Logs

Starblazer - 27/11/2016 - Promises, promises!

No, I didn't write this just before leaving Tortola so no surprise there then, I hear you mutter!The afternoon tour around the west end of Tortola was interesting with stops at Soper's Hole (good ice cream), Bomba's Shack (scene of the reputedly best Full Moon Party), Cane Garden Bay (very old rum distillery), then a stop at the beach before returning via Road Town.I must admit, the hairpin bends and steep hills don't look any better with someone else driving. In 2000 I drove these roads with Richard and his friend Paul while John did an introduction to Scuba diving.Friday evening was the final dinner preceded by the prize giving and results.We were awarded a fantastic tray of fruits plus a bottle of sparkling wine, cheese and biscuits for our efforts to raise our home made code flags as. read more...

Peacekeeper - End of Trip - Part 2

The enthusiasm and positive attitude got us to the finish intact. Captain and crew were still speaking even though we were anxious to have some space after 11 days at sea in close confines.Our combined efforts and skill resulted in a second place finish in our class, beating much larger, well appointed yachts.A proud moment for us and a journey that will be reflected upon over the coming months and years.Peacekeeper will remain in the Caribbean for at least the winter.. read more...

Peacekeeper - End of Passage Report

The journey to BVI was completed at 0439 on 16 November as we crossed the finish line at Scrub Island.Three days have elapsed since our arrival and with an internet connection now it's time to reflect on the 11 day passage. Peacekeeper and it's double handing crew experienced conditions at sea that challenged our resolve physically and mentally.What was said some time ago by a friend - your boat will be able to withstand much more than its crew - was certainly true.The heavy weather was something never before experienced but has now given a certain confidence in handling adverse conditions.We faced our first challenge when the genoa double wrapped around the forestay and the sheets became knotted. It took over 24 hours to get the sail down below.Without this sail the going would be. read more...

Remedy - Midnight 40 to go

We are on our final approach now, just east of Tortola and company to our east pushing for the same goal. Janette and I have taken every midnight to 8 am watch and tonight is no different. The sailing vessel to our port is the first since leaving Portsmouth and is a welcome sight, if not a target to be tracked. A quick hail and a French pair of jacks responds, intentions acknowledged, I am on their AIS. Janette, Ed, and I sitting quietly as the miles role off in the cockpit, current speed 7 kt. As the sun rises we will have earned this passage and will proudly join the ranks of many others. Oh yeah, anyone that says this was a walk in the park l got words for you, your full of it. Just as I suspected, a new challenge for us tonight, lightening. No worries, we will handle it, as with all. read more...

Starblazer - 15/11/2016 - The end of this part of our journey

Sorry this is a bit later than intended but I wasn't on watch between 0500 and 0800 when I normally write my blog!As expected we reached Tortola mid afternoon on Monday and were safely tied up in the marina by about 1700.The day's run to noon was 143 nM, not brilliant but it did include about 7 hours of sailing, peaceful but not particularly fast. Now it is time to reflect on the passage.We had no major problems, just a few niggles which might prove to be expensive!I have previously described the problems with the mainsail slugs which detach themselves from the cars on the mast track.Today I reconnected another one which had popped out before I stowed the mainsail properly.John needs to revisit the design of his pins.A second, relatively minor problem concerns the tricolour light at the. read more...

Caffè Latte - On est arrivé aux BVIs !!

Hier soir à 21h21 nous avons franchi la ligne d'arrivée après 1365 MM de navigation. La dernière journée vraiment spéciale nous avons fait du près serré à 32 degré du vent apparent toute la journée et ce fut assez hot comme navigation. Très heureux de notre expérience. Trop content d'être arrivé. Notre couple se porte très bien ;)A+Yolène et Jean. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 11

Hier belle navigation, beau temps, mais les milles se boufent moins vite que prévu ;(On a utilisé le spi et Yo a eu sa première prise : un poisson volant de 3 pouces!tout va bien et on a très hâte d'arriver, plus que 50 MM.Yolène et Jean. read more...

