{"id":948,"date":"2014-01-06T19:55:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T19:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lapossibilitadiunisola.wordpress.com\/?p=948"},"modified":"2014-01-06T19:55:30","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T19:55:30","slug":"winter-sailing-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lapossibilitadiunisola.com\/blog\/winter-sailing-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter sailing tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>Two months ago we were about to set sails from Fairhaven, MA. We launched Tranquility on Halloween and we were rushing with the preparations for a departure day. At that time I was watching all the episodes of the TV show \u201cGames of Thrones\u201d and the mantra \u201cwinter is coming\u201d was ringing in my head as a real thing.\n

\"game<\/a><\/p>\n

I was scared. I did a winter delivery in the Mediterranean Sea and I rememeber some really cold nights. I also sailed on a late departure in 2012 from Newport, RI. It was the 5th of December when we set sails but that was on SY Aventura<\/a>, a 110ft sloop, a ship more than a boat, and still the \u201cnight watch\u201d (not the military order that watch the Wall in GOT but the shifts at the helm) was terribly cold. How could we possibly sail the North Atlantic in cold weather on a 29ft sailboat with no dodger and minimal living comfort?<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9<\/a>
\u00a9 Nadia Uccello<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I opened a thread on Sailing Anarchy<\/a> to ask experienced Anarchists for good advices on how we could successfully make a winter cruise along the East Coast, leaving from a northern place.<\/p>\n

Lots of users contributed to the discussion bringing their point of view and experience. Many thought that we were completely crazy and we should just renounce the attempt and wait for the next year. Others started to debate on how heating the cabin with no electrical power, the risks of CO intoxication, explosions and other amenities. The most feared topic was condensation, absolutely the worst enemy on board a boat, with tricks of any kind to prevent mold growing everywhere. Some folks focused more on the sailing itself, foul weather gear and the route to take.<\/p>\n

When we finally left there was an online community following our SPOT tracker and commenting our progress. Soon in the forum the word \u201cnannies\u201d spread out and we couldn\u2019t wait to reach a internet connection to find out what they were saying about us. I am very thankful to all the people that contributed to the forum because many advices were very helpful for our trip and because we felt supported and supervised.<\/p>\n

Now we are almost out of the danger area and happy that this \u201cpolar vortex\u201d is hitting us in South Carolina rather than in New England. Still tonight the temperature is supposed to go down to 20F, the dockmaster is closing the water on the docks and we are going to seek refuge in Kate cousin\u2019s house who lives nearby and is kindly offering us a bedroom. We are also thinking about delaying our departure by two days because of this frigid cold. \u201cWinter is coming\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"weather\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I learned something about sailing in the cold months of the year and I resumed some of this learning in the following list:<\/p>\n

1. Pick up good and consistent weather windows and be flexible<\/b><\/p>\n

We avoided sailing during rainy days and when the conditions were not good. Nothing is as miserable as being soaked, so avoid it if you can! We preferred cold days to warm and wet ones. We had to sit in many places we didn\u2019t like and slow down our pace but that spared us many uncomfortable experiences. On the other hand, we kept going if the conditions were good skipping destinations we planned for our passage.<\/p>\n

2. Wear many layers and have many changes of clothes.<\/b><\/p>\n

We purchased all our winter clothes in Thrift Stores and we are going to be happy to leave them behind when warmer. After experience with the nice and expensive Ocean Gore-Tex gear on fancy sailing yacht I instead got myself PVC coat and overall from commercial fishing. I consider breathable foul water gear an unnecessary expense. They are very comfortable but breathable is not waterproof by definition, no matter what magical expensive technology is adopted, it is not waterproof in heavy rain and gets very heavy when soaked. Also when you have to do some serious deck work you are going to sweat anyway so I don\u2019t see the point. A more important piece of gear is some windproof jacket, and I found mountaineering jackets more valuable than sailing jackets. Another part of equipment that deserves investment of money are good and warm boots.<\/p>\n

During the coldest trips I was wearing:<\/p>\n