Aspen - Log 27 Friday 20 Dec; A Day of Dreams - Welcome Back

Maria and I had a dream of seeing the world.Her dream differed alittle from mine because my dream had a sailboat in it.Her dream mostlikely didn't include a sailboat since she really doesn't care for thewater that much!There are so many thoughts and words right now spinning around in ourheads.With our starting place, the Caribbean, appearing in thedistance just ahead of Aspen's bow nothing can come remotely close tosaying what utter joy and satisfaction we feel at this moment in our lives."It's what we've done that makes us what we are", as Jim Croce sang.Well, we've done it!!!!!!!!!Sail on, sail on Aspen - we made it around this big beautiful planet...Steve and Maria. read more...

Aspen - Log 26 Thursday 19 Dec; Heading for the Barn!

Ok, day 25 now and we are letting ourselves look ahead a wee bit.As Isaid yesterday, Aspen is sensing something very special not too farahead of us.The sea is rushing past Aspen's salt stained hull with even moreferociousness than ever before.The ocean spray sparkles like diamondsas it is flung high into the air when Aspen heels, quickly snaps backand rushes headlong toward the distant western horizon.Maria and I see nothing but the deep dark blue ocean with streaks ofwhite foam topping the endless waves.Yet hopefully soon, very soon, weshould see our beloved Caribbean once again.At least if the captain'scalculations are correct and that is not always the case he has been told :)Aspen has seen so many wonders and fought so many battles since we firstpurchased her from the Island Packet. read more...

Aspen - Log 25 Wednesday 18 Dec; Our Fleet Report

In the pre-dawn darkness it was a special time today.A time when the full moon had just set and the stars struggled to shine before the beautiful sun blazed away in the eastern sky.The sea had been awake long before and it was once again becoming extremely agitated with the coming of a new day.I was preparing my fleet report for the admiral.Translated that means I was sitting behind Aspen's wheel, figuring out what to tell Maria about our current conditions as I watched the wind indicator flash 28, 30, 27 knots (that is apparent speed because I never tell Maria the true speed which is much higher as you know.In this case that would have been 34, 36, 33 knots.Maria prefers the smaller numbers I rationalized and besides our speedo quit working long ago to give us true speed anyway).I was. read more...

Aspen - Log 24 Tuesday 17 Dec; A Day at Sea

I thought I would describe what a typical day at sea for us onboardAspen is like.This is how it has been for the past 7 days:0600 - or zero dark thirty as we like to call it.Steve sticks head outof companionway to look for lights and ships. Clipping himself into thecockpit lifeline he then sits in the cockpit surveying the sea state toanswer the question of why we are rolling so much - huge waves areeverywhere and spraying across the cockpit while the wind is actuallywhistling through the rigging.Crawling carefully to the wheel andinstrument panel at the stern of Aspen he reads the 24 hour mileage,wind speed, current heading and wind speed. Looking behind Aspen henotes several more lines of squalls roaring toward us - squalls ofbiblical proportion as one nearby sailboat noted.Crawling. read more...

Aspen - Log 23 Monday 16 Dec; NASA

It seems that the United States space program, NASA, is looking for volunteers, preferably a couple, to make the long and arduous passage to Mars.They are looking for those people who have spent extensive time alone together, faced numerous mechanical, electrical and logistical problems and who like to travel.Hmmmm, I think they just need to sign up some long distance sailors for the job!We spend long periods of time alone at sea, are required to fix anything and everything onboard our sailboats to ensure a safe passage and we constantly live as one with everything nature sends us.The only problem I see is that once the sailors get to Mars will they be able to get back to Earth?NASA admits that might be a slight glitch in the system but they may be able to get them back.The word MAYBE is. read more...