip, but the weird weather windows got the best of us. The timing as in almost all cruising was weather dependent, but the start and finish were defined by the hurricane season. In addition to the pictures in the post here, you can view the entire photo album for a full visual experience.

In all of the legs, we did two watches of two people in a 4 on, 4 off rotation, which we altered on the way back to include one daylight 6 hour watch every 24 that had the effect of giving a longer sleep time and shifted the watch 2 hours every day so no one was permanently stuck with the graveyard watch. I really liked this because it fits my natural circadian rhythm. Other than Hew, I have the most familiarity with the boat having sailed in France and also the transport from Baltimore to Marion last Spring. Couple that with my planning on being on all the legs, it made sense that Hew and I would be opposing watch captains. The other attribute of the watches was that we tried to balance familiarity with the boat, sailing and offshore experience, and personalities equally between the two watches. This worked out really well (by design). Feisty Girl is an easy boat to sail with two people, as the B&G autopilot and instrumentation are excellent and the nature of this design is such that the sail trim is not fussy. Mostly. The one area that needs particular attention is during rapid increases in breeze. The boat has a racing pedigree, unlike the typical Lagoon cruising catamarans – we were all agreeing that those boats in the future will just dispense with the mast/sails which are window dressing in anything less than 20 knots of breeze – and as a result she can become a handful quickly. Reefing especially takes some time and experience and as a result, we often “geared down” at night, sacrificing some speed for ease of boat handling. This turned out to be a really good strategy, especially during periods of uncertain weather on the way back. Nonetheless, even after all of this sailing, the night watches are still stressful for me, especially when it’s really windy, stormy, and/or dark. I’m not sure that ever gets easier, but it certainly helps keep you awake!

South – Leg 1: Marion to Norfolk

The first leg started in Marion on November 13. It was uncharacteristically warm when we sailed out of Buzzards bay, which was really nice. This trip included Jamey Shachoy, a local Marion sailor with a lot of offshore experience but first time on Feisty Girl and Hew’s cousin Jono Russell, a long time Coastie who taught engineering for many years at the US Coast Guard Academy. Hew teamed up with Jono who has a lot of ship experience but not much sailing experience and Jamey with me.

The first night out it blew 25-35 from the northwest most of the night. Triple reef and staysail buttoned down before dark, but even with that we were averaging 8-10 knots (as fast as I wanted to go in the pitch black – overcast and no Moon) with a TWA of 120 degrees, the perfect point of sail for Feisty Girl although a bit of a bumpy beam sea and it was pretty cold with temps in the upper 40s/low 50s. However, the next day we had a glorious beam reach all day. The breeze eventually lightened from the NE so we had to motor the the last 90 miles into Norfolk, but at least the temperatures moderated. We covered a bit more than 400 miles in about 2 and a half days. While the first night was a little unpleasant, we were hauling the mail and ultimately hit the weather window quite well. It was fun to get to know Jamey and Jono. I hadn’t seen Jamey since I raced at the BYC in my younger days. We all flew home that morning after a celebratory drink and the boat sat in Norfolk for a few weeks waiting for the next crew and weather window.

South – Leg 2: Norfolk to Brunswick

After waiting about two weeks for the Thanksgiving Holiday and our trip to Barcelona, we had another good weather and scheduling window for a new crew, so we headed back to Norfolk for the next let to Brunswick Georgia. This would be a similar length trip of about 3 days, with the tricky part getting around Cape Hatteras. The crew again included Jono who with more experience on Feisty Girl teamed up with me on a watch and Hew was with a former colleague John Danskin who has a lot of offshore experience but first time on the boat.

We had a nice day and a half downwind past Hatteras, mostly inside the Gulf Stream but as the breeze switched around to the southerly quadrants there was some unsettled weather with alternating 2 to 25 knot breezes so we decided to make for a little “hidey-hole” right at the North/South Carolina border that Jono knew about from his Coast Guard experience. It worked out well to head in a westerly direction given the breeze had shifted to the SE and was forecast to go S then SW with thunderstorms, so the Little River inlet was perfect and it has a nice protected anchorage. We miscalculated slightly on our final jibe to the inlet and ended up with 40 knots and stinging rain for the last bit into the inlet. But we got in fine and anchored for about 6 hours where we relaxed and ate well. As soon as the front passed and the breeze was north of west, we set out again to much drier air and what ended up being an brilliant NW/N downhill slide all the way to Brunswick with lots of dolphins and playing “frogger” with all the container ships waiting to get into Savannah.

