Mulling over whats ahead!

It's not often that one gets the opportunity to take on the challenge of sailing a 105 year old, wooden sailing yacht over 8000 miles through the Pacific and across the North Atlantic. Especially one designed as a cruiser racer with the emphasis firmly on racer, with minimal freeboard, no modern safety contrivances and a large powerful topmast rig. This is going to be a long wet sail! A quick look at modern yachts will show how a large emphasis is put these days on protecting the crew from the elements.....very sensible of course, as nothing, perhaps is quite so dangerous at sea than being cold and wet, which can lead to fatigue and poor judgement. Dodgers are commonplace, fabric covers which protect a cockpit from wind and rain, as are full wheelhouses in more cruisy type yachts, and even modern round the world race boats support comprehensive hard structures to shelter in. Add to this a healthy beam and a high freeboard and you have the best of modern thought on how one should go to sea. Compare this to the high exposed steering position on Anne Marie, no autopilot here to let you shelter inside, and only a couple of feet between you and the cold salty sea rushing past and over the rail as this powerful old lady leans to the wind and feels the heartbeat of the ocean once more.