Bermuda again...Orion feels home

[Capt Hook]

Also can you reef from your cockpit or do you have to go to the mast?

[Jim Walsh]

Jim, very interesting.
You mentioned some of your meals. Could you expand on your provisions and what some of your other daily meals were.
Curious what your menu looks like for a week at sea.

Since I’m only provisioning for myself I just stock up on stuff I like. I bring enough canned goods to last a month or more consisting of two meals a day. I figure if I were disabled and unable to set more than a jury rig I would not have to worry about food. If I had to avoid a named storm I could sail to Newfoundland, The Azores, the Virgin Islands.....with no provisioning worries. I try to bring a weeks worth of fresh food, grapes, apples, watermelon, nectarines, onions, peppers, etc. I freeze meats like pork chops, meatloaf, kielbasa, hotdogs, boneless chicken breast, etc. Whatever has defrosted first is on my menu for that day. A loaf of bread easily lasts a week, wraps last several weeks, just pay attention to the “use by” date when purchasing them. I bring Doritos, pretzels, cookies....my type of health food.

[Jim Walsh]

Also can you reef from your cockpit or do you have to go to the mast?

I go to the mast to reef the main. The friction of running all the lines aft and having to deal with all those lines in the cockpit just isn’t my cup of tea. I already have a main sheet, a staysail sheet, two headsail sheets, a headsail reefing line, a staysail reefing line and a staysail clew outhaul led to the cockpit. That’s enough for me.

[John Stone]

Excellent Jim. Pretty accurate picture to what it’s like. You and Orion made it look easy. Takes a lot of skill, preparation, and smart decisionmaking to pull off a successful uneventful passage.

Seeing whales and sharks is very cool. Have not seen either.

Thanks for sharing.