I’m sitting here having received the latest Spot (https://www.findmespot.ca/en/). A Spot is a message sent on a small electronic device that sends a signal to some satellite somewhere and eventually sends a message to my phone/email. It helps to have someone on shore tracking you in case of emergency. I am one of two primary contacts on land (Paul’s brother Mark is the other) that ensure we hear from Blue Sky at least once every 24 hours. This trip Paul sent messages every 12 hours or so. This was great for me.
This is a record of the track Blue Sky made (each Spot report is represented by a dot).
While I go through my guilt of not participating in the trip this year I can tell you it isn’t easy being the one watching from afar. Not only do I know what they are facing as they make the 1562 miles trek across the big blue, I know what it takes to get the boat ready for this passage.
I used to be the one to take care of provisioning, storing things safely, ensuring Charlie had all his paperwork done, and preparing some ready made meals for the passage. This year Paul had to do that along with the boat repairs and getting his head around having crew for the first time. Believe me the guilt is real.
Anyhow, while he made the trek I watched him get closer and closer to the final destination, Virgin Gorda, BVI. The latest Spot read ‘Land Ho. Arv VG about 2100 tonight.’ Great news and I’m sure the captain and crew were excited to spot land after 8+ days at sea.
As Blue Sky made her way I reflected by looking through photographs of our travels on her over the past 3 years. This is one of my favorites taken last spring in the BVI. I had borrowed Paul’s waterproof camera to take ashore to take pictures of rocks I had stacked. On my way over on the paddleboard I spotted a Ray. I stuck the camera in the water and this was the shot I got. Pretty proud of it. (And only now did I realize that this Ray was spotted on what would have been my mum’s birthday – what a gift).
Hopefully the next blog will be from captain or crew along with some pics of the trip. Looking forward to hearing all about it.
