Edelweiss - Over and Out

Dear faithful readers -We write our last ARC blog post from our slip in the Rodney Bay Marina.We arrived about 24 hours ago, powering into the marina in the dark with 30 knots of headwind when a strong rain front descended upon us.No trouble for the sturdy crew of Edelweiss.Mason held his post on the bow with the searchlight, Teri and Lyell prepared the boat for landing, and Stuart kept Edelweiss moving along.10 minutes later, we were tied up, drinking a rum punch provided upon arrival by the diligent ARC team.We are now in the process of cleaning up the boat from our adventure, and want to offer special appreciation to all the kind notes, support and encouragement we received from all of you.That support helped us through the challenging moments so that we could accomplish what we set. read more...

Edelweiss - Day #21: Last minute items...

Hello from another rockin' and rollin' day out on the Atlantic.Stuart has finished up the last of our 5 dozen eggs with delicious French toast this morning ("Soon to be Famous.." - do you see a trend here?), Mason is busy organizing the flags to be raised again in St Lucia, and Lyell is practicing his imitation of an electric guitar while on watch in the cockpit.OH, AND THERE ARE ONLY 120.2 MILES TO GO TO ST LUCIA!But who's counting!??At our current rate, that puts us into Rodney Bay Marina early in the morning, possibly even before sunrise, but the crew of the good ship Edelweiss will no doubt be awake, alert, alive and ENTHUSIASTIC!You can imagine that spirits are high this morning on Edelweiss.There are, however, plenty of serious questions that proximity to St Lucia brings up:. read more...

Edelweiss - signs of life

We can tell we are starting to get close.After days of no boats at all, we had both an ARC boat (Hada) and an LPG tanker cross our bow.Must mean that we are coming in off the great blue yonder toward land.Now, if we could only see a pontoon, a shower, and little restaurant that has cold beer.But we get ahead of ourselves.  Aboard Edelweiss, the creativity continues.Lyell released an illustrated work entitled "The Baby Dinosaur", and Mason's Chandlery has posted a complete products and services listing complete with Christmas Discount (can be applied until January 15, and cannot be combined with any other offers).The market here aboard Edelweiss is a little constrained but I think he will do well.Onward toward St Lucia!xo Edelweiss. read more...

Edelweiss - Day #19: A whale of a playdate!

Hello again from (yes, still) the Atlantic!We continue to make good progress, now with a steady, strong wind at our stern (20-25 knots) pushing us along well, with only our jib up.The waves, however, cannot seem to make up their minds where they'd like to come from: either they come from behind us on our stern in which case Edelweiss surfs up and down them (wheeeee!) or else they come on her side and we get to roll back and forth (booooooo!).Either way, we're happily watching the miles tick down.... now under 480 miles to go.The highlight of the last 24 hours has to be the sighting of some big whales, frolicking with us.While we were surfing down some big waves yesterday afternoon, Stuart noticed them surfing right behind us. (And, by "right behind us" I mean that their spray when they. read more...

Edelweiss - Day #18: cruising!

St Lucia beckons but we are trying to stay focused on the here & now.We have under 650 miles left, which is only slightly more than our previous biggest crossing (to Porto Santo/Madeira), so it feels quite manageable.The seas are still confused, with waves coming at us from all directions (making necessary, for instance, the wedged sleeping positions mentioned earlier) but the wind has been constantly behind us and is pushing us along nicely, with only the jib up.We are happy to report finally a night with NO flying fish!I was seriously contemplating wearing the climbing helmet (which we have for going up the mast) at night to protect myself.Looks like that may be unnecessary - whew!Yesterday we did see some fun sea creatures - bigger than dolphins with blunt heads and dark grey. read more...