Although we will have lived on board for about 5 month before we start, we will ease slowly into our new lives. That means short distances, possibly no overnight sails at first and little exposure to potentially uncomfortable conditions. We’ll sail down New Jersey shore, sail through Delaware and Chesapeake Bay to take the ICW (Intercoastal Waterway) - an inland waterway - in Norfolk, VA all the way south to Florida. Unfortunately, we will have to motor for great parts, need to hand steer and keep an eagles eye out for water depth but won’t have any swell or major waves, can drop the hook anytime and take a break as long as we want in return.

We’ll settle for trade wind sailing once we reached the Lesser Antilles. The trades are winds predominantly blowing 20-25 knots east to west around 10° - 30° in latitude from the equator. Will keep them close to our stern for smooth downwind sailing. We’ll also look out for local currents and streams for additional push in the right direction E.g. there are many currents in the Caribbean that have quite an influence on comfort on board.

We don’t like strong winds, especially hurricanes and the like. Having lived on the US east coast for a couple of years, we’ve seen what those deadly forces can do. Annual storm seasons are roughly July to November in the northern hemisphere and November to April in the southern half of our planet. We’ll sure stay the hell out of those areas during season and cruise elsewhere e.g. an extended period in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, piracy has become a major problem even for small sailing vessels in certain areas. We would love to cross the Suez Canal back to the Mediterranean for instance but that is currently far too dangerous. There are other local piracy phenomena as well. So, we will generally keep a good eye out for piracy developments and avoid those areas.