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Yesterday when I did my last post, our plan was to continue north and take our lumps in the building NE/E winds.  However, yesterday afternoon I received a note from Chris Parker in response to a question from me that was in essence, “there has to be a better way”.

He suggested that we head east for about 24 to 36 hours and wait for the strong winds to shift from NE to a more easterly direction, a better angle for us.  Head farther west than we had planned and then turn north toward the Gulf Stream, behind the front where the winds would be less.

Additionally, he suggested we head due east toward Bermuda, staying south of the front, so that when we finally turned to the west and entered the strong easterlies we would have a better angle, with the wind aft of the beam.

What a simple and great idea?  Why didn’t I think of that?  We immediately headed east.  Unfortunately, the wind totally died overnight so the boat rolled and slatted in an alarming way.

But, rolling or not, I took time to admire the stars.  The Milky Way was clearer than I have ever seen it.

And night gave way to dawn bringing lovely shades of purple and red.Up came the sun. It’s 10:00 on Thursday morning and we have turned north toward home again.

As we approach the front we have a very light SW wind.  You can clearly see the dark line of the front out in the distance.  All of a sudden the wind did an abrupt 180-degree shift, in literally a few minutes, a shift that was faster than I have ever experienced. I’d love to share the weather routing information that we prepared based on Chris’s recommendations but can’t find a way to download the images from my iPad.  I guess I will have to show it later.

For now, light wind from the NE but in a few hours, as we cross the front, it will quickly build to 25kts+.

If things work out as Chris is forecasting, this won’t be a bad ride after all.  Fingers crossed.

While I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch.  After a decade of working with Chris, once again, he came through.

I do so hate bashing to weather.  Perhaps this won’t be so bad after all.

Fingers crossed.

Thanks Chris.

 

 

 

 

 

It is Wednesday morning and we are motoring along in calm conditions.   There is not a lot to look at except the (very) occasional ship or yacht that crosses our path, heading to Europe.  I suppose that should not be a surprise as we are indeed, in the middle of nowhere, about 200 miles west of Bermuda and almost 600 miles from home.  The good news is that we are over 800 miles from our starting point in St Thomas.

It feels good to be on the second half of the run. However, it will clearly be the most challenging with some salty conditions up ahead.

Even though there is not a lot to look at except flying fish skipping from wave to wave, and phosphoresce off the stern at night, we are seeing many Portuguese Man-O-War jellyfish floating by.

They look so delicate with their “sail” moving them along in the breeze.  It is hard to see in this photo but they are quite colorful with a bit of red on one end and translucent bits of blue on the sail.

As pretty as they are, don’t be fooled, as to touch one of the tentacles that trail along upwards of 10’ below, pack quite a punch.Brenda and I have seen many of these as we sailed along the US east coast, particularly off Florida when we were spending our winters in the Bahamas.  There was a time when we were in Boca Raton and several were blown thru the inlet and into the harbor.   Brenda was inspired to do a tapestry that she titled “blown off course”.I think that this piece is one of her best and others seem to agree as she has received several awards at shows and the piece was featured in a national fiber arts magazine last year.   It is worth noting that the “braids” affixed to the borders are a Japanese technique that she does.  These intricate silk braids are hard to do but she has had a lot of practice.

And speaking of Japanese fiber techniques, Brenda is still in Japan, having just finished up on a “fiber tour” of the country.  She is staying in Tokyo for a few more days with a good friend before flying back to NY later this week. I am very much looking forward to seeing her again and learning more about all the great places that she visited.

So, back to what lies ahead and title of this post.

Since the beginning of this run a week ago, we have been watching the weather north of Bermuda with the hope that the constant parade of low-pressure systems that have been moving off the Coast will moderate.

To some degree, they have but we will be sailing into some sporty conditions beginning sometime tomorrow afternoon.  From there north to where we cross the Gulf Stream, several hundred miles, will be a bit challenging with wind sometimes gusting to 30+kts.  The good news is that the wind is not likely to be quite as bad as we feared based on earlier forecasts but whatever we face will last for about 24 hours longer.

The angle of the wind should be on the beam so it should be manageable.

After that we cross the Gulf Stream which should be reasonable.  We expect to run into strong winds north of the Stream but they will be behind us, which is better.

Given the amount of motoring we have done, we switched fuel tanks yesterday and shortly after that, the engine began to slow down and stall.  I know that the tank is full but there must be some crud clogging the pickup tube.  Just to be sure, I replaced filters on the engine and switched to the third tank.  Everything seems to be OK for now.  Just in case we motor more than expected we took time to dump about 15 gallons from jugs into the nearly empty tank.  In light conditions like we have now, it’s easy but if it’s rough not practical to siphon fuel without the risk of getting water into the tank.

However, I do not want to run out of fuel, as unlikely as that may be so better safe than sorry.

So, for now, we are sailing along in light conditions and I am hoping that “the blow” will not be quite as bad as it was looking a few days ago.

I guess all I can say is details to come.

