Getting Ready to Sail Offshore

October 2023

Our Canadian adventures were finished and it was time to return to the boat. The drive from New Brunswick back to Zimmerman’s Marina takes only a couple of days and is quite a nice drive. Maine through to Connecticut is a very beautiful drive through forests and smaller quaint towns but we weren’t in tourist mode and we blasted through them.

We arrived back at Zimmerman’s Marine after over two months off the boat. It was nice to get back to the boat, we did have a few issues while we were away. We had a freshwater pump run on, we think we had a slow leak from our washdown pump that drained the port water tank and then the pump kept running. It left us with this annoying water pump sound every 20-30 seconds on the port side. We think it was an air bubble in the line. It would take us close to a full year and so many hours of investigation to finally sort this out. Other than that the boat was just dirty and required to be put back together. This took about three days to get the cockpit, salon, and bedrooms back in order. 

The weather was beautiful during the day but at night it was barely above freezing so we were keen to get this boat heading south!

We had the sails stored with a company we had hired to show us how to remove and reinstall them as we had never done this before. The day they came to reinstall the sails it was quite windy and we could not hoist the sails to make sure all the rigging was correct. They're professionals so we trusted them. Unfortunately, the reef lines were not installed correctly, which we found out the day after we launched when we attempted to hoist the mainsail. Immediately we could see it was lashed down incorrectly and the reef lines were not right. Fortunately, there was another Leopard 42 that just happened to be in the bay and allowed us to inspect how their mainsail was lashed and reef lines were run. A couple of photos and videos allowed us to fix the issue. 

Ok, I got ahead of our story here, back to the boat on land. One of the main things we wanted to do while we had a car was a big provisioning shop. This would be to pick up things that we wished we had on our first sail around the Bahamas and all the food provisions we thought we would need to sail to Antigua next month. We can't believe we are just weeks away from our first multi-day open-water sail on Momentum 42. Regarding provisioning, I will not even pretend to know what all goes into it as Nikki just takes over and is like a machine creating lists and working out all the places to store things on the boat. She is amazing with this task. I just go on the shopping trip with her and help haul items onto the boat. She does the rest. From sorting to repackaging to storing it all around the boat. It’s a lot of work but making sure we, and the crew we have joining us, are fed and happy is a critical part of any offshore passage. When you are on the boat 24/7 and sleeping weird shifts having good food and lots of snack options helps keep everyone in a good mood even when things might be challenging. 

Even the dog needs treats!

Now that the boat is all fixed up, filled up with food, and the sails are on it is time to put her back in the water. We went over this when being hauled out but it is still worth mentioning how stressful it is to watch them place your home on a lift and haul it across the boatyard. 

Once back in the water, we secured ourselves to the dock as we were the last boat launched for the day.

We have all night to check all our systems, open the thru-hulls to check for leaks and run the engines and generator to check for problems. We spent the night on the dock and in the early morning we moved out into the bay on anchor to finish checking everything before we set sail for Hampton. This is where we hoisted our sails and saw the problems I already mentioned. Then it was time to go to Hampton, Virginia to meet up with the Salty Dawg Rally, attend some amazing information sessions, and meet all the people who were also sailing to Antigua. 

We had a reservation at The Docks in downtown Hampton for a week so that we could have easy access for us and our crew to go to all the different events leading up to the departure.  Again I have to say that I am impressed with the marinas and docks that are in Virginia and DC. They are right in the heart of everything with easy access to downtown, restaurants, and shops. I have to admit that these are my favorite types of marinas. They remind me of sailing in Croatia, where the town dock is so close to all the shops and restaurants. This is our third marina in the US to have this same access.

Momentum 42 at the Dock

Once on the dock, we attended as many of the Salty Dawg events as we could. Meeting so many of the cruisers we would be spending the next few months with as the Dawgs host several events on various islands in the Caribbean and you end up reconnecting with people and even buddy boating for days or weeks together. Some of the people we met here we still sail with today, what a great community.

Stay tuned for the 12-day passage we took from Hampton, Virginia to Falmouth Harbour Antigua. 

Leaving Hampton November 2, 2024 - 0730