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Sailing Saturday with Called-Higher! by Nathaniel Harrington

One of my most anticipated days happened yesterday, a sail out of Ft. Pierce, Florida. 

As a practice run for the Called-Higher group, to help them get their sea-legs established, Donothan Williams setup a fun day of sailing on two beautiful vessels! The "Sunshine Too" and the "Luric".  

We started out the day knowing that we had some big storms cruising in, so we prayed for safety, thanked the Lord for the opportunity to enjoy the ocean, and we're off! We set our sail with a light south easterly wind(which was creating offshore perfection for the surfers at the jetty...) and relaxed our way out to sea. The water stayed glassy with barely any wind for the first couple of hours which gave us a great opportunity to go for a swim at about 3 miles off shore giving a fun opportunity to shoot some photos. :) 

 

The 40+ ft "Sunshine Too" 

The 40+ft "Luric"

Tatum, Heather, and our brave and fearless leader Donothan! 

Watershots are so much fun. The abilities of an iPhone in the sea.. brilliant! We're letting Dono borrow our old iPhone and the Housing so he can bring home the adventures from the Bahamas trip. :) I think he likes it. 

The Fishbowl Look. I was trying to get an image thats in my head, but due to the lack of sun it was really hard to focus on objects above the water.. these still turned out pretty "Sea Dreamy"! 

We got to hang out about an hour before we realized that this storm wasn't passing us to the north, it was cruising straight for us. The "Luric" was looking beautiful and confident with the fast approaching weather. 

No wonder Dono gets so much done and so sea worthy! He's half way to being an Octopus! 

Last photo right at the Calm before the Storm. With sky's like that a few miles offshore you know its time to go! 

As I got back onto the boat the storm began to fill in. I tucked beneath into the cabin for about a minute to put away some gear, when I came out it was already blowing about 40mph wind with heavy rain. The visibility dropped to 100ft and the waves picked up immediately. There was never any threat of our safety, it was more or less just an awesome example of the power of storms on the ocean and how quickly things can change out there. Great practice for the Called-Higher crew as they continue to prepare for their 2 week sailing trip. 

 

Soaking wet and a little cold, my wife Tatum was loving every second of it. :)  

This is Captain Keith. He has spent a life on the water sailing. His stories and experience are inspiring, both him and his wife Roberta.  it was a pleasure to be welcomed onto their boat. We very much enjoyed out day with him and his wife aboard the "Sunshine Too". 

Keep the Called-Higher Crew in your prayers as they head off later this month. I know the Lord is doing an awesome work in Donothan's life and its just so fun to be watching all this happen and to be apart of it! Stoked. 

Thanks again to both boat captains for taking us out! 

 

-Nathaniel Harrington