Passage Voyages
There is something quite humbling about watching the arc of the world slowly turn in front of you, the rising and setting sun, closely followed by the moon and a halo of stars. The passage from day into night becomes blurred, marked only by the switching of inside lights from white to red bulbs, the emergence of head-torches and a few extra layers of clothes.
Our passage voyages from Cornwall to Scotland in the Spring and Scotland to Cornwall in the Autumn, offer the chance to truly experience life at sea. At 9-nights in length they are the same as our West Coast Adventures, with one key diffference. No Stopping.
While the journey itself does not take quite that long, finding a weather window can be tricky, in most cases, there will be a couple of days of waiting at the start, followed by 3 or 4 days and nights at sea, slowing down to stop at night as we get closer to our destination.
So how does it work, sailing at night?
Here in lies the main difference between 'cruising' and 'passage sailing'.
Once we have all gotten to know each other, the captain, Mungo, will divide the entire crew into 'watches'. These are teams of 3 or 4 including a watch leader, who is either part of the permanent crew or a qualified friend of ours, along to help out for the trip. We nearly always take an extra paid crew member for these trips, in case of any bad weather.
The 'watch list' will be drawn up and pinned in the saloon, so that everyone can see it.
Each group will have an allotted time for being 'on watch' which means being on deck, sharing the responsibility of steering and navigation, and keeping a lookout for ships and potential hazards. When you are 'off watch' you are free to do as you like, sleeping, eating, reading or just watching the world go by.
The watches during daylight hours run from:
8 am to 12 pm
12 pm to 4 pm
and 4 pm to 8 pm
then at night time, we switch to
8 pm to 11 pm
11 pm to 2 am
2 am to 5 am
5 am to 8 am
This way the watch pattern rotates and nobody has to do the 2 am to 5 am watch two days in a row!
Sunrise at Lands End
But when do we eat and sleep?
Meal times whilst on passage are more flexible than normal voyages. Stella, the chef, does all the cooking onboard, but evening meals are often left on the stovetop overnight so that they can be eaten as and when you fancy. There are breakfast pastries, lunches that can be eaten throughout the day, and lots of snacks and treats for taking up on deck with hot tea throughout the night watch.
Navigating at night
The navigational systems onboard run 24hrs a day, there is a computer in the crew cabin close to the helm position on which all of the navigational data can be found. We will keep a log of our position and weather conditions every hour and use professional subscription-based weather routing software to ensure we have the most up-to-date information available.
Sailing at night is a truly wonderful state to experience. The rushing of water past the hull, finding a star by which to navigate, and seeing the very first glow of sunrise in the sky. We wouldn't give it up for the world, and that is why we want to share it with you.
Passage sailors gathered on the bow to watch the evening dolphin show
The rhythm of life onboard varies with the group and the weather conditions, however, it is important to consider when booking one of our passage voyages, that they are considerably different to our normal cruising trips. Ultimately the goal is to get everybody from A to B as safely and comfortably as possible. There are many things to consider when planning a voyage of this kind and it is important to be flexible and open-minded.