Dipping our toes in the pond...the big pond

    Palm Beach is close to one of the nicer/tamer (I hear) inlets on the eastern coast of Florida.  Many cruisers choose this area to sit and wait for a calm weather window and cross the 50+ miles to West End in the Bahamas.  We may also cross from here as well, however, before we can run (definitely a metaphor here as we usually sail slower than an average runner), we must crawl.  And crawl we did today- meaning we took our very first sail in the real for real ocean.

Cyrus fought off seasickness and finally joined us in the cockpit

Our fearless captain

   Passing through the inlet was not difficult, I imagine it could be a harrowing experience if a large freighter were moving through the inlet at the same time, but we only contended with a few of the usual $250,000 "fishing boat."  Tyler and I are learning to move with the tides and use the technology we have on board and we chose a time of 'slack tide' when the tidal current in the inlet is weaker to pass through to the ocean. Once we were out of the inlet, the fun really started.
  The waves just outside of the inlet were pretty confused- not big consistent rollers, just big almost ski mogul type lumps of moving water.  Our 30 foot boat was rocking and rolling and there was little to do about it except keep moving out to sea.  I know our boat will not roll over.  Boats with keels are built to right themselves.  When you are being pushed around by waves, it is difficult to remember this fact and the instinct to panic and try to steer to "fix" the motion of the boat is STRONG.  We persevered though, and found calmer waves about a mile from shore.
  Tyler managed to walk to the mast and release the mainsail and we tried sailing- Tyler encouraged me to try different movements of the boat- jibing and tacking, to get a feeling for what happens to the sails and I was able to walk forward to the bow of the boat to release a caught line without panicking too much.  We were able to put Mirage through a decent test and she performed well.
  Other than mother nature, the scariest part of going out in the ocean are the other boats.  When you are sailing, powered boats must give you the right of way if you are headed toward each other.  There are no rules, however, about creating giant wakes which rival the ocean waves and come from any direction.
  I don't want our first jaunt into the ocean to sound terrifying.  It was more like driving on the highway or an amusement park ride for the first time.  It is thrilling and beautiful and just scary enough to keep you very aware of your surroundings.  Our next window to sail in the ocean is Saturday- and we'll be there for sure.