When I left on my first solo ocean passage, one of my singlehander mentors asked me, “what is the most important system on the ship?” I thought he meant the autopilot, but he quickly corrected me. Were this to drag on for more than 48 hours, the perspicacity of our decisions would suffer, and in turn, so would our safety. However, most of the single-handed sailors that I know share a similar strategy: we aim to transit the first and last 200nm of a passage as quickly as possible, because we know that we cannot subject our bodies to such deprivation for long. I’m a big believer in the philosophy that there is no one right way to do this kind of sailing. This close to land, I must keep a more persistent look-out, so I set alarms to limit my sleep to naps of 30 minutes or less. Last night alone I had more than ten AIS alarms sound for nearby traffic typically, I might see one every 48 hours or more. Similar to this stretch of mileage at the start, we are exposed to all the hazards of near-shore sailing: increased shipping traffic, a higher likelihood of poorly-lit or questionably-managed non-professional vessels, and land-altered winds and seas. This means we are well into what I think of as the “marathon at the end of the marathon” - the last 200nm of a passage. We are now less than 100nm from the northern tip of Breaksea Spit beyond the top of Fraser Island, which is where we will turn and bear southwest toward the entrance to Port Bundaberg. Until the anchor is down and set, I live in the realm of the unknown, with a constant mild undercurrent of fear and anxiety.īut, hopefully, tonight will be our last full night at sea on this voyage. We are so very small and the sea is vast and powerful. The ocean gives us so much, but can also take it all away. You may have noticed that I never say “after we make landfall…,” or, “when we arrive to Australia…” That’s because the completion of a voyage is never guaranteed, and I choose not to tempt fate. This post was originally shared exclusively and directly with our subscribers during our passage across the Tasman.
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