Remedy - Last 100 miles

This mark that is unseen by the naked eye or estimated by our keen since of smell. But oh yes, there on the chart plotter was the proof, 99.9 to go. I am sure for our larger and faster brethren this was a fast trip, but not to be for Remedy. We were prepared for a few days of rough weather, but we have had only a few days of nice weather. In 2 words, BEAM SEAS, almost every day, cooking in them has to be an art I will need to master with only 3 dinner meals, 3 breakfast meals, and 2 hot lunches under my belt. I had hoped for 50% of the meals, but I hope now to get one more in this 100 miles well short of the goal. It is time for the last supper on this trip, I think it too will be cold sandwiches or microwave soup. No one will complain, eating is only slightly easier than cooking, as. read more...

Isbjorn - Landfall in Tortola: Supermoon at Sea

Whelp, we’re here!Isbjorn made landfall early Monday morning, the lights of Anegada, the north-easternmost of the BVI’s, visible shortly after midnight. The moon was so bright that you could see the silhouette of the flat island clearly on the horizon. We continued on a close reach towards the finish line between Scrub Island and the Dogs, crossing at just after 0400 and popping a morning bottle of bubbly to celebrate. We’d been at sea for 8 days & 13 hours, and sailed just over 1,400 nautical miles.Our final night at sea was, no-joke, a career night for me. I’m not sure if the crew realize just how spoiled they were that night. Isbjorn blasted along under her brand-new 140% genoa and full mainsail, close-reaching in calm seas at 7-8 knots in just 12 knots of breeze. There was nary a. read more...

Starblazer - 14/11/2016 – Sunday

If Saturday was full of positives I’m afraid Sunday did not follow in the same mould!Overnight there had been several squalls, more rain than wind though the latter waltzed around the compass.I led a charmed life; the squalls all arrived during John’s watches.I didn’t mention yesterday’s sunrise as I wrote the blog because it was unspectacular, light working its way through dense clouds which threatened more rain.We motored most of the morning, sailed during the afternoon, motored again for a few hours then sailed until 0200.There were a number of heavy showers as the black clouds marched past but, by late afternoon, the skies cleared and it became a lovely evening.I do appear to be doing my best to fit the stereotypical Brit, always going on about the weather!At sea there is not a lot. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 10

Bonne navigation hier nous avons franchi la barre des 150MM en 24 hres. Vie à bord un peu difficile hier soir à cause des conditions mer et météo. Aujourd'hui, le matin, tout est cool! A+Yolène et Jean. read more...

Starblazer - 13/11/2016 – We have neighbours.

The ocean is a mighty large space and, though 35 boats are heading towards the same destination, the fleet is spread over a wide area.The first night at sea we could see the lights of several rally boats, however sightings for most of the time have been few and far between.We have spotted the odd non-rally boat but they have not stayed close.At about this time yesterday morning the AIS alarm went off for Windarra, a 13 metre sloop.At the time it was 3 miles ahead, slowly crossing our path.Today they are 10 miles away, on the port quarter (rear near side in carspeak for right hand drive vehicles).Yarona, another British owned Hallberg Rassy, also in the rally, came across our bow about 3 hours ago and are now 2.5 miles away on our port beam.Yesterday was rather frustrating, the predicted. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 9

Les vents tant attendus sont arrivé en fin d'après-midi, yéééé! On roule à fond depuis ce moment. Merci à Mel, Stef et Steph pour le cassoulet : délicieux (même sans un bon vin pour l'accompagner). Devions arrivermardi en après-midi ou soirée si les vents se maintiennent.A+Yolène et Jean. read more...

Shelena - Day 8 Final slog!

18:59.88N 64:52.05W12th NovemberEver since we caught our mahi-mahi yesterday just before sunset the wind haspicked up and is from the east. We have reached latitudes sufficiently farsouth to meet the trade winds that blow pretty much from Africa in the eastacross the Atlantic to the Caribbean. That is fine save that our destinationis on a bearing of about 160 degrees. Without getting technical the upshotis that we are ona close haul. Opinions differ on whether this is good orbad. For Petri and me that means yacht listing 15 plus degrees.Exhilarating! To Helen; oh no, this is where the nightmare begins. It ishard to stand or do anything. Like everything the angle of tilt can begreater for tighter course into the wind and if there is plenty of sail outtilt can be 30 degrees. Somewhere. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 8

Bonjour,Sommes à moteur depuis hier soir à 17hre environ. En théorie nous devrions retrouver du vent en soirée au pire vers minuit. Tout va bien.Nous commencons à avoir hâte d'être aux BVIs !A+Yolène et Jean. read more...

