97: Offshore Passage Debrief

At about 0200 in the morning last Wednesday, after we’d tied the dock lines up in Little Creek VA, I got out the recorder and we debriefed the passage north on Sojourner from Marsh Harbor to Annapolis. The crew were myself, my dad, and Les and Jim, two podcast fans who’d signed up for the expedition online! The trip was ideal sailing - broad reaching under a full moon for most of the way, and warm, dry and comfortable (at least until we got back into colder water on the Bay). Aside from one night, that is. Early Easter Sunday morning we experienced a violent frontal passage, with 50-knot initial gusts and sustained winds overnight in the 30-40 knot range. Easily the strongest weather I’d encountered in my offshore career, and a hell of an experience for Les and Jim who’d never been offshore before. So we talked about it. Here's the tape.