Not sure I will be putting up anything when it is “sporty” but time will tell.  Not to worry, we will still be posting our position every two hours on the tracker.

For sure we will be moving along well for most of the rest of the trip.   If conditions are no worse than forecast, it should be manageable.

Perhaps we will be home on Sunday.

Wish us luck, please…

We have been at sea for 5 days, entering our 6^th and are half way between St Thomas and CT, about 200 miles SW of Bermuda and 700 miles from Montauk, the eastern most point of Long Island where we will enter Long Island Sound and head home.

Winds continue to be light and we have motored for 40 hours.  That is not a lot of engine time compared to our trips south over the years when a total of between 100 and 150 hours is typical.   However, the run north is generally better for sailing as it takes advantage of the easterly trade winds for the first half and the prevailing SW winds off of the US east coast, for the second.   However, this spring has seen particularly active cold fronts rolling off the US east coast so the trade winds have been suppressed.

Another contributor to the low hours is that I am trying to time my arrival at the south side (entry point) of the Gulf Stream to avoid the strongest of the winds that will accompany a particularly strong front that is expected to exit the NE Coast later in the week.   Being in the GS with a strong NE wind is just not a good idea.

The strongest of these NE winds will have gusts into the low 30s, which is pretty sporty.   Generally, anything over mid 20s is annoying and just too much like work to be fun.

The timing of what could technically be a gale, or a Nor’easter, is a bit uncertain so I am taking a conservative view of things, trying to move along a bit slower and let the worst of it clear out before we get there.  These fast-moving lows are quite difficult to forecast and the actual timing isn’t generally clear until just a day or so before they arrive.

Our best guess is to plan on arriving at the south wall of the Stream (and the edge of the GS is quite abrupt and you can actually see a change in the water color, temperature and wave configuration, hence: wall) around mid-day on Friday.   With that in mind, our plan is to adjust our speed to an average of 6.5kts do we arrive at the right time.

It’s a bit difficult to accurately titrate our speed for the next 500 miles to the GS as the wind will vary anywhere from less than 10kts to near 30kts, a huge swing.  When the wind is strong, we will be going upwards of 8-9kts but less than 6 when we are motoring.  How to manage to get the average to come out at 6kts, assuming that the front moves at the planned speed, is tricky.

So, for now, a lovely sail.  It’s quite calm with a beam wind of only about 10kts. Mike relaxing, keeping an eye on things.  However, we have not seen much for days beyond an occasional ship or two.One way or the other, we will sort it out and just deal with whatever comes our way.  For now, easy sailing.

Beyond that, the crew of Pandora has settled into life at sea and one day just rolls into the next.  The middle of a run like this is the most pleasant as we are not close enough to our destination to ask “are we there yet?” or far enough away to think “OMG, we have not even covered 10% of the run.  I hate this!”

Our days now are pretty much taken up by keeping watch, sleeping, eating, and thinking about the coming weather.

Down below, everything is stowed and set up to be comfortable and yet protect the cushions from salt and excess wear.  Note the canvas covers on everything to keep things clean.George is using the aft cabin, Mike to port (left) and me on the right.  The center of the boat, the main cabin, has the least motion.

As to “when are we going to get there?”, it’s a bit too soon to think about that (even if I am) as we still have nearly half of the trip in front of us.   However, with the coming winds, what lies ahead will surely be faster than the first half.

So, when will we get there?  I expect that Sunday is a good guess but we will just have to see.

One thing that is certain is that we are in fact half of the way there.

It’s Monday morning and we have been motoring for over 24 hours.  After all the problems with the engine cooling system, I am so pleased that we were able to find someone in St Thomas to replace the leaky gaskets and confirm that the water pump is in good shape.

Having watched the tech remove and replace the pump makes me realize just how difficult it would have been to do at sea.  I generally worry about breakage when I am offshore, hundreds of miles from anything and the idea of making the repair while underway is too much for me to even think about.

I knew that this was going to be a slow trip with lots of motoring but had hoped that by the time we left the forecast was going to be for more wind.   However, with all the strong fronts that have been rolling off the US East Coast, the trade winds to the south have been suppressed so motoring it is.

As I write this post we fully expect to have another 24-36 hours before winds from the NE begin to fill in.  And FILL IN they will with steady winds in the 20s and gusts to near 30 are expected.  And, to ensure that things will be plenty sporty, the wind will be forward of the beam so we will be pounding into seas.

The big issue for us is what conditions will be like when we reach the Gulf Stream, currently about 650 miles from us.  And given our estimated speed, I expect that we will reach the Stream some time on Friday.

Timing our entrance into the Stream is critical as when there are strong winds from the NE or E conditions will be quite nasty and dangerous.

Chris Parker, our weather router, says that the forecast five days out is still quite uncertain so it’s hard to say when conditions will begin to settle down and make it reasonable to cross the GS but he is currently estimating that we will have reasonable conditions by sometime on Friday.

For now, it’s fingers crossed.  For now, we will continue to motor along.

