Arrived Kicking and Screaming

No we did not have a new born baby. It was our entry to the BVI. Mother nature was not going to go easy on us.

After yesterday's HALCYON blog the weather turned very ugly. We had squalls to the right, squalls to the left, squalls in front and behind. It started around 4:30pm and dogged us till about 2am then moderated a bit.

Ohhh how disappointing. We really expected a great night like the previous but did not get it. Oh well with just 75 miles of ocean sailing ahead we plugged along.

We saw the lights of Tortola around 3:45am. Ohh what a welcome site. They say you can smell the land after being at sea for several days. I think I did. I had a strong smell of spicy chicken soup and no one was cooking.

We arrived at Sopers Hole or better known as West End around 8am. We tied temporarily to a mooring ball and greeted our safe arrival with an ice cold Heinenken. Hey when you have been traveling all night it's never too early for a beer.

We cleared the deck and dumped the dinghy back in the water. Bob headed to customs to clear us in so we could get off the boat.

Once completed we headed to the dock and took a slip. We were right in front of the harbor grocery store and a Pusser's bar. I'm drinking a Pusser's Pain Killer while I write this tonight. The rest of the crew has already gone to bed. I mean it was either a trip to BOMBA SHACK for the full moon party or go to bed at 8:30pm -- you can tell how tired we all are.

It's been a great trip and with about 1400 Sea miles I am now an official Blue Water Sailor.

More anecdotes to follow now that we have arrived and the boat is not demanding so much attention.

Halcyon Days -- almost

WOW making great progress towards Tortola. Motor sailed all night and most of the morning.

Life is good - nice breeze, mild swells, and favorable wind direction. We are just ticking the miles off to Tortola.

Here it is 4:58PM AST and we are 81 miles from destination. Should make it by tomorrow morning if the gremlins let us.

Today while motoring the engine quit. Troubleshooting found that the return valves were crossed and all the return fuel went into the wrong tank. Corrected that and the engine fired right up but the winds were favorable so we shut it off and went under sail completely.

This afternoon we hooked one fish but it broke the leader. Then when I quit my shift I went below and heard a thumping sound. I investigated and found the free wheeling prop shaft had picked up some trash (Plastics being saved till we land) and wound around the shaft coupler. We cleared that and while doing it shifted to reverse to stop the shaft rotation. Once cleared we could not shift forward -- too much reverse pressure on the shaft without the engine turning. We heaved to and got the shifter free. We started the engine went forward and one of our fishing 150 lb test lines broke -- wrapped around the prop. Well I don't think it will hurt since the prop shaft is still turning free. Too much motion in these 6 foot swells to safely dive on unless absolutely necessary

We are still sailing along and will only run the engine if necessary.

If no more issues we should make Soper's Hole in Tortola sometime late morning tomorrow.

I'm ready to sight land and kiss the earth..

FOUND --Back door to a Cold Front

What a rough night we had. That cold front that passed us the day before stalled and now we have to go through it again only slower.

We sailed through it last night and it was surreal. The winds were 25-30 kts with gusts to 38. We had both sails reefed and set. We virtually flew through the waves. We maintained speeds in excess of 7 kts with bursts to 10. We had a narrow wind angle to maintain so it was all hand steered. It was a white knuckle operation in the dark with frequent rain squalls. We traded the helm every hour.

This morning was still bad till around 9am then it cleared and the wind dropped. We have been motoring since 11 am with calming seas.

We will enter the trade wind belt soon. We can see those fluffy clouds in the distance.

Should be a nice night motor sailing in the moonlight finally.

Sail ON!

More Sailing

The front came through last night and we had a squally night. The wind finally clocked to N-NE at 25-30 with gusts to 35.

That's a lot of wind but on the ocean not to bad. We have been sailing today at 6+ kts with spurts to 8,9, even 11 knots. Today will be the day we make the most miles.

Unfortunately that front that went over last night stalled at 24 north an we must now sail through it again. Winds will be light on the other side but boy we have had the rain today.

We don't mind because all the miles made good are bringing us closer to Tortola at 18N.

Once we hit 24 north the trade winds should kick in and hopefully the ride will be easier.

We also cross the Tropic of Cancer and officially enter the TROPICS!!! Yeah!!

Sail Day

The night was rife with squalls. Nothing severe but we had to negotiate them.

Today we had solid wind and made great progress South and east. We hit the magic 65 Longitude so it's a straight ride to Tortola from here once the winds clock to the NE-E. Right now it is all SW.

The waves are a little confused and we take some spray in the cockpit -- feels good since the water temp is 80 and the air temp is 85.

No fish today but maybe tomorrow.

Everything well aboard. No crew complaints except bruises -- captains a brute... Kidding

Mahi Mahi -- Fish ON

Yes we caught fish today. Four in fact all dolphin Tuna. We kept 2 and threw the rest back. We are hand fishing with 150 lb test line and funky lures.