Isbjorn - Motorboatin' through the Night

By Mia KarlssonSaturday November 12, 0700Good morning everyone! It's been a loud night onboard Isbjorn, literally! Yesterday afternoon the wind got lighter and lighter but enough wind to keep sailing. As it got even lighter the only course we could hold and also keep the sails full was around 220T - we tried for about an hour. Sailing in the wrong direction is at least better than motoring. But around 5 pm the wind was just about non existent and we gave up and turned on the engine. Unfortunately our "sunset dinner on the balcony" had to be in company of the engine... Life is good onboard Isbjorn, crew is happy and well rested. Tom came back from seasickness about 3 days ago and has been a happy clam ever since! Yesterday morning we had the shortest spinnaker run ever on Isbjorn. After. read more...

Starblazer - 12/11/2016 – Positives

It’s a beautiful dawn; the sun isn’t due to rise for about 30 minutes but the eastern sky is suffused with a golden orange light which illuminates the gently rolling sea.Once the sun has risen the sea will appear a wonderful Quink Ink blue.For those too young to remember Quink Ink for fountain pens, it’s a stunning Royal Blue.Starblazer is powering along at a steady 6.6 knots with a little help from the current and we are on the final leg with 351 nM to go to Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI.ETA Monday early evening. The day’s run to noon Friday was 144.7nM, not stunning but acceptable.So what is there to be displeased with?The seas are so calm because there has been almost no wind for nearly 24 hours.Starblazer is making good speed because the Volvo diesel engine is thundering in the background,. read more...

Shelena - Day 7 The best things in life are free!

21:40.15N 66:11.26W11 November, 2016Getting close to destination Tortola now. Approximately 225 Nm left so withour daily distance around 180 Nm per 24 hours it is arrival in the wee hoursof Sunday morning. Helen is looking forward to that and Petri has booked hisflight home to Finland on Sunday afternoon.So we had better not be late.Today has, as always, been interesting and reminds me why I love sailing.There is little certainty about where you will get to, or how the weatherwill behave. I was fortunate enough to sleep late this morning after severalnights of onlya few hours sleep. In bed at 0330 I was only just up in timefor the SSB chat at 1030. We are still eager to catch fish for dinner and soI duly mentioned this . I was told that there is an old saying that with awoman aboard. read more...

Geronimo - blog

96Normal 0 false false falseEN-US X-NONE X-NONE/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} It is expected that the price of gummy bears will increase in the end of q4 based on the collective consumption of them (6 lbs over 4 days and 4 crew = 0.375 lbs gummy bears per person per day.  As such, we are out of these delectable night. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 7 (bis)

Notre journée se résume à attendre les vents prévus, qui finalement n'arriverons pas. Dommage. Nous nous rabattons sur un plan B pour avoir du bon vent dans 24 heures.A+Yolène et Jeanps aujourd'hui short et t-shirt : on est dans le sud !i. read more...

Starblazer - 11/11/2016 – A mixed bag.

The weather forecast for Thursday proved remarkably accurate, that doesn’t stop me complaining though!During the morning the wind was 20-25 knots with gusts to about 30 which was the original forecast before we received an update suggesting gusts to 35.The forecast also mentioned wind from SW, W and NW, the forecast for later in the day was for the wind to reduce to 13 – 18 with gusts to 25 which has also occurred.So what is my moan?The wind direction has actually changed from just west of South to just west of North so we had a boisterous beat, a more sedate broad reach then a rocky run. The sails needed constant tweaking though we are not very pro-active!The main problem was the confused seas.We were confused so the seas have every reason to be so too.The swell had died down a bit but. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 7

Grosse navigation hier, vents jusqu'à 30+Noeuds, mini squalls. Agréable tout de même. Ce matin tentons de faire vent arrière avec tangon mais manque un ti-peu de vent :(. Tout va bienA+Yolène et Jean. read more...

Shelena - Day 6 Awoke on the floor again!

24:13.69N 066:40.05W10th Nov, 2016We had a day of motor sailing yesterdayand so I tucked in for shut eye atabout 0330 early this morning. I rather fancied a lie-in but it was not tobe. I awoke on the cabin floor because on retiring on engine last night,Shelena was flat. When the engine was switched on in the morning the windwas from the SW. This means close haul which means tilt to port which is myside of our bed. It follows that I was literally tipped out of bed at 0730.Once awake the day begins. Today we had a nice easy sail with winds about 15 knots all day. The closehaul became a close reach that became a reach that progressed to broadreach. These changes to point of sail were caused by change in winddirection, not by chane in navigation course. A comfortable day indeed asthe sea. read more...

