Anxiety

We spent the last two days anchored in the calm waters of Neah Bay. What an appropriate setting to decompress from the last two intense weeks devoted to preparing Pesto and ourselves for our expected departure! Our to do list was long: provisioning the boat for the trip ahead, dealing with last (and endless) arrangements of our move to the boat, starting homeschooling of the kids and experimenting Pesto´s repairs and upgrades while in the Seattle area. Lots of work and fun that helped us tune the mood for the trip. All excited and happy …(right?)

(Yeah)…And also ANXIOUS!!

I thought it was just me, but when I mentioned to Alex that I was thinking to post about “Anxiety”, he said. “Interesting that you mentioned it. That makes a lot of sense…I have not been able to sleep the last two nights.”

:-0 !!!

It is just not me. Seems like anxiety has taken over the adults on Pesto! Even Alex that has been in the boat for almost 2 moths now…(At least the small ones seem to be sleeping quite well over these days).

 

The good thing is that we know the source of this anxiety. It has a name: We are getting salted soon! Starting Sept 4th 2 am to be more precise….

But how is this different from the sailing we have done in the past?

Alex has a long sailing history since he was a kid, where he used to sail with family in Ubatuba and Ilhabela in Brazil. Since we started dating 20 years ago, I have joined him in sailing and that became our way of travelling during vacations – Thailand, Croatia, Turkey and a few times in Caribbean. Some of them with the kids. But those were charters of 15 days at most.

For the last 2 summer vacations, we have sailed on our own boat, Pesto, on the protected Puget Sound Area (where Seattle is) – a relatively sheltered and protected area. Neah Bay, where we are anchored right now is the very last harbor before we cross Cape Flattery and join officially the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.

 

We have had great experiences and faced several challenges already in our past experiences. Strong winds, swells, boat parts that got broken, intense fog and rain.

But I have never crossed a Cape by myself, sailing! What is this going to be like?

The “New factor” brings anxiety. Waters not sailed before!

We will at some point face bigger waves, stronger winds, longer distances to cover. Fog and rain might come together. Sailing will enter days and nights; shifts for monitoring the cruise will be needed. Motion sickness might come…Yes, different experiences will come.

I feel like I am growing up…

But I am sure that, regardless of how experienced I get on this, new departures will always bring me (and Alex) anxiety.