Amaris - Land Ho! Dead ahead!

Sailing Amaris Wednesday, December 4, 2013Land Ho! Dead ahead! Amaris sails the world14.13.11 N60.30.47 W Atlantic Ocean - 21 miles fom St Lucia Land Ho!  Dead ahead. What a plesant view to wake up to. In the distance St Lucia with the twin Pitons (Large volcanic mountains) and off the starboard quarter - Martinique.  Hard to believe these two islands were the grounds of many a battle between the navies of France and England. Very appropo that I read 5 of the Horatio Hornbower books on the way here. As per the rally requirements, we need to sail across the finish line. Not that this is a big deal- we just sailed 2100 miles - but we haven't raised or lowered a sail in 3 days. The spinnaker has been working like a champ with her newest patch. read more...

Amaris - 350 Miles from St Lucia

14.40.34N56.29.85 WAtlantic Ocean - 350 Miles from StLuciaWe are on the downhill leg of our crossing. Well, Archimedes would disagree saying that the Earth is round - but you getthe drift.Hard to believe the long legs we have sailed to gethere.  700 miles from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands, 850 miles from theCanaries to Cape Verde (of which we sailed all 1150 miles), and now this finalleg 2100 miles to St Lucia.  Ugh.  We need a Pina Colada, a shadetree, and A CHEESEBURGER!The weather has been anything but supportive ofthis last leg.  Today we sailed through a low pressure cell.  Windscontinue to be light, but our Spinnaker - which we set two days ago - keeps uscharging towards our goal.  Shawn and I enjoyed a cup of coffee on thefront of the boat. read more...

Amaris - The last 24 hours have improved.

15.24.25 N51.55.46W Atlantic Ocean - 550 miles ENE of StLucia The last 24 hours have improved.  Now whensomeone passes gas-the smell actually blows away!   Yesterday we had all reached rock bottom, hungour heads in shame, and started our motor.  We realized things could onlyimprove - the concern was how long would it take for us to get wind.  Turnsout - last night at 1825 we turned off the motor for a nice "quiet" dinner andto watch the sunset.  The winds and boat built speed over the next fewhours and we were able to get some miles in motor free!  In fact - today at1600 (4pm) we swapped out the main and code zero for our spinnaker - the sail wehope to have take us the rest of the way to St Lucia.  Imagine thatspinnaker set - Ron. read more...

Amaris - I Give Up. I Quit.

Amaris sails the world15.49.12N47.49.74WAtlantic Ocean I give up. I quit. I ask for a refund.  THEREIS NO WIND! It is day 10 and still no wind.  Whereare these famous trade winds.  We just had e-mail contact with our friendson "Joy of Shamrock Quay" who started their motor 30 hours ago - and were ableto stop to sail for 3...  before taking a dip in the water and restartingtheir motor. In previous days, I was calculating potentialwind angles and selecting sails based on predicted winds.  Now I havestarted calculating how far we will get with our limited amount of fuel - theanswer...  about 40% of the way.  I figure we can run our engine forabout two days straight.  Fingers crossed wind will fill in between now andthen. And. read more...

Amaris - Becalmed - The Reprise

Becalmed - The Reprise Amaris Sails the World 16. 13. 60 N46.17.93WAtlantic Ocean Becalmed - the reprise After a day of bobbing in the Atlantic - we had anice bit of breeze late yesterday that took us into the night.  Itstopped.  And again we are bobbing.  We actually have started aimingfor the squalls as we know there is a little bit of wind in them (caused by thecooling of air from the descending rain).   On a bright note - we were able to throw allcaution to the wind (or lack there of) and jump off the boat into the refreshingbath water of the Atlantic.  The water was perfect!  And no one waseaten by a shark. Apparently, the crew has become restless and hasstarted a mustache growing contest.  It isn't pretty... Thankfully,. read more...