Geronimo - Geronimo Blog - 11.10.16

96Normal 0 false false falseEN-US X-NONE X-NONE/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE PRICE OF GUMMY BEARS WILL INCREASE IN THE END OF Q4 BASED ON THE COLLECTIVE CONSUMPTION OF THEM (6 LBS OVER 4 DAYS AND 4 CREW = 0.375 LBS GUMMY BEARS PER PERSON PER DAY.  AS SUCH, WE ARE OUT OF THESE DELECTABLE NIGHT. read more...

Peacekeeper - Fish, Repairs and More

Peacekeeper like most boats in the fleet suffered some form of damage due to high winds and seas. However, before all that set in Russ caught this fish on day 2.(can not figure out how to transfer pic from phone to here!)Today is so different than what we experienced the last two days.The tally of damage/repairs made is as follow:Wrap Genoa - 2 days to get it off the furling and it was toast!Broken WindexShattered deck block for main halyard. McGivered solution.Single reef line lost inside of boom. McGivered solutionLost ring bouy.Little wind today so back to fishing.. read more...

Starblazer - 10/11/2016 – The Beaufort Scale

Wind is essential to a yacht but yachtsmen are a hard bunch to please; it’s either too little, too much, wrong direction, variable direction or just totally unpredictable.In the past 24 hours we have had the lot.In yesterday’s blog I threatened to start the engine, as John added a couple of hours later, I didn’t.The wind was playing with us, promising a little more then dying.Between 0600 and 0900 we only made 10 miles, just too high an average speed to justify starting the engine and incurring a motoring penalty!By 0920 we had added just half a mile to our distance travelled so turned on the engine.Our day’s run to noon was a meagre 120 nM, it would have been about 105 by sail alone!The afternoon wasn’t any better, in fact we had Beaufort Force 1, no wind at all.When the GPS says you. read more...

Shelena - Day 6 Buoy over board!

26:38.04N 067:54.69WThursday 10th November, 2016We motor sailed all yesterday and through the night. Getting a bit bored atthe engine humming away. However, the wind is just 5knots or so. Too little.It certainly underscores the need for extra provisions and water beyondestimated needs for estimated passage making times. All calculations basedon x knots per day have no credibility when the wind simply stops blowingand the sea takes on an oily texture. Reflect for a moment on sailorscenturies ago seeking out new lands not knowing where they were. Thenbecalmed for days! Thank goodness for modern cruiser engines that are veryeconomical and provide excellent range.I wanted to continue with the theme of life aboard. Not mentioned to dateare our means of communication with the outside world.. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 6

La nuit a été magique, la lun,e les nuages, la température douce et des vents calmes. Puis, ça s'est mis a souffler plus fort et on a ajusté les voiles. Tout va bien et sommes à peu près à mi-parcours !Yolène et Jean. read more...

Shelena - Sailing is fun because it is so unpredictable!

28:06.44N 068:59.21WDay 5We have passed half way now. ETA Nanny Cays on Sunday.Life aboard is now pretty routine. The structure is breakfast where we allhelp ourselves. Petri ends his watch around 0800 then off to sleep. LikelyHelen does some day time morning watch while I am asleep too. I now varywhere I sleep. Last night the seas were less confused and I returned to mycabin just to find that my wife has abandoned it too, and has taken up tosleeping in the saloon on the comfortable starboard sofa which is nicelyprotected by the table and secure not subject to aft corkscrewing.Basically, I sleep where I fall! I would like to see the World CruisingAssoc run a competition to find out more about where persons sleep aboard. Ithink it would yield surprising creativity. I have heard sleep. read more...

Isbjorn - Strange Days

Our morning aboard Isbjorn began with this message from Rally Control."Hello. Time is 0345AST.I am sure that aside from the weather the hot topic onboard in the past couple of days has been about the presidential election.We might not be the first to inform you, as your friends and family may have notified you already, but the next President of the United States is: Donald TrumpSomething to discuss on your night watch!(Clinton called Trump to concede the election when she had 210 and he had 248 in the race to 270)Regards & safe sailing,Rally Control"I'd had a similar message from my sister, with the hashtag '#notkidding' around the same time, and more messages from Liz, our intern, who is also posting these blogs to our site while we're at sea. The mood aboard matches the weather -. read more...