We had a fine dinner of fresh Mahi and Asian Salad.

We had a rough night sailing and little sleep. Today we motored awhile and then finally sailed and sailed briskly till dark/dinner.

We had to shorten sail before dark because squalls were predicted.

Progress is good but a little slower than expected.

The SSB email is connecting with difficulty. We are more than 700 miles from Florida and the ground stations we use.

If we can't post our position directly then check the rally site for updates. This blog may not be updated everyday too until we arrive but I will try.

Great Sailing

Not much to say today. We motored all night and the wind unexpectedly came up to 10-15 around 8 this morning so we shook out the sails, turned off the motor and had a great sail today.

Wonderful -- no noise and the boat motion is calmer. Either that or I'm doing a better job of balancing with the boat motion. No new bruises.

For dinner tonight we cooked hamburgers on the grill and gently sailed along. Almost dampens the memory of the first two very rough days into this trip.

Tonight Steve and I have the "graveyard shift" -- 7 - 11 pm and 3am - 7am. It's the worse.

Just a great day of why we are out here.

Sadie Hawkins Day

Gale is after us. Just lurking over the horizon. I don't want to marry Gale. She can't catch us..

We have been motor sailing all day to get south of the line that Chris says will keep us from being affected by a Gale that will form Tuesday night between the Abacos and Bermuda. That is the area we have been transiting today.

Its been a beautiful day with light winds and only 1 -2 foot seas. We are back in shorts and T-shirts.

Fishing has been poor just catching sea grass or as Bob calls it -- Pike Grass.

We ate well today with a great salad for lunch and Lasagna for dinner. We sailed within 3 miles of another yacht today -- Passages. Saw another Sail Boat on the AIS last night -- ENDORFIN II.

I'm convinced now that if you plan to make night passages you NEED an AIS transmitter as well as the AIS display. WE got within 5 miles of some rally boats at night and saw them on AIS but never had a visual on their running lights.

We are all sleep deprived sleeping no more than 4 hours at a stretch but frequent naps for a total of 7 - 8 hours a day. It is causing all of to have wild and fanciful dreams. Discretion causes me not divulge mine but wow -- fantastic.

After 5 days and calming seas we are all coming together as a team. I never met Steve before this trip and I had a casual dock relationship with Bob and Mona (Continuum's owner's). The boat is well founded and very well equipped. A real pleasure to sail once I learn its characteristics.

We tried yesterday to get the New Water maker to work but were unsuccessful. With only 100 gallons and 6 days ahead we went on rations. Today I'm happy to report we got it working today. It has already made 20 gallons. Shower for me tomorrow -- my last shower was Wednesday morning. Everyone else got a shower yesterday until we saw we were down to 100 gallons.

With the light winds we will motor sail tonight.

Saturday Nov 9 -- Finally Nice day and getting better

The morning dawned pretty wild yet. We started motor sailing last night and then switched to only Sail.

WE found the Marine VHF inoperative and the water maker is not working. We tried but it won't start.

Not a big issue since we still have 100 gallons but with 6 days to go no more showers...

After lunch we had to fire the motor up. The forecast is for a possible Gale off Bermuda Tuesday so we need to get down to 28N before Tuesday night. It should not affect us there.

Everyone had nice meals today. We have got our appetites backs and it is mild enough to cook again. Not Bob and Steve never lost there appetites.

Bob discovered to day that our front navigation light were badly damaged by the waves. He has fashioned a workable unit from salvaged parts and kitchen plastic containers -- what a McGiver.

We will motor all night and most of tomorrow. You would think we could take it easier but we want to be far far away from that Gale center.

Blue Water sailing is a completely different activity than coastal sailing.

November 8 Friday --- Rock and Roll Again

We made it through the Squalls and frontal passage last night.

We are on the edge of the Gulf stream and the North wind is building big waves but nor too bad.

Today we are sailing with the motor off for once. The motion is not as quick but we still we roll around in the cabin. Bruises are mounting.

The best place to be is in the bunk. I'm wedged between the wall and my giant duffel bag.

Not much else to report except a little birdy came in and landed next to Mona. She was able to coax the bird to drink some water before it flew off. It was not Sea bird but a seed eater.

Haven't seen any other boats in the rally yet but a few as AIS targets.

Thursday the 7th --- Gulf Stream Crossing

Today dawned cloudy and we were till heading for that Gulf Stream eddy. We found it and it was great. We were hitting speeds of 9 - 11 knots heading due east. What the Gulf Stream graphics didn't show is it is ROUGH!! Think about it. You have a strong North bound current hitting an East flowing current --very confused seas.

The goal today is getting across the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible. There is Cold front passing over us tonight and you don't want to be in the stream. All the conditions are magnified. Chris says this will be the worse day with squalls to 50kts.

