Ace has Finished!!!!

Greetings all!  We have FINISHED!  Let the clean up and festivities begin!  Time:  12:26:30 Position:   Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, West Indies Wind:  Apparent Weather:  Rum Squalls Speed:  Declining Heading:  To the party!. read more...

Ace - Land Ho!!!!

Dear all,After 14 days and over 2700 sea miles we are finally in sight of St. Lucia!  The last 24 hours were pretty fun with a few nice squalls passing with tons of rain and a bit of wind!  Richard has now made it into the "Over 20 Club" with a top speed of 23 knots!!!  It is a small club but we are happy to have him as our newest member!  Well earned!This will probably be the last email you will receive from the boat and this address.  Soon our cell phones and iPads will have service and we will be in contact with you all individually.  Back to reality…  We still have a few more miles to go to the northern tip of St. Lucia and then a nice beat into the finish line.  We have 22-25 knots of wind so we will have good ride right up to the end.  I. read more...

Ace - Monday, December 10th

Greetings to our extended Ace family from the crew:Today begins as yesterday ended, with Ace running on a starboard tack towards Saint Lucia, now about 260 miles distant.  The morning rose with the sun on a blue sky, steady winds, relatively modest rolling seas and a decent heading towards the Caribbean.  It was the air, however, which dominated the setting.  Warm, sweet, velvety, seductively gentle -- it offered an enticing welcome to those of us awakening for another watch shift.  The Ace of the last couple of days differs from the Ace of last week.  Gone for now is the relentless muscular, ever demanding  locomotive of last week,  substituted by a steadier, albeit slower course towards home on an ocean that herself has tamed considerably.  The. read more...

Ace at Sea: Approaching our last Day

Our Chart plotter is telling us that we are going to finish sometime tomorrow.  If the winds hold and it's correct, that would mean that I wouldn't get a chance to send the final email that's been bouncing around my head for the past few days, thus I am secretly penning this while our morning routine is underway.  An email to make a brief, but important, 7 acknowledgments.  The first is to Adrian and his incredible bravery and determination. For someone who has never spent a night at sea to sign on for an Atlantic crossing in an "Athletic" boat, and then to overcome his trepidation by proving himself a skillful helmsmen during tough conditions, and then when off watch, to whip up an absolutely incredible Nicoise….need I say more? William had similar hurdles, proved. read more...

Ace - at Sea

dear all,our world is composed of pretty basic elements: the shallow bowl of the sea, it's radius determined by the height of the waves and the inverted globe of the sky, it's blue void animated by clouds. endless combinations, permutations, and variations, modulated by the sun and the moon and wind create unique scenes of fascination and beauty.the last 48 hours has seen prototypical trade wind sailing, puffy white clouds, or no clouds at all. chute up all day into the evening as this new sailing experience with the big sail requires a bit more focus on the compass and apparent wind indicator if a bit less of a physical workout. like i said, a beautiful day, too bad Rob spent most of it in the engine room patiently and expertly fixing the diesel, with barely an audible. read more...