Caffè Latte - Jour 5

Belle journée de voile, mer bleue, bons vents, agréable. Problène de safran en soirée. Ce matin nous attendons le vent.A+Yolène et Jean. read more...

Starblazer - 09/11/2016 – The curate’s egg!

The past 24 hours has been a mixture of good, challenging and frustrating thanks to the vagaries of the Wind Gods.We continued our forward charge with the sails out either side, rocking and rolling our way to the next waypoint where we were to turn to get a bit more easting in.The course we were on would, in fact, take us almost directly to Tortola if the wind direction stayed the same.As we get further south we expect the trade winds to start making their presence felt, being predominantly easterly rather than the northerlies we are currently experiencing.This would make our southeast passage a close beat which is not the most pleasant point of sail.We had a 1,000 mile beat to New Zealand and have no wish to have that experience again!We made our course alteration at 1000, a modest 20. read more...

Shelena - Day 4 - Leaving the wife is never easy especially for a younger man!

29:40.67N 070:51.09W8th November, 2016So we enjoyed a nice sail from the start line followed by motoring for hoursbefore sails were once again at work. We skirted the southern impact of agale providing lively seas and energetic winds. So what about sleep? We allneed it. With 3 persons on board Helen is excused night watch given that shedoes all the catering. She does keep us all company until she turns in atabout 2230. To date I have done the slot from say 2000 to 0230. Petri picksup the watch through until 0700; or in the case of this morning, until 0830.Thanks Petri! We arrived at this pattern because Petri is from Finland.This means that Petri'sbody clock is some 6 hours ahead of US time.Itseems to work; but my problem is that I have not slept well at all onaccount of the strong surge. read more...

Isbjorn - Election Day on the High Seas

This blog has nothing to do with politics. We're just all curious on the big day today!0545. I'm taking my first solo watch of the trip. Typically I don't stand watches - rather, our crew pair up, Mia takes a solo watch & I'm on-call, the crew doing three-on, six-off rotations. Tom, though, is majorly seasick and hasn't taken a watch since Day 1. For a while Ed & David and Mia & Bruce did 4-on, 4-off, but it's finally calmed down a bit so they're getting a needed break.We predicted it'd be gnarly out here for the first few days, and the weather delivered. While the skies have been clear & the stars out at night, it's been WINDY. Yesterday it seemed to peak - when the sun came up you could finally see the size of the waves. They were big, and very beautiful. For the past. read more...

Caffè Latte - 8 nov, jour 4

Bons vents et vagues encore hier. Roule avec voilure réduite, conservatrice.Bien dormi, on dort dans le carré. Tout va bien.A+Yolèene et Jean. read more...

Starblazer - 08/11/2016 – The pleasure and pain of downwind sailing.

I like downwind sailing, which is lucky since a lot of the long passages on our circumnavigation were predominantly downwind, however it is not all plain sailing.Excuse the pun!In racing circles and well crewed yachts the defining sail to use is the huge, brightly coloured spinnaker.We do not carry a spinnaker on board because we find it too difficult to handle with just the two of us, especially in gusty winds. Added to that, we would need several of different weights to cope with the different wind strengths. Our preferred sail plan is either twin genoas, poled out to each side, or mainsail and genoa or jib on opposite sides.The advantage of the first plan is there is no chance of crash gybing the main with the attendant shocks to the rigging and potential damage to the. read more...

Shelena - Day 3 Winds building seas and final call for Stroganoff

31:06.86N 073:00.1W7th November, 2016Life aboard has become interesting which translates to uncomfortable.Shelena cork screws with the large waves. Sleeping is problematic in themaster cabin. The bed is so big that even with lea cloth I slide about. Imanaged to slide out of bed as did Helen. Petri is in the best bunk in thesmall cabin at the mast. We always treat our guests so well! The gale force winds north and west of Bermuda are not coming our way butthe effects are! Constant winds in the 20's. Max gust recorded at 33.0knots. The seas have grown over night and today. I estimate 4 metres inheight and a little confused. Max speed has surfing the wave at 15.1 knots.We have covered 368 Nm since departure according to the ship's log. Iestimate passage as 1500Nm so we are only just. read more...

