This is an ongoing story about a couple that bought a J/46 and, with little offshore experience, decided they wanted to sail around the world. The crew consists of Kate, Curtis, and Roxy the dog. Their introduction is quite amusing.
“One day we woke up, saw a boat on the Internet (the J/46), and in less than 24 hours, we had the winning bid!! Kate and I purchased the boat in January 2019 with the intention of refitting her and sailing her around the world. We sold our house, left Ohio, and moved onto the boat in Newport, Rhode Island, in July 2019. That’s before the global Covid-19 pandemic!”
Since then, this American couple from the Midwest has had quite the adventure cruising around the world on SWEET RUKA. Here is the short story of their travels to date.
In summer 2019, they left from Newport, Rhode Island, and did a shakedown cruise to Maine (see PredictWind tracking above). The plan was to prepare the boat and themselves for more challenging sailing and work out the kinks in an area with good support for yachts. They learned lots about navigating in big currents, kelp, and huge tides.
Next, they sailed down the East Coast, through New York City, to Annapolis, Maryland. Sailing past the Statue of Liberty was a “bucket list” item. From Annapolis, they sailed directly to the Bahamas on their first big offshore excursion.
Next, they sailed the Caribbean all winter of 2019 and 2020. They went directly from the Bahamas to the US Virgin Islands and cruised the rest of the Windward and Leeward Islands until spring.
Then, they sailed from the Caribbean on what most consider a delivery skipper route, partially upwind and battling the Azores high to get to another world-famous sailing town- Horta, Azores Islands!
Next up was the Canary Islands. Then, an SSW crossing of the Atlantic, down through the equatorial Doldrums to South America. First stop was the Ilhabela Islands in Brazil, then Itajai, Brazil (the Volvo Race stopover). Thereafter, they sailed further south down the coast to Piriapolis, Uruguay.
From Piriapolis, they sailed directly to Puerto Williams, Chile, to rest and re-provision. After, they went around Cape Horn, north through the Beagle Channel, up the western arm of the Straits of Magellan, and then into the icy fjords of Chilean Patagonia to explore the glaciers of Torres del Paine. This was an EPIC part of the cruise so far. Magnificent mountains, remarkable glaciers (dozens), and challenging hiking!
After the Torres del Paine adventures, it was sailing further north to Puerto Montt and Algarrobo, Chile before launching into the South Pacific Ocean. The plan was to stop at as many islands as possible. First stop was Easter Island. Then, onto Gambiers, the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia (Tahiti), and more. Today, they are in Fiji.
You can track their adventures on Predictwind.com here
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SweetRuca/
Follow the J/46 SWEET RUCA’s adventures here
https://sweetruca.com/
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