Since Jono and I were on the same watch we had a lot of time to talk. He taught engineering and finished his career as a dean at the Coast Guard Academy so I really enjoyed talking engineering and academic topics as well as learning a lot about Coast Guard buoy tender operations. While Jono has some sailing experience, he really enjoyed learning more of the finer points of sailing Feisty Girl. I found our skill sets really complimentary and that went a log way to alleviating the anxiety caused by really dark night watches that get me way outside my comfort zone. At other times when we were all awake, it was super interesting to hear Hew and John relive Nvidia experiences from different high level insider ends of the spectrum (marketing and chip design).

We arrived in Brunswick about midnight for a three and a half day trip. Early the next day we quickly cleaned up and secured the boat for a two month stay and quickly headed to the Jacksonville FL airport for flights home.

South – Leg 3: Brunswick to Grand Bahama

After the end of the cyclocross season, the Christmas holidays and some bikepacking and Snipe sailing in Florida, we headed back to Brunswick with two new crew for the last leg to the Bahamas. This leg included Tom Denney another Marion sailor with lots of offshore experience (and the Feisty Girl trip from Baltimore to Marion) who was my watchmate, and Phil Hearin and old friend of Hew’s. Phil has very little sailing experience, but has a lifetime (or two) of intense outdoor experience. The first question he asked me when we met was whether I had any allergies as he was preparing the emergency medical kit; gotta love that!

I arrived early in Brunswick and did the majority of the provisioning (I have never in my life bought so much from the grocery store in one day!), joined shortly thereafter by Tom. We cleaned the boat and got everything put away, as Hew and Phil arrived later that night. We set out the next afternoon, and based on the forecast we decided to head offshore early, v. hug the coast. While we were making 7-10 knots on a beat that freed up to a beam reach eventually it was a bit of a bumpy ride across the stream in the middle of the night. We geared down with a double reef and the staysail just after watching the SpaceX launch, which was a good thing as we saw some gusts into the upper 20s. We reached nicely on rhumb line east of the stream, but eventually the breeze came around to a strong southerly as we approached the tip of the reef on the northern side of Grand Bahama.

With still about a 100 miles to go to Freeport we were faced with 25 knots on the nose and 8-10 foot swells. We were really constrained as to how much we could foot because starboard tack took us to the reef (from 1000 feet of water to 5 in about a half mile) and port tack took us into big seas and 4 knots of adverse current in the Gulf Stream. With no other options, we figured short tacking up the edge of the reef was the way to go because it kept us out of the big seas and gave the best VMG. With two reefs and the self tacking staysail it was pretty easy to tack essentially every thirty minutes to an hour. We did that for about twelve hours until daybreak the next day when the breeze abated a bit and we started to round the southern end of the island on our final approach to Freeport. We were all happy to arrive in Freeport after the slightly shorter but more stressful two and a half day leg.

We rested and cleaned the boat up and headed out to a much enjoyed celebratory dinner where we rehashed the trip over some tacos and margaritas. Tom and I headed out on a flight early the next morning, while Hew and Phil continued south through the Exumas for several weeks eventually reaching George Town, the base of operations for the next two and a half months.

Leg 4: Cruising in the Bahamas

As I mentioned, Hew entertained numerous sets of friends and family during the two and a half months Feisty Girl was based out of George Town at the southern end of the Exumas. Of course one of those weeks was reserved for Lisa and me. We scheduled it to be right after the Snipe DonQ regatta in Miami to keep the travel efficient for Lisa who has much more limited time off. The only minor issue was Lisa left her passport at home and it was a scramble to get it to Florida. Long story short, we had it sent via Southwest Air Cargo to Ft Lauderdate (thanks to very generous neighbors who took it to BWI) and it was only about $70, a great Pro Tip for sending small items long distances quickly!

That crisis over, we hopped a quick flight to the Bahamas the next day and met Hew at the George Town Market for provisioning. We had a pretty loose “huck and chuck” itinerary since Hew had been most of the places we went with other before us. In general we had bright, sunny days with really nice easterlies at 10-20 knots, basicaly the perfect conditions to hit places in the Exumas. We went to Farmers Cay, Bell Cay, Staniel Cay, Lee Socking Island, and Rat Cay over the six days with a mixture of inside and outside the reef sailing. It was a relaxing (especially for Lisa) week of day sailing, snorkeling, eating, yucking it up and gin and tonics! What more can you ask for?? Unfortunately we had to head back to “real life”, but the relaxing fun we had is really evident in the pictures.