Caffè Latte - Nouvelles de Caffè Latte 7 nov

Bons vents cette nuit, genois seul et arisé, très confo.Tout va bien.Bonne fête à Coralie XXXYolène et Jean. read more...

Starblazer - 07/11/2016 – Caribbean, here we come.

As the start had been brought forward to Saturday and was to be a passage start we made our way out of Portsmouth just before noon.In fact we were one of the last boats to leave the marina, however it didn’t matter as we had to record our start time as we sailed over the Bay Bridge Tunnel, three and a half hours after tossing our dock lines having motored just about all the way!We only had one minor problem leaving Portsmouth.A huge cruise ship, the Carnival Sunshine, was making its way slowly along the Elizabeth River into Norfolk.A well armed Rib was maintaining a 500 yard exclusion zone around it but the river wasn’t that wide where we passed it!We were told to stay hard to the right, i.e. starboard side, which we did without getting told off for getting too close to the many navy. read more...

Shelena - Having a blast; so abandoned destination Antigua in favour of Tortola

34:36.7N 073:49.15W6th, November, 2016The thing about sailing is that you go where the winds take you, but alsowherever your whim directs you. We sound like we never make our minds upabout anything. That is largely true. Even final crewing was uncertain untilthe night of the leaving dinner. I don't accept that I am unable to make upmy mind. No, it ismore about others that influence our plans; Like paidcrew not getting to Portsmouth on time. But from that change we have thebenefit of Helen aboard and now we have decided not to go to Antigua. Petridoes not matter where we go provided we have a good sail! Too boring toexplain, but there was good reason for us directly to sail to Antigua sincewe did not want to do the beat from Tortola to Antigua. So what are wedoing? Final, final decision. read more...

Caffè Latte - Nouvelles de Caffè Latte

Bonjour,Une belle nuit où on a pu dormir comme il faut. Nous avons de beaux vents et préparons à entrer dans le Gulf Stream. Tout va bien et il faut beau soleil.Yolène et JeanCaffè Latte. read more...

Peacekeeper - Our time in Portsmouth

We're here and ready for the start.Kitty flew home to take some time off after a month of sailing and south.Russ Lake arrived they same day to take over duties as first mate and bottle washer. He's done much more than that and has contributed greatly to our readiness.After a week of seminars and preparation we have gotten the word that the rally will start a day earlier than scheduled to take advantage of a weather window between front.Though for us it seems we'll have a fairly rough time for the first 48 hours or so.Here is Russ "the navigator" doing some prep for tomorrow. image1. read more...

Shelena - SHELENA Departs USA

36:44.85N 075:46.2W5th November, 2016First thing to say is, HAPPY BIIRTHDAY ME!The ARC 1500 departed one day earlier than expected. So no celebrationdinner ashore today. Instead, being reasonably well prepared, we had a supermeal at the Mediterranean restaurant in the High St, Portsmouth. It wasactually really good. Helen, my wife, and Petri our crew from Finland madeup our triumvirate. This means a second celebration tonight at sea. So I seethat as definitely positive. Now a word about Petri. The fact is that I haveonly seen him twice in my life. First time was the ARC+ last year when hejoined us for that crossing. That too left the Canaries in November so Petriwas there. Here we are again, our second ARC, but the 1500, and here isPetri again! Fantastic! Now our final crew has been. read more...

Caffè Latte - C'est le départ !

Ce matin 10h00 nous quittions la marina pour le grand départ.Le ciel est bleu, le temps un peu frais et le moral est excellent!Yolène et JeanCaffè Latte. read more...

Starblazer - 04/11/2016 - Getting ready to leave the USA

Where has the time gone?It is a little distressing to find I haven't written anything since Monday 17th October when we left New York so I will try to be brief.The first leg of our trip south was an overnight sail to the mouth of the Delaware river.The anticipated 36 hour run to the C and D canal was doomed from the very beginning!We did not want to enter the canal at midnight and the anchorage we stayed in on the way north would be dangerous to feel our way in during the hours of darkness.Though we shot out of New York, rushing past Staten Island, the current was against us as soon as we met the open sea, slowing our progress quite significantly.Tuesday evening we anchored behind Cape Henlopen, on the south side of the Delaware River opposite Cape May.At first light we pulled up the. read more...