Nexus - Almost to Grenada...flying along on big waves!

We're 167 miles from Grenada, flying along on 12ft waves in 27kts of wind. We're double reefed on the main and quad reefed on the head sail and still making 9.5kts as we slow the boat down to stop her from sailing off the wave tops. It's a squally but nice day and at this pace we'll be in the Port Louis marina tomorrow morning. We had very large squalls last night and the night before, which brought heavy rain and waves but not the power you would expect from their radar images. All in all we've had a good ride and will be glad to be in port. All is well on NEXUS.Russ and Laurie 14:00 3/10/2015 at 11 18.1'N:59 13.5'W. read more...

Nexus - 550nm to go and all is well

We're sailing nicely over lumpy seas making about 9kts average for the last few hours, with the wind pushing 26kts true from our aft quarter. It's nice sailing with overcast skies and all is well. Unfortunately we're all alone now as Alpheratz are diverging north to Barbados and falling a bit behind us, but we still have the radio net to look forward to every morning and evening. It looks like a Wednesday arrival in within reach at this point, and all is well on NEXUS!Russ and Laurie on NEXUS at 16:00 3/8/2015 at 9 00.3'N:53 04.2'W. read more...

Nexus - Still nice sailing...

Nice day with good winds 22kts starboard quarter, we've reefed down a bit to slow to 8kts to stay together with Alpheratz for another 300nm, before we diverge to Grenada and they go to Barbados. It's been nice sailing in company with them on this long passage. We think we'll be in on Wed 11 March at this point, with 745nm to go! We're off the coast of Suriname and Guyana, in the Guyana basin at the moment, about 150nm offshore. We've given them sea room due to Jimmy Cornell's book reporting some acts of Piracy along this border. We're passing the time playing Cribbage and doing odd jobs around the boat, and so far the weather has been partly cloudy but very nice. The seas are still a bit confused with waves coming from two directions giving us a lumpy ride, but it's not bad. I believe. read more...

Nexus - Another Great sailing day and night!

We've had nice consistent winds from the NE for the last 24 hours, between 15-25kt true, from the starboard rear quarter, which NEXUS pulls forward to ahead of the beam and runs with a bone in her teeth! We've had double reefed main and gib all day and she's bounding along at 11kts through the water, 9.5kts SOG with an adverse current. It's a bumpy but decent ride, but we are all enjoying the nice sailing. 930nm to go and we're enjoying sailing in company with Alpheratz!Russ and Laurie on NEXUS at 15:00 3/6/15 at 5 38.5'N:47 34.3'W. read more...

Nexus - Stormy night, fast day!

Last night we were bounding along in good wind and decided to leave the main up all night due to the good progress we were making. Well we sailed into a very large and spread out group of squalls from about 1am to 5am that kept me up pretty much all night. One set of squalls on my watch from 2-4am covered the entire 16nm radius of our radar screen and although they had very little power in them(25kts), the wind swung right around the compass at one point. I was alone and had a preventer rigged, so I couldn't tack. I ended up sailing around 180 with the wind and dousing the main altogether, and ended up motoring in very little wind for a couple of hours of heavy rain, before getting underway again. This morning we had very nice wind but severe choppy seas, which are giving us some fast. read more...