I guess I will close with some shots of today’s sunrise.  As I have mentioned, my favorite time of day is dawn and to be on watch as the eastern horizon begins to glow is a magical time.

It began with a blue/purple glow in the east.Getting brighter and brighter as the sun began to peek from behind the low clouds showing off the lacey clouds above. The sun, nearly above the horizon, a testament to the majesty of nature.  A beautiful day has dawned. Well, to be clear, it’s a beautiful day with no wind.

So glad that Pandora has an engine.  I want to add “that works” but don’t want to Jinx it.

So far, so good.  Fingers crossed and it’s a good thing that I am a member of the “cup is half full” club.

Now I can worry about the Gulf Stream…

 

It’s day four of what will likely be a 10 day passage from St Thomas to CT and home.

Brenda’s still in Japan on a fiber tour and it sounds like she is having a wonderful time.  Amazingly, with little communication it turns out that 4 of her friends also signed up and are there with her.

Thanks to WhatsApp and Starlink, I have been able to talk to her a few times in spite of the 13 hour time difference.  It seems that the best time to catch her is in the morning here, or around bedtime for her.

When I think back to our first few years cruising beginning in 2012 when we first went to the Bahamas, I am amazed how different things are now.  Back then, we had to purchase a cell sim card in the Bahamas and there was no reasonable way to call family in the US.  We used Skype but that never seemed to work.  And forget finding a decent Wi-Fi connection.

As difficult as that was, it was a piece of cake compared with our time in Cuba, the two months that we spent cruising the island meant that there was just no way to talk to anyone.  Forget phone, not allowed.   And email was very difficult and required us to purchase a scratch off card, good for 30 minutes, with a code that we would type into a computer kiosk at the government owned hotel.   And the speeds, on a cable from Venezuela, were horribly slow, think dial-up.

With here we are a decade later and it still blows me away that I can fire up the Starlink and call Brenda half a world away and 13 time zones ahead and talk.   And, the connection generally sounds like she is nearby.  No delay or odd sounds.

So, here I sit, typing away in my “office”.  I spend a lot of time sitting here as the cockpit can get crowded with the guys reading and keeping watch.And, my blog, which I have been keeping for more than 13 years now, is so much simpler.  In past years, when I was on passage, I put the blog text into an email and sent it to Brenda or whomever was available to post it for me and they would log into my blog and put up the post for me.  And, getting a photo to them.  Forget it.

Now, if I am willing to spend the bandwidth, I can post as easily as I do from home with speeds that are actually faster than home.

The pace of change is staggering, that’s for sure.

Until this morning, since leaving St Thomas four days ago, we have been sailing.  No always particularly fast but it was nice to spend days sailing along without the sound of the motor.

With nearly a third of the distance under our belt, conditions have been benign and we used the big Code 0 headsail again yesterday.   However, as the wind clocked more to the south, I cranked up the engine in anticipation that the wind will get even lighter for the next few days.

As Pandora has a very large alternator to charge the lithium house batteries, I can run the smaller of the two AC units right off of the engine as I had them wired to run off of the house DC/AC inverter.  This doesn’t cool the entire main cabin but does make a big difference and takes a lot of the humidity out of the air.  As the engine is under the galley, all that heat radiates into the cabin and makes it quite uncomfortable.  The ability to run the AC, at least when we are motoring, is a big help.

One of the things we spend a lot of time focused on is the upcoming weather and this trip is no different.  The key issue is what conditions will be like when we cross the Gulf Stream and if the wind will be favorable.

The Gulf Stream runs north from the Florida Straits up to Cape Hatteras and then kicks out to the NE and into the North Atlantic.  At some point we will have to cross the GS and it is critical that we not do that when the winds are strong, especially blowing from the NE or East as that means that the wind and current would be opposing and that kicks up dangerous and steep seas.

This time of year, and it is still early in the season, cold fronts exit the US East Coast every few days and these fast-moving systems bring with them unfavorable winds, especially in the GS.   Given how fast these systems move, it’s hard to predict more than a few days in advance when they will actually happen.

As we sit here on Monday our current speed and direction suggest that we will likely encounter the GS around Friday and according to Chris Parker, our weather router, that’s about the time that a strong front will be in our path.  It’s hard to say exactly what the timing will be but for sure we will have to be certain that we time our entrance into the southern part of the GS to avoid the strongest N/NE winds.  In this case, the winds are expected to top out at more than 25kts, a lot of wind.

Beginning today we will be entering a windless zone so we will be motoring, likely for another two or more days, until we enter an area with favorable wind.

With some luck, we will be able to continue on and cross the GS at a time that is benign.  As Chris Parker like to say “well, that’s a long way off and things could change”.   Yes, I expect that they will.

I guess I’ll leave it at that as it’s nearly time to whip up some sandwiches for lunch.  Keeping watch, sleeping and eating.  That about it on passage.  And, writing blog posts, of course.

More to come but for now, just motoring along, making time.

One more thing.  Don’t forget that you can follow along with the fleet at this link.