North – Leg 5: George Town to Freeport

In mid May as Hew’s Bahamian visa was nearing expiration, I headed back to George Town for the trek back to Marion and this first leg more or less retraced the path that Hew and Phil took on the way down. Joining us for trip to Marion was Craig Pietro, another old friend of Hew’s from California. He and his wife had also participated in the Feisty Girl sailing in France the year before and has a fair amount of coastal sailing experience. We spent six days stopping in various places to snorkel and hang out (Staniel Cay, Norman’s Cay, Highborne Cay in the Exumas) followed by New Providence (west side of Nassau), the Berry Islands (Whale Cay, Cabbage Cay/Little Harbor Cay) ending back at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club (GBYC) to stage for what we thought would be the long offshore trip back to Marion.

As Hew expected we would, Craig and I became fast friends given we have similar interests in biking and technology. Craig has ridden a bike on virtually every, and I mean every, road in a tri-county area of northern California and has a very dry sense of humor. We all had a really fun week of cruising, with lots of amusing jokes and jabbing each other with boys humor.

One notable experience was that after pulling a lure for almost three months, we finally hooked a fish just south of Nassau. It was about at 15 pound Mahi Mahi and did take some time to reel in. We had the spinnaker up at the time, so we have to get that furled and the boat stopped before we could get it in. But we did and thankfully both Hew and Craig had some idea of what the heck to do with it. While I’ve been on the water for my entire life, fishing is one facet that I have zero experience with it. I did however, cook it well and it goes without saying, I really enjoyed eating it!

Once we got to GBYC, we fully cleaned the boat inside and out, did a bunch of reprovisioning, preventive maintenance, hanging out by the pool all as we were watching the forecast.

This turned out to be the biggest variable for the last part of the journey. The entire spring had been a series of strong NE wind systems along the east coast with short/limited weather windows for northbound boats. Certainly after our experience going upwind on the last leg to Grand Bahama, we weren’t excited about doing that again. To make matters worse, if you are anywhere near the Gulf Stream (especially off the Florida coast) a strong northerly breeze against 3-4 knots of current creates a nasty sea state. So we had a lot of hemming and hawing about whether we should send it offshore per our original plan or wait for a decent coastal route and take advantage of the Gulf Stream. By the time Paul Bradley, another Marionite, arrived on Thursday afternoon –  he was coming directly from overseas and had a harrowing experience with canceled flights due to the weather that gave him a “planes, trains and automobiles” kind of trip to Grand Bahama –  the forecast for strong northerly breeze had materialized. Ultimately, we waited a few more days until things moderated and decided to take the “Gulf Stream” route as we were not convinced we would have a good enough weather window to get all the way to Marion, a trip of about 1000 miles.  Interestingly, a friend (Simon Strauss) was helping deliver a similar sized catamaran on about the same trip, just slightly shorter to NYC (amusingly they motored right by us in George Town!). They were able to leave about a day and a half earlier and headed offshore. They almost made it, but ended up stopping in Atlantic City NJ as the next wave of strong northerlies rolled down the coast. So, even if we had been able to leave earlier, we would not have made it to Marion without some very unpleasant northerly breeze. But that’s what they say about cruising, you can’t really do it (pleasantly or safely) on a schedule.

North – Leg 6: Freeport to Charleston

We departed Grand Bahama at daybreak on Sunday May 28 and headed NW and eventually into the Gulf Stream. Again to match skill sets, Paul who has many years of offshore experience but first time on the boat, was with Hew and Craig was with me on watches. There was not a lot of breeze, but by evening it filled in and by the next morning we were rocketing up the Florida at 13 knots over the bottom (3-4 knots of current!).

Just north of Cape Canaveral we ran across a tug and barge and we’re looking at it on AIS and it showed a vessel name Doug. I don’t remember who said it, but noted it was “Doug The Tug” one of SpaceX’s tugs towing the mobile landing pad for the sea landing of the Falcon 9 Heavy’s third booster. A little bit of cheeky space tech humor confirmed it as the barge had a destination of “LZ” (ie “landing Zone”) on AIS. Maybe we were just punchy, but we all had a good laugh.

By the time we got off the Georgia Coast, the forecast had really deteriorated and the recommendation in the weather forecasts was to not continue north . So with some wifi calling via Starlink we were able to get a confirmed berth in Brunswick (same place we were in December) and a possible berth farther north in Charleston. We really wanted to get as far north as possible to stage for the rounding of Cape Hatteras which appeared to be problematic over the next week. But without a confirmed reservation, we decided to take a hard left to Brunswick and if the Charleston spot was confirmed the next morning before we got to Brunswick, we’d head north. That’s what eventually transpired and while it added a 100 miles it ended up not really costing anything in terms of time as we had plenty of time to get into Charleston on Wednesday morning for a three day trip, get tied up and schedule flights out for the weekend for a quick trip home.

