Blog

The moon is new. I sleep hard and long and sail slow into the night. Celtic. Star Calypso. Dominator. Cape Sunrise. Golden Karoo. All traveling beside me. I rise before the day turns to gold. There is still an hour before sunrise and 17 NM until I’m at the Cape...

I missed the sunrise. I was sleeping. It’s high in the sky now. The wind is blowing harder and the water is getting bumpier and bluer and colder as I sail west. It is all a shock to my system. I had a lot of cargo traffic last night. I...

When the west winds blow across South Africa, the air and water are freezing cold, and I have noticed more rain during those times as well. Right now I am out here riding a south wind that is slowly turning more east, but I am cold now too. That is...

I love Mossel Bay. I don’t regret that the lightning drove me here, to this space where the world ends and the ocean begins, yet somehow there is no entropy. So far it’s my favorite place in South Africa, and I have the strange feeling of “belonging” here. As if...

I was fishtailing and surfing my way into Knysna, and I see-sawed and pancake-flapped my way out. I didn’t want to leave on a forecast that showed heavy thunder and lightning, but Libre did, so we did. We got seven different people’s opinions before departing. Some said, “Go, it’ll just...

I’m still on a mooring in Knysna, where seals play around my boat all day long. Where the seahorses cling to seagrass beneath me. Where the sea around the entrance can be a devil or an angel, depending on the wind and the swell. Where the Stone Age people painted...

I weigh anchor in Plettenberg. I’m all rested up, so my mind won’t play any more tricks on me. The sun is dazzling high, and the seals are all over the water, waving goodbye. My reality feels like a fantasy. I’m almost to the exit, with a thousand waving seals...

Seabirds have been flying low all day. One just took off from the water and he was so close that I could see the droplets of water dripping from his wings. A really pretty day out here today. Sun and blue. The wind is mild and the swell is still...

I am so tired that I forgot I was heading west and found the sunset surprising. I thought maybe something was on fire on shore. I’ve slept three hours and jibed 100 times in 36 hours. I’ve only consumed water, grapes and a few ginger cookies on account of my...

I’m sitting in my underwear on the settee eating ginger cookies. It’s 21:44 and I can’t sleep. It’s raining out and the wind is light but frigid. The sailing is smooth. I’m on a close reach with 11 knots of wind and what feels like a bit of current. I’m...

I have arrived up the Buffalo River in East London. Japie, who runs the Buffalo River Yacht Club, said, “You survived the worst of South Africa’s Wild Coast. We lose a vessel once every 18 months on this stretch of water.” The Shangri-Las are signing on the radio. Behind Japie...

I’ve been up since 0300. I’m a nervous wreck. Today I will set sail down the Wild Coast of South Africa from Durban to East London. It’s 278 nautical miles, give or take, and the stretch of water I’m sailing is referred to as “The Black Hole” on account of...

There is a powerboat blasting through the marina, blaring the song “Let Me See Your Tootsie Roll.” I’m still in Durban, waiting on a long enough weather window to get 280 nautical miles farther south. Durban is somewhat of a drag; it’s known as a “gangster’s paradise.” There are only...

“Durban Port Control, Durban Port Control, this is sailing vessel Juniper,” I say to the faceless human somewhere in Durban over VHF channel 9. A female voice responds: “This is Durban Port Control, go ahead Juniper.” Me: “I am a sailing vessel at the safe water buoy seeking permission to...

I’m back out in the blue. Or grey, rather. Grey is the color of this day. Thunder is rumbling off the land, the swell is a sideways rodeo clown, and I can’t for the life of me slow down. I’ve only got 18 knots of wind and I’m moving at...

I am stepping onto Juniper after traveling through clouds and time. She looks beautiful beyond the layer of coal dust and the tape residue. It’s ninety degrees and my skin doesn’t fit right anymore. Have I gained weight? I feel like a blob shuffling around on tree trunks. I fetch...

Happy New Year. I hope that 2026 is nothing short of dazzling and that every day looks like the cover of a catalog you’d tear out and tack onto the wall. I am about done dogging around in Arkansas. As I write to you, I am by a lake in...

I’ve been hiding since I got home. I’ve only seen my family and one or two friends. Why am I hiding? I don’t know. I just really don’t want to be seen by strangers at the moment, and almost everybody feels like a stranger. I have a strong desire not...

I set sail from California six years, three months, and twenty-six days ago. I can’t believe it. All I set out to do was cross the Pacific ocean to Hawaii, but I’ve been living a nomadic life among the stars and saltwater ever since. I don’t even know how to...

“When I was a kid, we used to tie cotton to the leg of a dung beetle and fly them around like a kite,” Norman says to me and Magnus. He’s an Afrikaans man with a pot belly. He’s fluent in Zulu, Afrikaans, and English. He grew up in the...

I would have overslept had your voice not come to me in a dream. Much happened this week. Too much. I have a lot to tell; about the place of miracles and wonder, the hippos of St. Lucia, the bolts in my transmission, the 50-knot blow, the sailors found dead...