We handled it well and saw only one squall to 45 and it didn't last long.

We are getting used to the work schedule and sleep whenever we can. No one wants to eat much. Yesterday was a bowl of oatmeal and piece of fruit bread. Today was only an energy bar and a hard boiled egg. It's enough given the way I feel -- also why I haven't posted a blog in a few days.

When conditions are milder I'll post longer entries with more feeling.

Wednesday the 6th RALLY HO!

We finally started our run to the BVIs. We left Morehead City Yacht basin under a small craft advisory. Well it couldn't be that bad out there -- could it?

Well it wasn't. One of the easiest transits of Beaufort Inlet.

The run down Lookout Shoals was beautiful and easy. What's the fuss.

Once we cleared the shoals the full force of the SE Wind hit us. Not too bad although we were rocking and rolling. Ohh boy then the quesys hit. I haven't felt that in 20 years but they were there. Ohh well just have to deal with it.

We set up a schedule were one person was on the helm and one on a watch for 3 hours. This worked pretty good.

Now if you see the track you will see that we went North. This was to catch an east going eddy in the gulf stream. Looks great on the chart. We spent the Night motorsailing to a point just north of this eddy. I'll save that transit for tomorrows blog.

The only problems were having is the motoring in these seas is causing a wild pitching in the boat. When you get up to move or go below then you find your self being "thrown" around. I've got the bruises an aches to show it. Right now that is the only major discomfort of this trip.

Staged to leave

On the water today. Made a nice trip to Morehead City Yacht Basin today. Left early like 7am and all tied up here at 1pm. Nice trip but a bit rolly between the Ferry Crossing and Adams Creek. Lots of boats going down the ditch – snow birds in full migration. We had the watermaker commissioned and that went pretty well except for a few leaks that were repaired. Last minute run to West Marine and dinner at Floyds 1920 deli. The forecast hasn’t changed yet so we are out the door – Inlet tomorrow morning. I’m whipped tonight but should have a better post tomorrow from the Mighty Atlantic.

I can FEEL IT!!

I can feel it now!!! The forecast is just getting better every day. Wednesday is the GO DAY, unless tomorrow night’s forecast says no. All the crews are in final preparation. Three boats from this marina Northwest Creek are in the rally and ready to go. I moved my duffle bag onto Continuum today and parked my truck in Long Term Parking. I can really feel it now. We hope to leave at 7ish tomorrow morning and head to the Morehead City Yacht Basin where we will have the new Water Maker commissioned, last minute run to West Marine, A fine Bon Voyage dinner at the Sanitary Restaurant, then early to bed. If the forecast is still good then it is out the Beaufort Inlet early Wednesday morning and next stop Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands -- 1200 nm away.

Looking Better

Chris painted a much more favorable picture tonight for leaving for the BVIs. The models are all coming together and indicating a more settled departure scenario. He recommends leaving early Wednesday morning and heading SE towards the Gulf Stream then when we are headed by a South to SE wind to tack N-NE -- I know going the wrong way -- but for 12 hours or so we can head NE-E and get some easting in before the winds clock North and then we are back on a SE course and quickly leaving the Gulf Stream. Sounds good to us. Plan now is to leave at dawn-thirty Tuesday morning and go to Morehead City Yacht Basin to tie up for the night. We can get the Water Maker commssioned there, top off the 200 gallons of diesel -- last minute run to West Marine, and a fine dinner at the Sanitry restaurant. I call it a Bon Voyage dinner. It's a plan -- let's see how it goes now. Ohhh one boat Montana Sky jumped the gun yesterday and headed out from Cape Fear. They went about 125 miles and their Main Sail blew out and damaged the rigging. They made it back to the Cape Fear under motor and fortunately no one was hurt but all very tired and beat up ... we don' want to do that.

Window Shopping

Now that is WEATHER WINDOW shopping.   I call this shopping because we are faced with a lot of choices, each with its own characteristics, and we need to decide what we want.  The currency is time.  It boils down to less time to wait to get started versus a more difficult and/or comfortable sail.

Chris Parker has been giving weather analysis on his webinair portal each afternoon at 4pm for members of the Salty Dawg Rally.  Great information but nothing good all the way to the BVIs.  Most choices involve a lot of discomfort at the beginning as we leave Northern areas into strong winds and big waves to get across the Gulf Stream then south to the Islands.

Currently the most doable windows (note I didn't say favorable) is the Hampton Fleet could leave Tuesday or Wednesday and the Beaufort fleet could leave Tuesday through Thursday.

Lots to consider and we are still a couple of days from the official start of November 4th although that day looks very poor to start on.

The boat is ready, the crew is ready, and just some final fresh provisions to put aboard.

Wish us luck, flat seas, calm winds -- of which we will see neither of on the first day towards the Gulf Stream.