We were tied up next to the Yorktown so Craig and I had a chance to do a little sightseeing that day and then we all went downtown for dinner that night (awesome BBQ). I think we all got a bit hammered because we laughed all the way through dinner. We all flew out on Thursday and this was fortunate for me because I was able to get home in plenty of time to sail the Snipe Colonial Cup (which turned out to be an awesome regatta and we finished top third!). At the time we left, the departure from Charleston was still uncertain. But Hew and Paul went back to Marion for some needed rest and Craig went to visit family in upstate NY. We stayed in touch over the next few days watching the weather.

North – Leg 7: Charleston to Ocean City

Watching the forecast during the weekend, the band got together on Sunday and Monday. I showed up last at 2pm Monday and the engines were running so we immediately shoved off. Tuesday mid morning Craig says “let’s fish” so put the lure out thinking we’d just drag it along for nothing as usual and as luck would have it, not 5 minutes latter “zzzzzzzzz” out went the line off the reel. Having practiced it, we stopped the boat almost immediately and pulled in a 20 pound tuna. We got it all cleaned up (and sampled!) and enjoyed more tuna than I’ve ever had. After two days of tuna, unbelievably, we’d all had our fill.

The sailing north was pretty good and we were making great speed with still about 4 knots of Gulf Stream current. Some overnight storms coming off the coast, but not too bad.  At one point south of Hatteras I was hand steering going up wind because we were fully powered up (full main and genoa) in about 17 knots of breeze with a large left over SW swell, so it was fun steering conditions. At one point two waves set up perfectly and I hit a sustained surf to 19 knots. Man that felt good!

Wednesday morning we officially rounded Cape Hatteras going by Diamond Shoal. Hurray, just in time for hurricane season… However, for me I was starting to worry about when (and if) I’d get home for the weekend, as the breeze turned really light so we were motoring and at this point out of the Gulf Stream push.  Yep, even retired guys have a schedule to keep as Lisa and I were needed to run the Annapolis Snipe Invite/US Junior Nationals that weekend. To make matters worse, Craig started to feel really, really crappy to the point of not being able to focus well with a terrible headache. Ruh Roh Rorge. A COVID rapid test showed + in a matter of seconds. Paul and I just had had COVID recently and were not too worried, but Hew had not had it.  So we started looking around for stoping points, Norfolk being a prime spot. However, nothing available as every other cruiser was stopping there due to conditions so we decided on Ocean City Maryland. Lisa asked that if we were stopping for Craig to depart, that I also depart so I could get home for the weekend, but not to stop just for that. While Craig was feeling a little better with an ibuprofen regimen, he was not comfortable staying on the boat. So Ocean City was the end of the line for both of use. We arrived there on Thursday afternoon three days out of Charleston after motoring for at least 24 hours followed by a 40 knot thunderstorm just south of OC where I made a rookie mistake of releasing a traveler line not on the winch and tore up my hand a bit. Fortunately as soon as it started I knew I had f-ed up so let it go. There is a reason there is a big winch next to the stoppers, doh!

We had a really nice dinner in OC and on Monday morning Craig had travel plans to BWI->California and Lisa came to get me. Turns out Hew did test positive for COVID but felt fine, so he and Paul planned to continue on to Marion the next day.

Epilogue

Hew and Paul shoved off soon after I left and had a beautiful day and half sail to Block Island with moderate SE breeze with the spinnaker up and then cruised into Marion.

I really hated to depart and not finish the entire trip, but other duties beckoned. So I’ll finish up by returning to my Tolkien reference in the title. In the Lord of the Rings at the end when they are all returning home after the epic adventure together, the remaining members of the Fellowship departed on their own paths to take care of things in their own lives outside of that shared experience. That’s what it felt like leaving the boat having spent so much time afloat with Hew on all legs, others on various legs and most recently almost three weeks with Craig on board. Again while the sailing and the adventure of the six month journey was awesome, doing it with old and new friends is what makes it so special.

This is what retirement for me has enabled. Sure, I did some interesting trips while working, but having the flexibility to participate in this full experience without having to thread a needle on an employer’s schedule is what made it possible. But like I said, this trip was not just about the adventure, it was about the third major criteria that needs to be satisfied in retirement: having a vibrant and robust social network. So I’ll leave this post with our leg group photos because this is what sticks in my head. Although an upwind surf to 19 knots is a pretty good close second…