Sunday , February 11th, Day 1

Wives, Henry and Estelle and Crew, before departure. We met the Skipper, Mike Rose one hour before departure. What a great friend, expert sailor, and mentor he became. He had flown in at midnight the night before.

First Report - 7:00 PM Sunday. All is well here at sea. Wind CALM, sea flat, great day, motoring south east (140 degrees) cross the Stream hopefully tomorrow a.m. 36 05'N 74 05' W at 1900 hrs. 6" Icicles on the pulpit and guardrails from spray this morning.  Mike says we don't get this in Antigua!  He don like it in de cold, Mon! We love the happy hour thing! I think it something we need to grow on. Lol.   To Henry and Estelle, thank you for hooking us up with Captain Mike. For our friends, Captain Mike, our skipper, spent 26 years in the Royal Navy, 10 years as a charter captain and now has delivered sailboats up and down the Carribbean to Newport for the past 12 years.

At 6:00 PM is Happy Hour (Tot Time) and will get our daily ration of rum and a beer.  Tot Time was  great and black mass topped it off. Today, since it was Sunday, we had black mass, which in the UK Navy, you drink the Rum that was left over for the week.   We are all doing very well.

Eight hours out on or trip and the seas are too calm. The noisy diesel is running.

Icicles on the bow pulpit!

Monday , February 12th, Day 2

We are at  34 degrees-02mintues N, 72 degrees -22 minutes W. (about 250 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina) making about 8 knots over ground.. The temperature has risen to 65 degrees, what a change from icicles and 32 yesterday. The seas are flat and we have motored since we departed, but it appears that is going to be changing Tuesday and Wednesday. Mike talked with Herb a Ham radio operator out of Ontario Canada who provides weather and recommended routings to vessels at sea on the HF and he directed us to 32N-74W by Tuesday night.

Herb's link: http://www3.sympatico.ca/hehilgen/vax498.htm

We have four hour watches from 0600-1800 then three hour watches 1800-0600 among the four of us. Every day you move forward one watch in the rotation.

 Tuesday, February 13th  Day 3

We have WIND...actually more than we care about. We are in heavy seas at 31N-72W traveling SW at 7 Knots in 6-8 foot seas. Just a few minutes ago we were doing 10 but we slowed the boat down. It was a little crazy, but this is big time sailing. We have been directed to sail SW towards northern Florida and then tack back SE before reaching the gulf stream again.

Wednesday, February 14th  Day 4 (Valentines Day)

We are presently 30-26N 72-09W. 30;30 PM-Wed (Approx 450 East of St Augustine, FL) The temp is 74 degrees. Last night and this morning was our biggest waves of the storm we we're skirting around. Mike estimated 10-12 foot seas. Makes things kind of wild downstairs just to hang on..

We turned SE this AM around 0500 and presently making 9.5 knots 6-8 foot seas. I have my leg stretched out against the companionway ladder to keep from falling out of the navigation station.  Always thought nav stations were a waste of space but it gets used a lot in this kind of trip. The winds are scheduled to diminish and we will probably be back to motor sailing down the road. Hope not. Mike thinks we will be there around Tuesday. We have 850 nautical miles to go. 

 Mike our skipper has crossed the Atlantic 22 times east-west and 12 times North-South. (Carib-Newport RI). With him and this big boat we are fine. He holds happy hour (Tot Time) every evening with a shot of rum and a beer. Then he always finds a reason to award the crew a second beer. 

Thursday , February 15th,  Day 5

Thursday, 1500, sailing at 9 knts on a course of 142 screaming towards the Caribbean. 4-6 foot swells. About perfect ocean sailing conditions under full genoa and main. Position- 27 58' N 69 41'W, about 570 nautical miles ESE of Cape Canaveral. We made 216 miles from noon Wed to noon Thursday!  Weather fine. Blue sky. Warm and sunny. 75 degrees. The entire crew is now in t-shirts, shorts and barefoot. Wind SW, 20-25 Kts.

 Spent most of the morning clearing up on deck and down below. It's nice to dry out for a bit. Mostly from the ocean sray coming over the top of the boat when we plow through the waves. Thank goodness for the dodger (windshield). The skipper has started a pool for our arrival time in the USVI. He with the worst guess must buy the first and second rounds upon arrival. Should be sometime Monday.

Friday, February 16th, Day 6

25 degrees, 13 minutes North, 67 degrees 25 minutes West.  About 720 miles east of the southern tip of Florida and 425 miles NNE of the Virgin Islands. Big wind day of 25-30 knots at a close haul. LOTS of sea water coming over the bow in 6-8 foot swells. Since we killed the engine at 2100, Monday night, the wind has been consistently forward of the beam, close hauled most of the way (sailing into the wind). However we have not had to tack back and forth.  Currently have a double reef in main and headsail (reduced sail for nonsailors).  Making 8 knots on a course of 165 degrees. Winds are suppose to lighten up Saturday and we may need to turn the engine on again.  Ugh!!!!  Due to sea state Captain said we will heave to (stop) for dinner and have a proper meal.   Everyone has their sea legs beneathe them.

Saturday, February 17th, Day 7

We have been in the most beautiful sailing conditions of the entire trip for about the last 20 hours. 2-4 foot seas, 15-20 knots of wind and "Moi Noi Jodine" is dancing on the sea (instead of plowing through the swells) at a nice 7.5 knots, full sails at a close haul.  A very easy and comfortable ride. We are 280 miles NNE of the USVI. The miles remaining on the GPS keep on clicking off and the wind keeps holding for us. Location: 23 degrees 05 Min N, 65 degrees, 49 min W.  The 65 longitude line goes through the USVI.   We have made 601 miles over the past three days. Wed: 216, Thurs: 190, Fri: 185

It's 5:00 PM and Tot Time!

Sunday, February 19th

Sunday at 4:00 PM and we are 109 NM due north of the USVI. Location: 20 degrees-18'N, 65 degrees-16'W. Temperature: 83 degrees! As we expected the wind died last night around 5:00 PM and we had to start the diesel.

Right now we have about 12 knots of wind but it is square on our nose, and this is not a boat to tack back and forth. So we are motoring due south at about 7 knots. We have caught, well I guess hooked two mahi-mahi, one yesterday and one today and lost both trying to get them into a moving sailboat even though we slowed down to about 4 knots. The owner is a huge fisherman and insisted we give it a try and bring him some fish. Well, we tried. Today a pod of dolphins played at our bow for about 10 minutes then suddenly vanished. We are currently in the deepest water of the trip at 26,000 feet over the Puerto Rican Trench. Our trip will end tomorrow morning and we will have traveled about 1400 miles. The Skipper checked the wind readings and during the heavy weather Tuesday night we had a max wind of 55 knts! The next message should be from St Thomas. 

Lunch in the cockpit and the auto helm continues to keep us on course.

Terry is "Oyster Surfing" on the rolling deck of the boat.

 

Monday, February 20th

0900 Monday Morning. Exactly 8 days after leaving Norfolk we arrive in the US VI!